Water & Wastewater Asia September/October 2022

HOTSEAT
BIO-INSPIRED
AND SELECTED
BY EXPERTS:
The new “Ridge-M”
membrane technology
from Berghof
Berghof Membranes’ Ridge-M technology gains
recognition at the German Innovation Award 2022.
The German Innovation Awards honours
innovative achievements that break new
ground through their added value; projects
that improve lives and contribute to a better
future.
Berghof Membranes aims to enable a
more sustainable industry with innovative
solutions, and in doing so conserve the
world’s precious resources. With the new
Ridge-M technology, Berghof Membranes
can better help their customers to achieve
their goals.
This is because the company’s developers
have been bio-inspired by a natural principle:
With everything in nature constantly evolving,
the company aims to use its available energy
as efficiently as possible.
This principle from nature is the foundation
of all developments at Berghof Membranes.
The latest idea serves as an example of a
new approach to the design of membranes
for industrial water treatment that benefits
customers in several ways.
The inspiration for this technology came
from shark’s skin. After months of testing
in the laboratory and in practice, Berghof
Membranes presents its membrane
technology that harnesses this principle from
nature: Ridge-M.
Multiple sharkskin-inspired ridges in the
length of the inside of the membrane increase
the surface turbulence due to uneven shear
stress distribution. The technology creates
a continuous mixing of solids in the feed
water, delaying the forming of a cake layer
on the membrane surface. Possible fouling
between the ridges is removed easily due to
the combination of turbulence and uneven
shear stress.
The new Ridge-M technology, according
to the first field tests, can boost average
performance up to 50%, depending on the
application and the operating conditions.
It also lowers the average consumption of
energy up to 33% compared to the standard
membranes from Berghof. Chemical
consumption is also reduced.
BERGHOF CONVINCES EXPERTS ONCE
AGAIN
The initiator of the German Innovation Award
is the German Design Council (Rat für
Formgebung), founded by the German
Parliament in 1953. It is considered by experts
as one of the world’s leading centres of
expertise in communication and knowledge
transfer within design, branding and innovation.
It has also been the sponsor of one of the most
recognised design competitions in the world,
the German Design Award, for many years.
The German Design Council has also honoured
the Berghof Group for the fourth time in 2017
and 2019, with the awarding of the German
Brand Award. With it, the German Design
Council aims to position the brand as a
deciding factor for companies in the national
and international competitive environment.
In 2021, the testing technology division of the
subsidiary Berghof Automation was among
the winners of the German Innovation Award
in the machines and engineering category
with its Smart Component Tester (SCoT), also
in the excellence in business-to-business
competition class.
This year, a total of almost 650 innovations
were submitted to the critical judgment of the
German Innovation Award jury, which is made
up of independent, interdisciplinary experts
from industry, science, institutions and
finance. The entries are evaluated based on
the criteria: level of innovation, user benefits
and efficiency.
48 WATER & WASTEWATER ASIA | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022