Water & Wastewater Asia May/Jun 2021

5 MINS WITH WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | MAY/JUNE 2021
For instance, containerised reverse
osmosis plants, which serve as end-to-end
“plants in a box,” are an affordable, easily
transportable and eco-friendly solution for
some countries — such as islands — that
may not have the infrastructure to support a
large-scale desalination plant.
At IDE Water Technologies, an industry
leader with some of the world’s most
advanced thermal and membrane
desalination plants, the company has taken
steps to reduce their technologies’ carbon
footprint, eliminate the use of chemicals
and chloramine from their processes and
provide low-cost treatment solutions. They
developed a safe Eco-Reuse process —
implementing a preventive maintenance
that keeps the membranes constantly
clean, eliminating the need for chloramine
dosage and increasing the intervals
between CIP (clean in place). This increases
system efficiency as well as minimises the
environmental impact.
In addition, the company has ran several
successful pilots demonstrating the use of
its brine minimisation technology, which
helps industries to meet increasingly
stringent regulations with regards to the
discharge of brine.
For instance, IDE’s Modular Prefabricated
Design (MPD) provides units that are fully
fabricated and completely tested in the
workshop, with minimal site works, thus
reducing project risk. This shortens delivery
and execution time, so the client’s facility
is up and running sooner than conventional
plants. Minimal infrastructure and civil works
are required and the modular units make for
quick and easy installation.
HOW DESALINATION CAN HELP THE
ISSUES IN ASIA
“In Asia, the issue of water scarcity is
particularly troubling as population and
urbanisation rates rise more rapidly than
any other region in the world. What’s more,
Asia has less freshwater than any other
continent besides Antarctica — placing
significant strain on the continent’s natural
resources. If the supply continues to be
used at the current rate, Asian countries will
experience increased economic instability,
displacement, inadequate food and energy
production and instability,” explained
Tramer.
“Water treatment, particularly desalination,
can withstand all of these issues by
providing a constant, reliable supply of
freshwater that can be equally accessed
by everyone — municipalities, power
plants, farmers and more. Lately, it’s been
growing in popularity thanks to countries
like Singapore, whose commitment to less
reliance on freshwater sources and an
increased focus on eco-friendly solutions
for water scarcity has contributed to greater
acceptance of desalination in the region.”
Tramer also noted that the mining industry
is one of the largest industrial users of water
in the world, particularly in China. As mining
continues to expand in water-stressed Asia,
countries must invest in technologies such
as desalination to eliminate the sector’s
reliance on freshwater. One such technology
is IDE’s MAXH2O DESALTER, a high
recovery membrane-based reverse osmosis
(RO) solution which aims to effectively
reduce brine reject from industrial effluents
treatment plants by ensuring a more durable
and efficient process that overcomes the
limitation of chemical composition of the
effluent and reaches the full potential of
osmotic pressure. To increase brine recovery
of brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO)
desalination plants, the MAXH2O DESALTER
technology integrates a proprietary RO
system with a salt precipitation unit,
which together overcomes the traditional
limitations of brine recovery systems.
“Proper brine management is so critical
to the desalination process, as it helps to
increase water recovery and meet global
demand, while reducing the environmental
impact of brine — the technology’s major
byproduct. For an industry that exhausts
so much water to operate, with such high
demand, its best option is desalination,” said
Tramer.
THE PROGRESSION OF DESALINATION
IN ASIA
According to Tramer, IDE is expecting to
see fewer projects as well as will be smaller
in size. But the company does expect to
see stricter regulations with regards to
discharging smaller volumes of waste,
more demand for reuse and more effluent
treatment for both municipal and industrial
markets.
He said, “IDE is a company that specialises
in the treatment of “tough-to treat” water. As
such, wherever there is a water challenge and
our services are required, we will strive to
provide efficient and cost-effective solutions
to overcome the challenges.”
Currently, the company is promoting and
implementing its new technologies for
minimising brine. They have recently signed
a contract to install a demonstration unit of
their MAXH2O DESALTER solution to support
cooling tower blowdown minimisation and
increase the sustainability of operations of
one of the world’s largest power companies
outside of China, by reusing the recovered
blowdown as water for the 6000 m 3 /day
commercial facility. In addition, they are
working on the submission of two tenders for
large scale plants in Israel, “which we hope
will soon join our existing plants in Israel.”
“Water is one of our most precious
commodities, and touches the lives of
everyone across all stages of life and all
around the globe — from our people to our
cities, our food, and our commodities. Far
too many people do not have access to
clean drinking water and adequate water
infrastructures, and IDE is committed to
improving this situation while also preserving
the environment. We believe that access to
clean water is one of the basic rights of every
person,” shared Tramer.
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