’21 Membrane Technology Conference Exceeds Expectations – The Wrap

With almost 600 attendees, around 200 more than expected, the 2021 Membrane Technology Conference (MTC) at West Palm Beach, July 19-23, was a resounding success! While this show normally has 900-1200 attendees, getting 60% of this number was a fantastic result for the first National water industry conference since the Covid cancellations (this show was cancelled the week before it was due to be held in early March 2020).

So why was MTC such a success?

For me, it was seeing the beaming faces of colleagues reuniting face to face after 18 months or more of working at home. The networking opportunities that can’t be replaced by Zoom calls. The large parties of conferences past were not held but the outdoor bar at Copper Blues became a popular hangout after dinners each night.

While the technical program had a few less sessions, the quality of the presentations I went to was excellent. One thing I noticed that was a lot different from other years was a lot livelier discussion after presentations – maybe people were bursting to be heard after being locked up for so long. Whatever the reason, it was great to hear these discussions.

There were less exhibitors this year, maybe 70% of other years, but the turnout was still strong and provided a great opportunity for delegates to catch up with manufacturers. Representatives from some manufacturers who didn’t exhibit were still present. Of course, there have been a lot of acquisitions since the last MTC in March 2019, so for instance, Dupont, Inge and Memcor shared a large booth for the first time.

 I think the timing also helped with a late surge of registrations. In late June/early July the country was very optimistic about vaccines slowing Covid and the Delta variant was in its early stages.

 What was new?

The hottest technology trend that I saw was a large number of presentations on novel high recovery RO processes that are now being adopted full-scale. We have heard of CCRO applications at past shows and also this one, but we are now hearing of Pulse Flow RO and Reverse Flow RO starting to be scaled up, so the folks at Dupont/Desalitech may have some competition in the near future. I still think these are niche technologies that are a fit in certain situations and not yet mainstream technologies, but I’m open to changing my mind as more data from different applications at full scale installations becomes available.

Congratulations to AMTA/AWWA for taking the risk with the first national in-person water conference since the Covid shut-downs and pulling off a great show! With this years MTC delayed 4 months due to Covid, it wont be long until MTC22 in Las Vegas, February 21-15. I can’t wait!