Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Ultrafiltration Module Market Still Hard to Grasp for Some


Encouraging Signs that Engineers/Owners are Gradually Catching On
Two recent RFPs for pilot studies for future large (30-50 MGD) MF/UF installations were encouraging in that they were open to piloting modules from some of the relatively newer market entrants, but also highlighted that there is still some work needed to educate many engineers and system owners on how an Ultrafiltration system is built using these modules. It really isn’t that complicated if you are familiar with the RO/NF market where the manufacturers of the membranes are suppliers to the OEMs/System Integrators who build the functioning systems and who bid the projects.

Dow UF Modules on a System Built by Wigen Water Technologies
One of these RFPs was for a large drinking water facility and it was sent out to the likes of Dow and Toray asking for pilot plant information and reference sites. Of course both of these companies then contacted my company (and likely other OEMs who have used their membranes) to see if they could use our pilot plant and provide reference information for the systems we have built using their membrane modules. We are now working directly with the City to conduct a pilot study with one of these modules.
The other RFQ is for a future large wastewater filtration system and the City has obviously made an effort to invite all of the MF/UF module suppliers to submit a proposal as well as the 'Big Three' membrane system OEMs. This RFQ is still not due for a few weeks and we have already been contacted by three of the module manufacturers asking if we will be submitting a proposal and if so, can we use their module. Obviously this City also does not understand that these module suppliers do not build systems and that they should be targeting the integrators who use these modules. What is really amusing about this RFQ is the scoring process that proposals will be evaluated by. Seventy percent (70%) of the evaluation weighting is based on the financial strength of the company and the strength of the reference list, with higher scoring for larger systems operating for longer periods. Why then waste time and effort in asking for proposals from anyone other than Pall, Evoqua and GE? Are these guys so ignorant that they don’t realize that systems using Dow or Toray modules have only been operating in the US for 3-4 years and are all less than 10 MGD and to my knowledge there are no significant sized systems using Hydranautics or Econity UF modules in the US? They would have to look to Asia or Europe to find any systems of significant size using these modules. I would want to get some sort of indication that the City would be waiving the selection criteria for one of the three pilots to consider something different before I waste any time in submitting a proposal here… At least the City has acknowledged that there are alternative MF/UF modules to those offered by the Big Three but if it is serious about looking at one of the alternatives, the City needs to get better educated on which OEMs/integrators have experience using these modules and develop a more realistic selection criteria that will give these OEMs a chance of being selected.

Despite the confusion over the membrane module marketplace, I do see a silver lining with increasing interest and acceptance of the non-proprietary membrane modules. It is still going to take a while for the majority of engineers and owners to ‘get’ how this new market works and the module manufacturers and integrators who use them need to work harder in educating these designers and end users.

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