Applications of Membrane Technology - icheme.org · 3 Some Typical Membrane Applications MEMBRANE FILTRATION – TYPICAL APPLICATIONS Water and Effluent Treatment Recovery & reuse

www.axiumprocess.com 1

Axium Process Ltd

Applications of Membrane Technology

Peter Esteban

Managing Director


Axium Process – who are we?

• An independent bespoke membrane systems provider

• Combined 150 man years of membrane filtration and product separation experience

• Project design & management expertise involving microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis technology

• Process and product development

• Technical training and support


Some Typical Membrane Applications

MEMBRANE FILTRATION – TYPICAL APPLICATIONS

Water and Effluent

Treatment

Recovery & reuse of water

Condensate upgrade for reuse

Final filtration of bottled water

Animal and vegetable processing waste recycling

Dairy/Food

Processing

Whey protein concentration

Quarg cheese production

Dilute sugar stream concentration

Chemical

Industries

Dyehouse water recycling

Recovery of cleaning chemicals

Laundry waste recovery

Beverage

Production

Clarification and purification of fruit juice and beer

Recovery of cider and beer from tank bottoms

Process water recovery and waste volume minimisation

Pharmaceutical

Manufacturing

Fermentation broth clarification

Precursor purification

Enzyme concentration and purification

Organism concentration by physical means

How do we go about selecting the correct membranes for the process

• Meeting and discussion of requirements with clients, possibly a site visit. Understand the process

• Get feed analysis

• Initial pilot trials at Axium

• If successful possible site trials on fresh feed (data accumulation and membrane clean ability)

• From trial data we can scale up into a commercial plant.



Membrane Pilot Trial Capability

• Mobile membrane test plants

• Pilot plants are flexible and are able to take a variety of different membranes and configurations

• Trials can be carried out at Axium or on customer’s site

• Variety of full size commercial membranes tested for optimum membrane choice

• Independent of membrane suppliers

Pilot Equipment

Site trials are not for the faint hearted


Wool Scour Trial


What comes off sheep when you wash them is not nice!


What sort of things are we asked to look at



Example: Raw Ice Cream Plant Effluent Recycling Plant

• Successful pilot trial conducted and system commissioned

• 400m3 m/day wastewater recycling plant – increased to 700 m3/day, with recent expansion to 1,500 m3/day

• System replaced old DAF technology

• Small footprint

• Major saving in chemical use

• Concentrated slurry recycled as compost

• Permeate water is hot and sanitised


Axminster Carpets Key Considerations

Environmental • water supply was variable (River Dart) • effluent discharge was limited Legislation • stringent effluent discharge consent levels Process Control • consistent water quality supply essential • at least as good as existing source • no chemicals to be added to effluent • thermal energy capture Economics • Energy consumption • Water usage • Disposal costs (aim for Zero discharge) • Minimum footprint


Axminster Carpets (Tubular UF and

Spiral RO)

Scour & Dyehouse Installation


Textile Membrane Applications

MEMBRANE FILTRATION – TYPICAL APPLICATIONS IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY

DYESTUFF WATER

Recover hot clean water from the dyehouse operations, including dying and rinsing for recycling.

Energy savings (heat) Substantial reduction of water useage, reduced disposal of concentrate Consistent supply compared to natural water

PRINTING Printing wash water recycled by Ultrafiltration Energy (heat) and water savings Reduced cost for disposal of dilute chemicals 90% reduction in BOD Colour removal

WOOL SCOURING Removes oils, waxes and dirt from wool Permeate can be reused in the cleaning process as it is already warm and carries the cleaning agents

LATEX RECOVERY Used as a binder – often produced as a dilute stream.

Reduced dispoal of COD Lower purchase costs for new latex

SIZE RECOVERY PVA and other sizing materials from de-sizing baths can be concentrated and reused

Heat savings and reduced water purchase Reduced purchase of size and lower BOD disposal costs

INDIGO DYE Recovery of washed out Indigo Dye by Ultrafiltration

Reduced costs for purchase of fresh water Dye stream can be re-used Reduced effluent volumes

WATER SOFTENING

Removes bacteria, viruses and other organisms from the process water. Reduces calcium levels without adding sodium.

Less expensive than ion exchange Provides clear, colourless, consistent water No salt discharge


Benefits of using membranes in the textile industry

• Recovery of energy in the form of heat

• Reduced water purchase charges

• Reduced effluent charges

• Potential recovery of chemicals such as size, detergents, latex, dyes

• Consistent stable quality water supply without interference from colour contamination, or suspended solids from variable natural waters

• Stable performance, easy maintenance and small footprint

• Straightforward installation requirements

• Reduces waste

• Saves energy

• Saves water

• Saves money

Landfill Leachate (Tubular UF)


Purification of Printing Dye

• Removal of salts from raw dye to produce a better ink (Tubular NF System)


And many many more


Salt removal from Betaine Laundry Wash Water Recovery


Benefits of Membrane Technology Over Conventional Methods

• No addition of chemicals to effect the separation

• Better and more absolute separation

• No special civil engineering required, smaller footprint

• Physical separation process – avoids sensitivities of biological processing

• Wide range of separation cut-off

• Both permeate and concentrate uncontaminated by chemicals – can be reused – RO water is soft

RO Permeate

Feed

Concentrate

UF Permeate

Documents

Applications of Membrane Technology - icheme.org · 3 Some Typical Membrane Applications MEMBRANE FILTRATION – TYPICAL APPLICATIONS Water and Effluent Treatment Recovery & reuse