Dow Water & Process Solutions (DW&PS) chose Aquatech China 2013 on 5 May 2013 to unveil its FilmTec™ ECO reverse osmosis (RO) membranes to be partnered with ion-exchange.
Dow research on energy efficiency in current RO membranes found that, energy savings could be made through configurational energy and element design. The new ECO elements combine new membrane chemistry and low dP feed spacers to help deliver lower energy costs and reduced chemical consumption when RO is followed by a mixed-bed ion-exchange unit.
Offering exceptional rejection and low energy consumption (99.7% at 150 psi), the DW&PS elements are intended to deliver up to 40% lower salt passage at up to 30% less energy when compared with standard RO elements. The elements are offered in ECO‑400i and ECO‑440i configurations to match RO needs over a broad spectrum.
“Plants that switch from conventional RO elements to FILMTEC ECO join a unique population of thriving plants that have less impact on the environment and less strain on their bottom line,” said Rajat Mehta, global product director for DW&PS. “We are thrilled to provide our customers with exceptional rejection and flow performance, while also positively impacting their ecological and economic footprints.”
DW&PS says that customers using ECO elements have the ability to achieve:
· Improved uptime and reduced chemical use for utility providers;
· Increased rejection at lower feed pressure to accommodate purity needs for electronics manufacturing;
· Savings on energy use and chemical use and increased capacity by improving uptime in the beer and beverage industry;
· Reliable, energy efficient operations with the long-lasting performance required in mobile field location units.