PWN Technologies demonstrates world's first Six-CeraMac plant to international top audience
World leading water technology experts gathered in the Netherlands on 8 May to visit the new built Andijk III drinking water treatment plant. They had been invited by PWN Technologies to join a conference on innovative water technology and to preview world's first full scale installation combining ion exchange (Suspended Ion Exchange-SIX) and ceramic membrane filtration (CeraMac).
Both innovative treatment systems are developed by PWN Technologies for the pre-treatment of surface water. In combination with existing UV-peroxide technology and active carbon filtration these lead to a very robust and sustainable production of drinking water.
The Andijk III plant is already running and its capacity will slowly be increased to the planned capacity of 120 million liters per day.
CEO Jonathan Clement (right) asked three partnering utilities why they joined PWN Technologies in developing the new treatment systems (from left to right): James King of South West Water (UK), Aik Num Puah of PUB (Singapore) and Martien den Blanken of PWN (the Netherlands).Three partnering utilities
At the conference three partnering utilities that operate pilots plants with these innovative pre-treatment systems, shared their experiences.
CEO Jonathan Clement of PWN Technologies asked them why they had teamed up. All three mentioned the long term perspective of a potentially robust and cost-effective solution to produce high quality drinking water from increasingly polluted surface water.
Great achievement
Clement told his guests that he sees Andijk III as the most modern pre-treatment installation, integrating completely new technologies. "What we do here is not a little bit different, it is unique in the world. A great achievement for the water industry."
Cindy Wallis-Lage, President Global Water Business at Black & Veatch, qualified the plant as an excellent example of 'disruptive innovation': "This is what makes a difference. It takes a journey to make innovation move faster: integration and sharing of knowledge as well as collaboration. Together we can achieve so much."
Dr. Shane Snyder, Professor chemical and environmental engineering at the University of Arizona: "More companies should consider using this type of technology and scale up, to demonstrate to the world that these technologies are efficient, robust and reliable."
A huge classical vocalist - standing next to one of the ceramic membrane vessels - gave the showcase a festive touch.
High-pressure backwash
One of the topics of the conference was the future development of ceramic membranes. For the Andijk III plant PWN Technologies built 10 vessels (top photo) that contain 192 ceramic MF membranes each.
The vessels are connected to an air pressure system that can instantly backwash the membranes with 5 bar pressure. This makes the ceramic MF membranes less prone to fouling, compared to polymeric membranes.
At the conference many experts praised PWN Technologies for the development of this backwash technology and saw it as a breakthrough for the application of ceramic membranes for water treatment in general.
Clement assured his guests that it is difficult to compare ceramic to polymeric membranes: "They are totally different".
About PWN Technologies
PWN Technologies BV is an international company, being a 100% subsidiary of the Water Supply Company North Holland (PWN). With more than 90 years experience in developing innovative, validated, proven water treatment technologies. The company provides the water supply market with solutions for drinking water treatment. The company is based in the Netherlands and Singapore.
This news item is based on a release on the website of PWN Technologies.
More information
PWN Technologies
Velserbroek, the Netherlands
+31 23 541 3740
www.pwntechnologies.com
Check the video: Andijk III, another world's first in new water treatment technology