Desalination & Water Reuse - All the latest Magazine Articles

CCD starts a new generation for reverse osmosis desalination

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

D&WR published an article in our August/September 2010 issue announcing Desalitech Ltd's Closed Circuit Desalination. Since that time, the company has acquired the services of Rick Stover (ex Energy Recovery Inc and Oasys Water). Here, he outlines the development of CCD technology since our previous article. This article first appeared in the November/December 2011 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse magazine.

New RO desalination pretreatment membrane traps TEP

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

When www.desalination.biz announced in August 2011 that Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd of Japan had developed a membrane to trap transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) in pretreatment prior to reverse-osmosis desalination, the item attracted a lot of visitors. D&WR, therefore asked Sumitomo for more information about the research and development of this membrane, which is capable of pretreating seawater at a high flux of 10 m/d, enabling low-cost membrane treatment. This article first appeared in the November/December 2011 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse magazine.

Measuring seawater and brine salinity in seawater reverse osmosis

Tue, 3 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT

In 2007 and 2008, Desalination & Water Reuse published a brace of articles on the subject of membrane fouling evaluation using the Silt Density Index and the Modified Fouling index. One of those authors addressed the IDA Congress in Perth in September 2011 on work she has been doing since then looking at salinity and total dissolved solids. She has updated and abbreviated that paper for D&WR. This article first appeared in the November/December 2011 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse magazine.

Split-flow process highlight of Brightwater MBR wastewater reuse plant

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Brightwater, the newest regional wastewater treatment facility owned and operated by the King County Wastewater Treatment Division in the US Pacific Northwest was officially dedicated on 24 September 2011. It features a 36 MGD (136,000 m /d) membrane bioreactor (MBR) used to capacity in a split-flow process which copes with peak hourly flows of up to 130 MGD (492,000 m /d). Without this split flow, the cost of the MBR would be prohibitive. The plant also produces biosolids for compost and agricultural use, and uses digester gas for process and space heating. This article first appeared in the November/December 2011 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse magazine.

ERI chief looking to a bigger future

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Energy Recovery Inc (ERI), manufacturers of energy-recovery equipment for desalination plants, announced the appointment of Tom Rooney to succeed GG Pique as CEO back in February 2011. D&WR caught up with Rooney at the International Desalination Association's World Congress in Perth and asked him how he saw the company's present situation and its future. This article first appeared in the November/December 2011 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse magazine.

Wetsus seeks out breakthrough water innovations

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Wetsus is a not-for-profit foundation located in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. It is a facilitator for trendsetting expertise development and has the ambition to become the European Union (EU) centre of excellence in water treatment technology. Among its 25 research themes are several desalination projects including Electrospray Desalination, Salt Removal via Ionic Liquids and Seawater Preatreatment with Electrodialysis. This article first appeared in the August/September 2011 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse magazine.

NASA, space flight, water recycling and forward osmosis

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

For manned space vehicles and especially for the International Space Station, America's National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) has had to invent and adapt many technologies. Not least among these are those aimed at life support and water supply in particular. In developing these, forward osmosis (FO) is playing a prominent part. NASA Research in FO has demonstrated that it has both spacecraft and terrestrial applications. The terrestrial applications are just now becoming a reality. This article first appeared in the August/September 2011 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse magazine.

How Saltworks has scaled up its desalination process

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Saltworks was featured in D&WR after founders Ben Sparrow and Joshua Zoshi demonstrated a working, bench-scale desalination system powered by concentration gradients at the 2009 International Desalination Association (IDA) World Congress in Dubai. Many expressed skepticism about their suitcase demonstration kit, but, two years on, they are still here and doing fine. This article first appeared in the August/September 2011 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse magazine.

New XPR technology expands ERD market potential

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Frequent starting and stopping for PX energy-recovery devices (ERDs) at a pair of power stations in Denmark, led to troubles with the pressure-exchangers, with one eventually being removed entirely from one train. In March this year, the remaining train was successfully retrofitted with an XPR ERD, which to date is working flawlessly. The author looks at the history of ERDs and the introduction of the XPR device which might open lower energy-cost markets to isobaric energy-recovery. This article first appeared in the August/September 2011 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse magazine.

Adelaide Desalination: Part of solution to safeguard South Australia's water supplies

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

South Australia's government and SA Water are committed to providing reliable drinking water supplies for the future. As part of the state's Water for Good plan to secure water for the future, the government is building a seawater desalination plant at Lonsdale, south of Adelaide, to ensure drinking water is available even in times of drought. The total project cost is Aus$ 1.824 billion (US$ 1.905 billion) and the plant will deliver up to 100 million m /d of water each year - about half of metropolitan Adelaide's annual water demand. A range of drinking water supply alternatives was considered, but desalination was the only climate-independent option, which could help meet the demands of South Australia's changing climate and population growth predictions. This article first appeared in the August/September 2011 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse magazine.

Water Standard's revised strategy paying off

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

In 2008, Water Standard announced itself as a provider of ship-based desalination and water treatment services, primarily for municipalities and industry. But two agreements announced at the end of June 2011 demonstrate how much the company has reshaped its strategy since those early days. The first signing was for a global frame agreement with Shell to develop technology and innovative water-based approaches in support of Shell's enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects worldwide. The second was for the company to collaborate with Samsung Heavy Industries of Korea to on the design and development of vessels to deliver water treatment solutions to the offshore oil and gas sector. D&WR editor Robin Wiseman asked Water Standard's CEO how these latest developments fit the company's strategy. This article first appeared in the August/September 2011 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse magazine.

Future advancements and acceptance of membrane technologies

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

The introduction of membrane technologies including reverse osmosis, electrodialysis reversal, ultrafiltration, microfiltration and membrane bioreactors has transformed the approach water treatment. For the second time, the American Membrane Technology Association (AMTA) is combining its annual conference and exposition (18-21 July 2011) with its Florida-based affiliate, the Southeast Desalting Association (SEDA). The AMTA president ponders where membranes may go from here. This article first appeared in the May/June 2011 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse magazine.

Low-impact solutions sought by new Australian research hub

Tue, 5 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Delegates to the International Desalination Association s World Congress in Perth, Australia, in September will be able to kick off their attendance with a visit to Murdoch University for the opening of the country s new National Centre of Excellence in Desalination. The centre features Australia s first desalination edulab and modular pilot-scale testing facility, and this article provides an overview of the centre and spotlights the work being carried out by one of its key researchers. This article first appeared in the May/June 2011 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse magazine.

Cooling water: CapDI cuts chemicals and consumption

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Among the many innovative desalination and reuse technologies being tried out in the field at present, Capacitive DeIonization is one that has yet to feature in D&WR in a big way. In 2004, Unilever scientists began evaluating CapDI as a built-in water-softening device for domestic washing-machines. Voltea was founded in 2006 to exploit the technology in a broader range of applications. In 2008, Voltea acquired Biosource to consolidate all relevant patents on CapDI technology in one intellectual property portfolio. Capital raising in 2009 and 2010 has provided resources to expand the company. This article first appeared in the May/June 2011 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse magazine.

Execution of a Chinese desalination project at minus 20C

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

How do you design a thermal desalination plant where the driven force is steam with a wide range of pressures? And how can the project cope with hostile environmental conditions such as temperatures that drop below minus 20 C? This article describes how IDE Technologies overcame the challenges of building a multi-effect distillation plant in China, the largest seawater desalination plant in the country to date. This article first appeared in the May/June 2011 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse magazine.

Distributors the key to rapid growth

Tue, 7 Jun 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Genesys International seems to have been around much longer than the ten years they are celebrating in 2011. Based in the county of Cheshire, southwest of Manchester, UK, the company has steadily built its reputation as a developer, manufacturer and distributor of speciality chemicals for the desalination and membrane water treatment market. To mark the company's 10th anniversary, D&WR interviewed its two founders, chairman Ted Darton, and sales director Ursula Annunziata, and managing director Steve Chesters at their Middlewich headquarters. This article first appeared in the May/June 2011 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse magazine.

A sustainable antiscalant for RO processes

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

One of the common complaints leveled at the desalination industry by environmentalists is discharges of brine from plants contain additional amounts of chemicals required to reduce scaling and biofouling. Carboxymethyl inulin (CMI) is an environmentally friendly antiscalant which has proven to be cost-effective in RO processes and therefore could have a positive contribution to addressing this concern. This article first appeared in the February/March 2011 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse magazine.

Fillmore saves water and costs with innovative design and contract

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

When a plant wins a number of regional and national awards, it must have something the rest of the world should take note of. This is the case with the Fillmore wastewater treatment plant, which picked up another award on 9 March 2011, this time a Project Merit award in the 2010 Environmental Business Journal Business Achievement Awards. The secret is state-of-the-art technology, including an MBR plant, UV disinfection and drip irrigation, married to a form of contract that benefitted the city, the contractor and the engineer. This article first appeared in the February/March 2011 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse magazine.

Field results in Namibia and Brazil from new solar desalination system

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Aimed at rural and coastal zones, a new thermal desalination system with heat recovery has been developed and tested in different countries. The system has a desalination tower with multiple stages and a set of solar thermal collectors. This article presents the field results of two systems tested in Brazil, and the numerical results of a design installation for Namibia. For Namibia, six systems are planned with capacity of 400-500 L/d. In Brazil, two systems with a 35-40 L/d capacity were tested. This article first appeared in the February/March 2011 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse magazine.

Membranes reclaim aggressive produced water from California oilfield

Mon, 4 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Increasingly, membrane technologies are finding a place in the oil and gas industry, in the USA and Australia in particular, for dealing with the difficult wastewaters that arise from the extraction process. This article describes how, in a Californian oilfield, a reverse-osmosis process has operated for two years at high pH for the removal of dissolved salts and organics - including sodium, silica, boron and TOC. The treated water is then reused for environmental augmentation purposes. This article first appeared in the February/March 2011 issue of Desalination & Water Reuse magazine.