Brackish water RO system provides clean water to bottling factory

Brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO) systems supplied by US-based sustainable water treatment solutions provider WaterSurplus are providing clean water at one of the largest beverage facilities in North America.

ImpactRO solutions treat brackish water

Developed by WaterSurplus, ImpactRO combines several milestone technological improvements into one system that delivers a significant reduction in membrane fouling, significantly lower operational costs, and improved sustainability.

With a combined flow rate of ~2.5 million gallons a day (Mg/d), this high efficiency/high recovery BWRO system is delivering approximately more than 95 per cent water recovery at the plant.

Mike Piercy, senior project manager, WaterSurplus, told Aquatech Online: "It's an honour to be repeatedly selected by this particular bottler to design and build new water rooms. Our patented ImpactRO system reliably produces the high recovery that they need, and after having delivered several successful projects, we know that this customer values our process knowledge and our team's ability to deliver projects on time and on budget."

BWRO technology taking off in the USA

There are more than 40 ImpactRO systems with a combined capacity in excess of 15 Mg/d either online or due to be installed in United States. A wide range of industries have adopted this new technology. To date, this includes projects at breweries, soft drink bottlers, water bottlers, dairies, meat processors, municipalities, refineries, and various industrial water reuse applications.

Dileep Agnihotri, PhD, chief technology officer, WaterSurplus, told Aquatech Online: "The suite of patented innovations that came together to make our ImpactRO were developed over years of research and development. From the beginning, our goal was to create an efficient RO that would intelligently address the root causes of membrane fouling, extend the life of membranes, reduce energy consumption, deliver high recovery, and minimize system downtime.

He added: "We believe that repeat purchases by major international industrial customers, followed by recent adoption by municipal customers are our best indication that we have succeeded."

BWRO solutions packed with complementary innovations

The ImpactRO systems being used at the plant contain multiple complementary innovations, these include:

• Feed-forward design: This balances the distribution of feedwater across stages and membrane elements throughout the system, reducing the range in flux from the lead element to the tail element. This results in reduced energy consumption and increased recovery while maximizing the lifespan and performance of each element.
• Micro-disruptions: These are intermittent bursts of feed water that clean the concentration polarisation on the membrane surface without disrupting operation.
• Intermittent Variable Recovery (IVR): A strategic and automated modulation of the RO's concentrate recovery valve that enables operators to maintain optimal recovery without placing the RO at risk of fouling when feed water conditions change.
• NanoScope™: A monitoring system that assesses RO performance 15 times faster than traditional monitoring allowing the use of predictive analytics to anticipate and pre-empt membrane fouling.
• Single-point CIP (Clean-in-Place): This enables easy and independent cleaning of each stage, reducing system downtime.

Together, these innovations can deliver up to 96 per cent recovery, a two to three-fold reduction in membrane fouling and system downtime, and a two-fold increase in membrane life when compared with a traditional, multi-stage brackish RO system.