water filtration

Siemens Water Technologies has started 2008 with an order from German water supplier Berliner Wasserbetriebe and the acquisition of Singapore-based Chemitreat Group.

Government-owned Berliner Wasserbetriebe's order is worth around €5.8 million and involves the migration of the process control systems in five purification plants. The project is scheduled for completion by August 2010 without any interruptions to operation of the purification plants.

Berliner Wasserbetriebe supplies 3.6 million inhabitants with water and removes the wastewater of 3.9 million people in the region. Over 220 million m3 of water is purified every year in five purification plants with the help of 147 pump stations and a network of wastewater channels with a total length of 9,400 km.

GE Water & Process Technologies has developed electrodialysis reversal (EDR) technology designed to remove salt, radium, arsenic, perchlorates and other potentially harmful contaminants from well and surface waters.

The technology uses an electrochemical separation process that allows the selective passage of ions in solutions and is suitable for a variety of industrial applications, such as cooling and boiler make-up water. The most common EDR applications include municipal drinking water, industrial process water, and wastewater reuse.

EDR offers a high water recovery rate design of up to 94%, robust, chlorine resistant membranes with a long life, reduced waste discharges and low electricity consumption, GE says.

www.gewater.com

Researchers at the University of Illinois, USA, have developed a new generation of biomimetic membranes, which, they say, show significantly higher water transport than existing reverse osmosis (RO) membranes.

The membranes are based on the incorporation of the functional water channel protein Aquaporin Z into a novel A-B-A triblock copolymer. Unlike some biological membranes, polymer membranes are very stable and can withstand considerable pressure, making them suitable for the desalination processes. They are also highly permeable and selective.

The membranes are described in a paper accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

www.uillinois.edu

Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies has developed Actiflo Turbo, a new generation of clarifier for potable and process water. The clarifier, which is a development of the company's established Actiflo clarifier, is suitable for a range for applications requiring high quality treated water. It can also be used in the production and recycling of industrial process water.

The world's first subsea separating system for oil, water and sand, created by a Dutch and Norwegian group, has been presented with this year's EUREKA Lillehammer Award for its environmental benefits. The technology, which was developed by Dutch project leader CDS Engineering in cooperation with partners Statoil and FMC Technologies, can ensure a better use of increasingly scarce resources and improve the economics of offshore oil and gas production.