H2O Innovation commissions its biggest ultrafiltration project

H2O Innovation has commissioned a 45,400 m³/d ultrafiltration (UF) project for the Clifton Water District, Colorado under a design and build project – its largest to date.

“Through this project, H2O Innovation is proving that the open-platform FiberFlex, a customer-oriented flexible concept we started promoting in the market place 24 months ago, is indeed a success from a technical and commercial standpoint”, said H2O Innovation vice president projects and engineering, Denis Guibert.

The plant produces potable water taking feed water rom the Colorado River and the Grand Valley Canal.

H2O Innovation has 15 FiberFlex UF facilities being designed or in operation, with a total capacity greater than 208,000 m³/d. Of these, four are over 38,000 m³/d. The company said this showed that its technical and commercial model for a renewed ultrafiltration market applied to small and large facilities.

The company has a larger UF installation currently being built - a 113,500 m³/d facility at Montevina, California.

The Clifton facility includes eight identical UF skids to treat settled water. The design further incorporates constant flow management on the UF system to facilitate control of the pre and post treatment units as well as chemical dosing systems.

The project was a retrofit which, H2O Innovation said, created additional engineering challenges. Plant construction had to be scheduled within an operating facility to coincide with the low-flow winter months. According to H2O Innovation the project was completed in less than a year from purchase order.

“The FiberFlex technology integrated perfectly into our complex renovation project and it protects our investment in membrane infrastructure which were key requirements for us. The system and manufacturing quality, project delivery and on-site support have been outstanding,” said Clifton Water District manager, Dale Tooker.

The FiberFlex racks accommodate several types of ultrafiltration modules – similar to spiral wound membrane systems said H2O Innovation.