Convergence of the Microfiltration/Ultrafiltration Module Market is Here!

While the manufacturers of microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) modules have been resisting the commoditization of this market, as has happened with reverse osmosis (RO) elements, they have unwittingly brought this upon themselves in the past year.

In chasing the Pall/Asahi MF module retrofit market first Scinor, then Dupont (previously Dow) and

Pall Rack with Asahi UNA-620A Modules

now Toray have all developed a direct replacement module for the Asahi UNA-620A module. This makes the design of an Universal/Open Platform MF/UF Module Rack that can fit 4 different modules easy – one design for all just like a RO skid! The design of the ancillary equipment for backwashing and CIPs still varies between each module to some degree but the hardest part of designing a universal MF/UF system has just been solved. I mentioned this to one of the manufacturers of the retrofit modules at a recent conference and he hadn’t realized how his company was helping to commoditize the MF/UF module market. His company is also helping Pall where in recent years they had been shut out of the market for Universal/Open Platform systems, which are increasingly becoming the norm for new MF/UF installations, but now Pall can say their standard rack is Universal because it can accommodate four different modules…

So, in the process of chasing some quick bucks for retrofitting Pall/Asahi installations, these companies have driven the MF/UF module market faster towards commoditization and ultimately a much more competitive and less profitable marketplace.

I don’t want to oversimplify the ability to interchange these membranes on a MF/UF system, where different cleaning and backwashing requirements have to be understood and designed for and accommodated for in the system programming, plus some of these modules have different integrity testing procedures and membrane surface areas. But Pall has now been given a free pass into the Universal MF/UF system market, a market that over the past 4 years has allowed smaller OEMs using Toray, Dupont and other non-exclusive modules to win a good-sized installations while Pall was excluded.

I haven’t seen a spec yet with all the Asahi membrane clones listed but when doing a presentation at a major engineering firm recently who has championed the Open Platform system, it was not lost upon their membrane experts that this was now possible. I am sure very soon we will see such a spec.

Dupont Acquires Inge and Memcor Membranes to Expand Membrane Portfolio

I can’t not mention the recent big news in the MF/UF market where Dupont acquired Inge membranes from BASF and Memcor membranes from Evoqua over a space of two weeks late September/early October. This gives Dupont three different types of membranes, all that can be used for the same applications. I am interested to see how they promote the different membranes without causing internal conflicts. The word is Memcor was valued for their MBR membrane which Dupont did not have. I am sure the marketing strategy will be revealed at upcoming conferences (I’ll be at their booth at IWC next month)!