AquaMiner Competitive Advantages
The advantage of the AquaMiner process lies in the robustness of the first microfiltration membrane filter which results in the amount of pre-treatment required being minimal. This pre-treatment comprises gross solids and some oil and grease removal. Typically this is achieved through a 200 micron screen but this can be sized according to the quality of the inflow.
Typically other membrane systems use membranes such as nano and ultra filtration which require much more extensive pre-treatment adding both capital and operating costs to the unit. Further the small pore sizes with these membranes require higher pressures and thus more energy consumption. It is claimed that the use of these higher cost membranes improves the filtrate quality going to the membrane system. However, there is no significant change in RO performance by using our microfiltration system.
The AquaMiner’s RO is similar to other plants providing a high level of salt rejection and removal of viruses and most other chemicals.
The AquaMiner 3 stage process is simple and cost effective and has achieved a very high level of water quality without the use of chemicals or biological processes.
Other Reuse or Reclamation Systems
Other systems use either a chemical treatment system or partial biological system in conjunction with a membrane system.
Chemical treatment
Usually this comprises either a direct flocculation process using iron salts or a dissolved air floatation process using PAC or other polymers.
This is an effective way of removing suspended solids but has the following disadvantages:
 |
Large tank for the reactions or settling |
|
Chemical consumption is relatively high |
|
Sludges are difficult to handle and dispose of |
The advantage of the AquaMiner process is that it is able to deal with a wide range of water qualities and does not rely on a biological process. It can be interrupted for changes in flows and operations without major consequences for operations.
|
