Municipal Wastewater Reuse
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Reuse of treated municipal sewage effluent is becoming increasingly common, especially for industrial applications.
While very few municipalities around the world have wastewater reuse schemes for potable water due to the significant “yuck” factor associated with treating wastewater for drinking purposes, there is growing traction for using municipal wastewater for non-potable applications.
These include agricultural irrigation, green space maintenance (such as golf courses), and as feed for industrial processes. These waters contain high levels of organics and microorganisms, which must be removed for reuse. Further treatment, such as reverse osmosis (RO), may also be required for specific applications like boiler feed water in power plants. Proper pre-treatment is essential to ensure overall system reliability and to minimize operating costs.
Nanostone’s Unique Approach & Benefits
Our Ceramic Ultrafiltration Membranes provide an effective solution for wastewater treatment, addressing both quality and operational challenges:
- Simplified Treatment Scheme: Competing approaches typically use multimedia filtration and polymeric UF (PUF) membranes. Nanostone replaces both in a single-unit operation, simplifying the treatment process.
- Robust: Nanostone’s solution is robust against the variability common in municipal wastewater effluent sources.
- Long-Lifetime Physical Barrier: Nanostone membranes remove microorganisms and coagulated organics that foul PUF and downstream RO membranes.
- Increased Capacity and Efficiency: The CM-151 ceramic UF system increases overall treatment capacity, optimizes process operations by eliminating pre-filtration steps, and provides stable, long-term performance.
Case Studies/Testimonials
Municipal Wastewater Reuse at Baotou Power Plant Case Study
- Challenge Overview:
The Baotou power plant faced the challenge of increasing water scarcity, prompting the need to evaluate the use of impaired water sources. The pre-treatment of effluent from a local sewage treatment plant was complex and expensive to operate, requiring an efficient and cost-effective solution. - Nanostone Solution:
The power plant implemented the Nanostone CM-151 ceramic ultrafiltration membrane system. This system provided a trouble-free option, reducing the complexity of pre-treatment steps, improving efficiency, and increasing flux 3-5 times compared to conventional polymeric UF membranes. The CM-151 system also lowered overall maintenance requirements while ensuring reliable performance for a lifetime 2-6 times longer than polymeric UF systems. - Benefits Achieved:
- Increased design flux by 3-5 times compared to conventional polymeric UF membranes.
- Extended membrane lifespan by 2-6 times, reducing the need for frequent replacements.
- Significant cost savings, projected to save over $700,000 USD annually in water savings.
- Reliable operation with minimal cleaning and oversight, ensuring consistent performance.
For more details, visit Chemical Refinery project page
Chemical Refinery Case Study
- Challenge Overview:
A chemical refinery in Qinghai, China, struggled with high turbidity and biological fouling in its RO system, leading to frequent membrane failures. - Nanostone Solution:
Replacing polymeric UF membranes with Nanostone’s ceramic UF membranes significantly improved water quality, reducing SDI levels to less than 3 and turbidity to less than 0.1 NTU. - Benefits Achieved:
- Consistent SDI below 1.5 and turbidity below 0.2 NTU.
- Increased reliability and operational efficiency.
- Improved water quality feeding into the RO system, reducing overall operational costs.