Dow Water & Process Solutions, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company and leader in sustainable water separation and purification technologies, has invested in progressive product piloting to demonstrate its dedication to research and development (R&D).

 

As part of this continued research, the company has announced the results of a recent piloting focused on DOW Ultrafiltration technologies, which was carried out at its Global Water Technology Center in Tarragona, Spain, and saw continuous, quality feedwater supply to the Reverse Osmosis system downstream over a prolonged period, said a statement.

 

The pilot programme aimed to monitor the quality of the feedwater produced by the DOW Ultrafiltration system, in order to be able to provide support for Dow Water & Process Solutions’ wide range of Ultrafiltration technologies, as well as reinforce its ongoing dedication to R&D and improvement of its products and solutions. 

 

The data generated will be used both to prove the success of its existing solutions and to validate and qualify new products before their launch into the market. 

 

The results of the piloting has confirmed sustainable and stable operation of DOW Ultrafiltration commercial modules as a pre-treatment for the Reverse Osmosis system downstream for more than 300 accumulated days, demonstrating their excellence and robustness in a real wastewater reuse application with relatively high organic content.

 

Verónica García, EMEA technical service and development manager, said: “This type of pilot experiment does not usually last more than few weeks, and therefore the long duration of the DOW Ultrafiltration piloting emphasises the company’s long-term commitment to product development and continued research.”

 

In order to provide real wastewater conditions, the pilot system was fed with secondary effluent from the Vilaseca (Tarragona-Spain) municipal wastewater treatment plant. 

 

Typically, due to wastewater feed quality and characteristics, the Reverse Osmosis system cannot be fed directly from the secondary effluent of the wastewater treatment plant without interruption. 

 

Therefore, to guarantee the required feed quality to the Reverse Osmosis system, a DOW Ultrafiltration SFP-2880 system was integrated upstream. 

 

The autopsies carried out on the Ultrafiltration modules following the end of the piloting demonstrated the absence of broken or damaged fibres, as well as no reported loss in tensile strength and mechanical properties.  

 

Based on these test results, it was concluded that DOW Ultrafiltration elements are an excellent pre-treatment for Reverse Osmosis systems. The permeate produced by the system downstream will be suitable for a number of applications, such as for irrigation purposes, either for golf courses or for agriculture. 

 

Precisely, the agricultural sector represents 80 per cent of water use in the country, so integrating advanced technologies such as DOW Ultrafiltration elements into the sector could help increase efficiency.

 

Another finding from the study was the associated cost reduction resulting from the combination of DOW Ultrafiltration and DOW Filmtec Reverse Osmosis technologies. 

 

DOW Ultrafiltration systems, for instance, require a lower footprint when compared to other methods of conventional pre-treatment technologies, such as sand filtration. 

 

In addition, less chemical cleanings will be required in the DOW Filmtec Reverse Osmosis system downstream due to the more suitable feed water provided by the DOW Ultrafiltration system, resulting in longer membrane life, higher plant availability and lower replacement rate of cartridge filters.

 

Zakia Bahjou, ME, Africa and Turkey regional commercial manager, said: “We are committed to investing in research and development to ensure the highest quality and efficiency of our products, not only in Spain and Europe, but also in the Middle East and across the globe.”

 

DOW Ultrafiltration modules stand out for their hydrophilic PVDF hollow fibers, which feature high strength, chemical resistance and low-fouling tendency, as well as their optimized flow configuration (OUT-IN) for high tolerance to a wide variety of feed water types, minimising the risk of fiber plugging. 

 

Dow Water & Process Solutions’ Global Water Technology Center in Tarragona

 

With the focus of advancing human progress and sustainable living, Dow Water & Process Solutions’ Global Water Technology Center in Tarragona will offer a combination of high-tech R&D lab and plant that has become the largest clean water research and development facility in the world. 

 

The plant, which covers more than 3,000 sq m, processes 10,000 daily cu m of water, enough to provide for a town of 100,000 people.

 

The combination of on-site simulation and laboratories enable high-class testing and optimization of water treatment and reuse applications, as exemplified with the DOW Ultrafiltration pilot unit. 

 

Research related to areas such as improving quality of desalinated water, minimizing costs and energy consumption, extending the useful life of membranes and increasing the materials’ efficiency is deployed in various pilot units able to asses up to 40 products at real-world scale in order to test all new technologies and applications before their launch to the market. - TradeArabia News Service