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Targeting Chinese Market With World's Highest-level NaCl Rejection
Nitto Denko/Hydranautics Develops New Reverse Osmosis Membrane Element "PROC10" for Pure Water Production
7.14.2006
Japan’s leading diversified materials company Nitto Denko Corporation and its California-based wholly owned subsidiary, Hydranautics, have begun full-scale commercial production of "PROC10" an innovative reverse osmosis membrane element for pure water production newly developed by the two companies. Achieving the highest NaCl (salt) rejection in the membrane industry with PROC10, Nitto Denko/Hydranautics aims to secure industrial-use pure water supplies from raw water containing high levels of NaCl and contaminants in China which is facing serious water shortages.
Background of the Development
The Chinese market for pure water produced by reverse osmosis (RO) elements has increased significantly against the backdrop of that country’s increasing industrial growth and development. Pure water production requires removing as much salt as possible from raw water sources such as ground and river water. In general, salinity concentration of raw water in China is increasing due to serious water shortages. Such a tendency is driving the demand for RO elements with high "rejection" performance for high salt removal.
In addition, the market requires long-term performance stability of RO membrane elements. According to analysis conducted by Nitto Denko/Hydranautics on problems encountered with pure water production systems at customers sites, it was found that more than half of the problems were a result of element fouling due to contaminated raw water during operation. Some of the systems also experienced problems with element damage due to overly demanding operating conditions.
Taking the actual cases of performance trouble as a reference, Nitto Denko/Hydranautics developed the new PROC10 to help mitigate the performance risks. They are actively marketing PROC10 as a product offering stable operation without problems such as fouling or damaging the RO elements, and fulfilling the basic customer requirement of achieving high salt rejection.
Product Feature
(1) World’s Highest-level NaCl Rejection
PROC10 features 99.75% NaCl rejection (under the company’s standard test conditions), which means that it reduces the amount of NaCl passing through the RO elements by 20%, compared to conventional water treatment products. The 99.75% salt rejection is the highest level in the world for RO elements that are used to remove NaCl from ground and river water.
(2) Raw water in China tends to contain high levels of various substances that foul RO membrane elements.
For that reason, fouling of the elements may result in their failure to demonstrate the prescribed level of performance during operation. Instead of the normal feed spacer that is used to secure feed channels, PROC10 has a new and patented feed spacer that provides a unique structure which make it difficult for the foulants to remain trapped causing fouling in the RO elements.
(3) Improved Chemical Resistance of RO Membranes
Once RO elements become fouled, they need to be cleaned with chemicals to remove the foulant. PROC10 features improved chemical resistance of its membrane allowing cleaning with stronger chemicals than those typically used.
(4) Air Purge System
RO elements are typically installed in pressure vessels before their use. In cases where the air between the elements and the vessels is not adequately purged, the elements can be badly damaged. In order to help correct this problem, PROC10 uses an air purge system that smoothly discharges the trapped air between the elements and the vessels, preventing damage to the element.
Sales Target
The estimated annual sales of PROC10 in fiscal year 2008 is two billion Japanese yen in China.
Outline and Future Direction of Nitto Denko’s Water Treatment Business
Leveraging one of the most cutting-edge technologies in the world, Nitto Denko/Hydranautics has the world’s biggest share in the market for RO membrane elements to produce ultrapure water for industrial and public use. Nitto Denko/Hydranautics is a leading company with a broad range of experience and considerable expertise in the water treatment market, specifically in the fields of ultrapure water, seawater desalination and wastewater reclamation.
Not stopping at the new development of PROC10, Nitto Denko/Hydranautics will continue to strengthen its product offering for microfiltration, specifically for Membrane Bio Reacor (MBR) applications, and ultrafiltration membrane elements for pretreatment use. They will also continue to develop RO membrane elements for the growing seawater desalination and waste reclamation markets. Their complete product offering will provide total integrated membrane solution (IMS®) designs for customers in the water treatment business.
Reference Material
Principle of Reverse Osmosis
If a dilute solution and a concentrated solution are placed in a container partitioned by a semi-permeable membrane, due to the difference in osmotic pressure between the two solutions, the solvent passes through the membrane from the dilute side to the concentrated side so that the two dissimilar liquids separated by the membrane try to reach the same concentration of the liquids as shown in Figure 1. This phenomenon is called "osmosis".
The process of "Reverse Osmosis (RO)" is to make the solvent pass through the semi-permeable membrane from the concentrated side to the dilute side by applying greater pressure than the osmotic pressure to the concentrated side as shown in Figure 2. This principle of RO is applied to membrane separation process of RO membrane elements.
Internal Structure of RO Membrane Element
PROC10 has a cylindrical shape shown in Figure 3 and its internal structure is presented in Figure 4. An RO membrane element is comprised of membrane sheets, permeate spacer and feed spacer material all wound in a spiral around a pipe called a core tube. The membrane sheets and the permeate spacer are combined to create membrane packets. The permeate spacer which is placed between two membrane sheets provide open flow channels for the flow of the pure, filtered water (also called permeate after water permeating membranes). The feed spacer is layered between the membrane packets providing space, or a clearance gap, for the flow of the feed water. Feed water that is pressurized more than the osmotic pressure flows into the feed flow channels secured by the feed spacers, and then passes through the membrane surface. The filtered water permeates through the reverse side of the membranes, flowing along the permeate spacer into the core tube and is finally taken out of the system.
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