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Case

Wastewater management

Water management

Reuse of industrial wastewater at a low cost

6. January 2021

Solution provider

Aquaporin

Aquaporin works to preserve the Earth’s most valuable resource – water – by combining advanced bioengineering, open innovation, and natural aquaporins, nature's own water purifiers, which they embed into water purification membranes and solutions. The proprietary technology, Aquaporin Inside®, is based on Nobel Prize-winning research and used to clean and reuse water in industries, in our homes, and even by NASA in space. Aquaporin works with customers and partners around the globe to responsibly treat industrial wastewater, concentrate food and beverage products, and enhance drinking water quality and accessibility.

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Challenge

As a result of water scarcity, many industries today are under increasing pressure from consumers, regulators and investors to shift towards a more sustainable use of water.

Solution

One of the strategies is Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD), in which all wastewater is cleaned and reused within a factory. ZLD strategies for minimising wastestreams are already possible but extremely resource consuming. By using forward osmosis, it is possible to extract very high quality water by only using a small fraction of the energy associated with evaporators and reduced CapEx via the utilisation of non-exotic materials for construction.

Results

The company Forward Water Technologies has developed an industrial wastewater treatment pilot plant, which uses Aquaporin Inside® forward osmosis membranes to clean and recycle water. Doing so has allowed them to demonstrate a wastewater volume reduction typically of 70 per cent and greater than 92 per cent in some applications. The pilot plant is currently operating with streams from oil & gas production. However, the learnings from this application can be transferred to other industries – e.g. the textile industry, which is one of the most water consuming and polluting industries. Using forward osmosis can, in some cases, lead to under 2 years payback

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