Water and Fluid Separation News
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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)
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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,
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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
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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
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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
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December 08, 2011
This week the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined a carbon steel foundry in Wisconsin $95,480 for willfully overexposing their workers to crystalline silica, a known carcinogen. Ironically, this news comes shortly after a group of citizens petitioned the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNS) to adopt more stringent rules governing emissions of respirable crystalline silica. Crystalline silica is a particularly dangerous air pollutant because it is a basic component of soil, sand, brick, granite and other common materials. As a byproduct of many everyday industrial processes like mining, construction, and glass manufacturing, it is a ubiquitous presence for some workers. Industrial processes that involve abrasive blasting or the use of sand and quartz are also sources of crystalline silica exposure,
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December 05, 2011
In order to keep costs down many companies perform in-house testing on the lubricating oil and hydraulic fluid in their machinery to monitor it for particulate contamination. While most facilities can’t match the detailed analysis that an oil analysis laboratory can provide, there are some commercially available kits out there that allow users to get a good idea about the quality of their industrial fluids instantly. This process is commonly known as a “patch test” and it includes the use of MCE filters to collect and isolate debris for evaluation (“patches” is a colloquial term for filters in the oil analysis industry). The ISO recognizes the important link between contaminated oils and component life and has published a cleanliness code as well as various standard methods, such as ISO 4406:1999, that testers can reference to determine how much particulate is acceptable. For the filtration aspect, our customers often use the sterile
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November 28, 2011
The Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure as described in EPA Method 1311 is designed to determine the mobility of organic and inorganic analytes present in different forms of waste. This procedure involves extracting and filtering waste samples using specific types of glass fiber filters and extraction vessels. When following this procedure, there are two kinds of vessel that can be used to extract samples for analysis, the bottle extraction vessel and the zero-headspace extraction vessel. Which type of vessel you use depends on the volatility of the analyte being sampled. Nonvolatile analytes can be tested using a bottle extraction vessel, while the zero-headspace extraction vessel must be used when testing for the mobility of volatile analytes. Examples of volatile analytes include: acetone, benzene, methanol, toluene, and vinyl chloride. The EPA Method specifies that the filter for both liquid and solid waste (the latter is filtered after solid phase extraction) be a 0.6 to 0.8
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November 15, 2011A new report from Lux Research indicates that the worldwide market for membranes is expected to nearly double by 2020, from $1.5 billion to $2.8 billion (USD). One of the main reasons for this growth is advancements in membrane technology which will increase their utility. Improvements in fouling resistance and chemical tolerance open the door for membranes to be used in applications that they couldn’t perform before, such as industrial water treatment. Another reason for optimism in the membrane industry is the continued market strength in the industries that purchase membranes. The food & beverage, pharmaceutical, desalination, environmental, and biotechnology sectors all commonly use membranes in their processes and are all expected to continue growing in the United States and around the world. What do you think? Do you see yourself using membranes more often 10 years from now? Also visit Filtration
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October 24, 2011The Environmental Protection Agency announced last week that they are planning to develop standards for wastewater discharges produced by natural gas extraction from underground coalbed and shale formations (a process commonly referred to as “Fracking”). This method of extraction involves fracturing rock formations by injecting them with a pressurized fluid consisting mostly of water, a little bit of sand, and some chemical additives as well. The debate over the possible environmental consequences of fracking is a hot button issue right now, and since its popularity has grown to the point where it now accounts for about 15% of all natural gas production in the US, it is understandable that the EPA wants to look into setting some uniform regulations. Any potential EPA standards in this area can be broken down into two areas: shale gas standards and coalbed methane standards. In shale gas extraction, wastewater is prohibited from being discharged into