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| Part of GWI's List |
In no particular order, here is my list:
1/ Universal Rack for Ultrafiltration/Microfiltration
Membranes
I might be biased here but this concept has really
taken off in the last 6 years, where the availability of a number of similar
UF/MF modules from different suppliers has allowed some OEMs to develop racks
that can accommodate these modules and for the first time allow competitive
bidding for the replacement modules. See a number of my pervious posts describing this
concept in more detail. What makes this development sustainable is that it is not proprietary as a
number of OEMs have developed these racks, which allows competitive bidding to supply these systems, which is
very attractive to municipalities. As noted by GWI, H2O Innovation and Wigen
along with Suez were the pioneers of this concept. While Suez was probably the
first to market their rack, they are a minor player in this market in North
America. GWI listed this development as #5.
2/ Retrofit UF/MF Modules
Hot on the heels of the development of the Universal Rack
has been the introduction of retrofit UF/MF modules; exact replicas of existing
modules in terms of dimensions, so they can be directly swapped out. Pall’s Microza
module has been the main target of these replicas with the first replacement
developed by Scinor followed by replacements developed by Dow/Dupont and Toray.
Scinor has also developed replacements for Toray, Dow and Memcor (now Dupont) modules.
Another target has been GE/Suez’s MBR membranes with several replacement
modules on the market. Pall, Evoqua and Suez have been targeted due to their
large installed base. With the development of retrofit modules and Universal
Racks, the days of making money on replacing UF/MF modules are disappearing.
3/ Multibore UF Membranes
This was listed by GWI at #9. These are inside-out PES
membranes which historically have had a bad reputation in the US due to
integrity issues, but these multi-bore inside-out membranes manufactured by
Inge/BASF (now Dupont) are different and are very tough and rarely break and have
very high permeability. Adoption has been much more widespread outside the US,
but there have still been a good number of municipal and industrial systems
installed here in the past several years. Use on Universal racks is more
limited because these racks are usually designed for outside-in PVDF membranes.
Inge’s module has also had some success as a replacement option for
Norit/Pentair inside-out modules. Dupont’s recent purchase of Inge from BASF
could help increase the marketing reach of this product.
4/ Nanostone Ceramic Membranes
Nanostone’s ceramic membrane module is different from other
ceramic membranes in a number of ways. The membrane is contained in a PVC
housing, just like a polymeric membrane. The cleaning and backwashing regimes
are also similar to polymeric membranes which has allowed Nanostone to retrofit
these modules at installations using existing Pall, Dupont and probably other
modules. As a result, Nanostone likely has quickly accumulated the largest
number of ceramic membrane installations in the US. Other players such as
Metawater with conventional stainless steel housings still only have a handful
of US installations. While everyone likes the durability of ceramic membranes,
the high cost has inhibited widespread adoption. Nanostone’s innovative method
of module construction has helped reduce costs, but these are still a lot higher
than polymeric membranes per square foot of membrane area and Nanostone’s
installations are usually where polymeric membrane fluxes are low due to
challenging water characteristics that don’t impact the ceramic membranes as
much. GWI did not list the Nanostone membrane, possibly because it is still
relatively new on the market and not proven as a long-term technology yet.
5/ Closed Circuit Desalination (CCD)
This is my lone high pressure membrane breakthrough where
this market has been commoditized for some time. Desalitech (now Dupont also - do you see a trend here?) has certainly had success
in rolling out this proprietary high recovery RO process, with a lot of industrial
sales and some municipal sales. I don’t think this is a widespread replacement
for conventional two and three-stage RO systems but rather a niche application
where feed characteristics such as high silica or organic carbon (of wastewater
origin) allow the CCD configuration to get higher recoveries. This was #7 on
GWI’s list.
5.5/ Non-Exclusive MF/UF Modules
This isn’t really a new product or technology development
but the introduction of new MF/UF modules in the past 10 years is worthy of
mention as this has helped develop the market for the Universal UF rack, which
would not be possible if a number of good quality modules were not available to
OEMs. Module suppliers include Toray, Dow/Dupont, Hydranautics, Inge/Dupont, Scinor and Memstar. This has loosened the grip the previous Big Three MF/UF system suppliers
had on this market with their proprietary systems.
I know there have also been some great breakthroughs with
MBR membranes and systems but that is not my area of expertise.
The comments and opinions in this post are my own and not that of my employer.
