Testing starts on new French wastewater membrane

Testing has started on the first fibres to be developed under the French NEOPHIL project, which aims to develop a hollow-fibre membrane for urban wastewater treatment and reuse and set up a producing industry in France.

Launched late in 2011, the project is funded by the EU, the Mid Pyrenees region and the government’s Fonds Unique Interministériel. It is being coordinated by Toulouse-based Polymem, a manufacturer of hollow-fibre membranes based on permanently hydrophilized polymer and of integrated filtration modules.

Other partners in NEOPHIL are:

  • Arkema – manufacturer of resistant polymers and hydrophilizing copolymer blocks)
  • ESPCI Paris Tech – research and innovation educational institute
  • Institut Européen des Membranes – Montpellier
  • Veolia Environnement Recherche et Innovation
  • In its first announcement since the commencement of the project, the NEOPHIL group says that the project, based on French academic research institutes, associates leading French small and medium-sized enterprises and major companies with unique expertise in membranes, water and chemistry, perfectly positioned in France and abroad.

    In these strongly and durably growing markets, the group believes, the arrival of the NEOPHIL membranes is a technological breakthrough that will allow the chain of French companies to win a world leader position.

    “This technology will appeal to large urban centers, areas where water is scarce,” says the announcement. “This membrane treatment will create a new alternative source of water that can be used for urban use (street washing, watering of parks) and also for industrial process waters (such as papermaking), agricultural use or groundwater recharge.”