Page 6 - Water and Fluid Separation News
-
April 29, 2013
The name Lockheed Martin invokes images of high tech aircraft, secret weapons, and other technologies that seem a whole lot more exciting than a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane. However, Perforene™, Lockheed Martin’s latest innovation, promises to be an exciting new development for RO desalination. It’s made from graphene, an allotrope of carbon where the atoms arranged in hexagonal cells to make a sheet that is only one atom thick. The next thinnest RO membrane is about 500 times thicker than Perforene™. It is the almost impossible thinness of the membrane that makes it so exciting for RO; it takes about 100 times less energy to push water through the membrane when compared to the average RO membrane available commercially today. The Perforene™ membrane was developed by placing holes that are one nanometer or less in diameter into the membrane. These holes are small enough to trap the ions while dramatically improving the flow-through of water molecules, reducing clogging and
-
March 05, 2013After nearly ten years of legal wrangling, the Arizona Snowbowl Ski Resort was given the green light to use reclaimed wastewater to make artificial snow for the first time this winter. It is also the first ski resort in the world to do so, taking its water from treatment facilities in nearby Flagstaff, AZ. It’s definitely a novel use for wastewater and, if it proves successful, it may help combat the stigma against the use of reclaimed wastewater in other applications where human contact may occur. Unfortunately, the first run of snow sprayed onto the slopes was yellow. Face-planting into a pile of yellow snow made from reclaimed wastewater is an icky proposition. Joking aside, the discolored snow raises serious questions about the potential health and environmental impact of spraying wastewater effluent onto the slopes. Some studies have shown that the effluent contains traces of pharmaceuticals, hormones and other chemicals which are not regulated by current water quality laws. The controversy
-
August 16, 2012
In space, no one can hear you pee… But you’ll be able to safely drink it down again after it’s gone through the International Space Station’s Water Recovery System. According to NASA, the Water Recovery System, carried to the ISS by the space shuttle Endeavour, can recycle up to 93% of the water fed into it and reduce overall water consumption aboard the space station by 65%. However, the Water Recovery System has been experiencing problems with calcium fouling, which led NASA to contact Saltworks Technologies of Vancouver, CA. Saltworks was contracted by NASA to build and deliver a pilot device that would test water recovery systems and may potentially be used aboard the ISS itself. If successful, the system will be the latest of Saltworks’ unique water treatment solutions. One such solution is the proprietary Thermo-Ionic process for desalination. This process can reduce energy costs by up to 80% in comparison to more traditional methods such as reverse osmosis. The Thermo-Ionic process
-
July 31, 2012
Aquaporin A/S of Denmark, one of Sterlitech Corporation’s customers, has recently tested their Aquaporin Inside™ technology at the NASA Ames facility at Palo Alto, CA. Aquaporin and their new technology take their names from a type of protein found in the cell membranes of every living thing on the planet: aquaporins. Aquaporin (the company) hopes to use the selectivity of aquaporins (the protein) to create cost-effective and ecologically sustainable new membrane filters to revolutionize water purification and desalination.
The secret to the promise of Aquaporin Inside™ technology is the selectivity of the aquaporins themselves. Embedded throughout any cell membrane, aquaporins are a gateway through which water can pass into and out of a cell but ions and solutes cannot. Aquaporins will even exclude naturally occurring hydronium and hydroxide ions in water. If successful, Aquaporin’s new technology could set new standards in water purity. As our planet’s population booms, the demand
-
April 20, 2012When you flush the toilet do you ever think, “Man, all this good stuff is just going to waste?” Ok, probably not. But in the future your home or office may be partially heated by that human waste, thanks to geothermal sewage. What exactly is geothermal sewage, you cringe? It’s the process by which the heat from a wastewater line is repurposed to heat a nearby facility such as a hotel or apartment building. The heat transfer is accomplished by filtering solids from the wastewater and passes through a heat pump before reaching the building. In China geothermal sewage has already been installed in a few buildings, including the Beijing Train Station. Now a wastewater treatment facility in Philadelphia is beginning the first US trial with this technology. It is a company in Philadelphia, NovaThermal Energy, that is making geothermal sewage possible by developing a proprietary filter material that can efficiently remove waste without requiring pretreatment. Currently the technology requires
-
March 19, 2012
Here’s a cool infographic on water challenges in the 21st century, courtesy of the Waterblog by Suez Environment and the World Water Forum. Fair warning: There are some alarming projections here about clean water shortages. That sort of thing might make you a little sad on this lovely Monday, so here’s a link to some adorable animal videos that you can clear your mind with afterward. Among the many interesting statistics (It takes 11,000 liters of water to make 1 pair of jeans!) is the note that 2% of fresh water is expected to be produced by desalination by 2015. It seems like every other day we’re hearing about a big new desalination facility opening up somewhere in the world, or an advancement that improves the desalination process. One such advancement whose popularity is growing is forward osmosis (FO) for desalination. In short, forward osmosis utilizes natural osmotic pressure to aid in water treatment, therefore requiring less energy and hydraulic pressure. Forward osmosis can also
-
March 15, 2012One of the more intriguing applications for our nylon membranes is in fuel testing, where nylon is the preferred media for the testing methods described by ASTM standards D6217 and D5304. ASTM D6217 governs particulate contamination testing by laboratory filtration of middle distillate fuels. Fuel samples are vacuum filtered past Nylon membrane filters (0.8 micron) and the particulate contamination level is determined by weighing the membranes. ASTM D5304 sets a standard test method for assessing the storage stability by oxygen overpressure of middle distillate fuels. It was based on a test method developed by the U.S. Navy and is often used for their applications. D5304 has become more popular in recent years as the Navy and other organizations are using this method to help determine the storage stability of biofuels. Here this is accomplished by filtering the fuel through nylon membranes (again, 0.8 micron) in conjunction with a pressure filtration vessel. One of the biggest advantages
-
February 07, 2012
An especially pungent use for glass fiber filters is described in the latest issue of the Soil Science Society of America Journal. In the paper, “Influence of Dissolved Carbon and Nitrogen on Mineralization of Dilute Liquid Dairy Manure” two scientists from the University of California examined the wastewater used to flush dairy cow waste for the presence of these elements. On dairy farms in which the milk cows are confined, water is used to flush away the manure and is then stored in lagoons to be treated for coarse solids before being re-applied to crop fields through irrigation. Refuse reuse if you will. One problem with this procedure is that if there is too much dissolved Carbon or Nitrogen in the wastewater it can create groundwater contamination. For this study, the researchers collected wastewater samples from seven lagoons and analyzed them in order to investigate the relationship between the starting levels of Nitrogen and Carbon and the wastewater’s mineralization behavior. Their
-
January 11, 2012A recently completed test in Poland found that enhancing ultrafiltration (UF) flat sheet membranes with an anionic polymer increased the membrane’s ability to purify samples of galvanized wastewater. For this experiment, the researchers tested multiple concentrations of wastewater infused with zinc, nickel, and copper ions against EW and MW designation flat sheet membranes that were infused with a polyelectrolyte, in this case polysodium 4-styrenesulfonate (PSSS) with cation-exchange properties. The result was a more-efficient metal binding agent, enabling 97-99% retention of the target metals. The EW membrane is made with Polysulfone while the MW is a modified Polyacrylonitrile known as Ultrafilic. Both designations ably treated the galvanized wastewater, but the MW membrane did have 2-3 times higher permeate flux values due to the membrane’s higher permeability. In addition to membrane separation, common treatment options for galvanized wastewater include chemical processing and the ion
-
December 28, 2011
In the spirit of reflection we wanted to take a look at some of our favorite posts from 2011 that you may have missed, or may want to revisit for the sake of nostalgia. It’s been an amazing year for us, and we hope everyone out there has made the most of it as well! Here’s wishing you all a Happy New Year!
- Performance Improvement of Cross-flow Filtration for High Level Waste Treatment (Feb. 2011) - Tips on improving your filtration setup from the Department of Energy and Savannah River National Laboratory.
- Bean to Bar at Theo Chocolates (Mar. 2011) - Our own Kristina Shahbazian went on a tour of the only bean-to-bar, organic, fair trade chocolate factory in the USA, located right here in Seattle.
- Legionella Sampling Just Got a Whole Lot Sexier (Apr. 2011) - How the Centers for Disease Control utilized filtration sampling and social media Epidemiology to track an outbreak of legionella bacterium at Playboy mansion's infamous grotto.
- Deadliest Carch: Man-Made Pollution (Jun. 2011) - A collective
