Memsys of Singapore/Germany has signed an exclusive global agreement with Concord Enviro of India for use of its membrane distillation (MD) system to treat molasses wastewater from the sugar industry.
The patented thermal vacuum-driven multi-effect MD system (V‑MEMD) is able to treat different feed waters and can use waste heat from industry to provide a high quality distillate.
Over several months, Concord Enviro has been testing the system with different feeds exposing it to high total dissolved solids and high chemical and biological oxygen demand, before deciding to partner memsys at a global level.
Concord Enviro, through its subsidiaries Rochem Separation Systems (India) Pvt Ltd and Concord Blue Technologies Pvt Ltd, has been active in industrial wastewater and solid-waste recycling for over 20 years. With installations in over 100 alcohol/ethanol/yeast based facilities and 500 recycling systems in total, Concord Enviro provides an attractive partner for memsys to move fast to develop a global market for this use.
Prerak Goel, director of Concord Enviro, says, “With zero liquid discharge an emerging need, the memsys technology enables us to provide clean, simple and energy-efficient solutions to industries to reduce overall cost of recycling. Energy is one of the main inputs here, and the ability of multi-effect design in 6‑10 effects even at low capacities is a significant game- changer.”
Between now and the first half of 2013, memsys and Concord will work together to set up the first large-scale field-test system in India, followed by another outside India. Concord Enviro will design, integrate and maintain the systems, and memsys will provide the core process modules and engineering support
Elsewhere, Memsys Tec AG is operating a solar thermal driven membrane distillation plant in cooperation with the Spanish water supplier AGBAR at ITC Pozo Izquierdo in the Canary Islands. The ITC (Instituto Tecnologico de Canarias) is a Spanish government institution where new technologies in the field of renewable and alternative energies are tested.
Similar to the Singaporean Marina Barrage Unit, this is memsys’ second approach towards units designed for disaster applications. At this location, fresh water is produced out of seawater from the Atlantic Ocean.
The memsys unit is placed in a 20 ft (6 m) container which is connected to a field of 12 kW solar thermal collectors. A buffer tank stores the solar energy and allows running the unit even after sunset about 10-12 h/d. Depending on the intensity of the sun, approximately 500 L/d of freshwater can be produced.