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New RO Membrane - Not Degraded
by Chlorine
 BLACKSBURG,
VA -- The problem of separating salt from water has long
been solved by forcing the water through a polyamide
membrane in a process called reverse osmosis (RO). However,
the water can't be disinfected with chlorine because it
degrades polyamid material. Now, researchers at Virginia
Tech have created a new polymer membrane for RO that will
not be degraded by chlorine.
They presented their research at
the 232nd National Meeting of the American Chemical Society
in San Francisco.
“Our RO materials grew out of our
work on proton exchange membrane (PEM) materials used in
fuel cells,” said James McGrath, University Distinguished
Professor of Chemistry at Virginia Tech. “The polymer
structure is similar, but PEM materials are treated with a
dilute acid and the RO materials are treated with a salt to
put them in the neutral form.”
Last year, McGrath’s group
received funding from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to
develop an RO material that would not break down from
chlorine. “We have suggested for some time that PEM
materials could be used so our students quickly began
sending sample materials for testing to Benny D. Freeman,
chemical engineer at the University of Texas, Austin. And
within a year we had a successful material. "People have
been doing RO for 40 years, but not with this new material,”
McGrath said.
Post doctoral Associate
Zhong-Biao Zhang will deliver a paper on how the new
materials are made and how they work at 2:20 p.m. Wednesday,
Sept. 13, in Salon B3 of the Marriott. Authors of “Synthesis
of di-sulfonated poly (arylene ether sulfone) random
copolymers as novel candidates for chlorine-resistant
reverse osmosis membranes (PMSE 494)” are Zhang, Virginia
Tech graduate students Guang-Yu Fan and Mehmet Sankir, Ho
Bum Park, and Freeman at the University of Texas, and
McGrath.
The ONR has expanded the project
to add Don Baird, professor of chemical engineering at
Virginia Tech, to fabricate the membrane. “The material we
created and evaluated in the first year was relatively
thick,” McGrath said. “To be competitive, it has to be a
thin film so the water can pass through quickly -- 10 to 100
times thinner than our present samples. That is not trivial
but we think we know how to do it.”
The Virginia Tech research group
has created an asymmetric membrane. Imagine a rigid foam
with a thin membrane skin. The separation takes place at the
skin and the water passes quickly through the foam's large
pores. Without the foam, the skin or film layer is not
strong enough to withstand the pressure of RO. (Illustration
available at the Virginia Tech research webpage.)
McGrath is now looking for
companies to work with to produce the new material. He
is also working on a different process to separate ethanol
from water. “We think we can make membranes to do that too,”
he said.
Source:
http://www.vt.edu/
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Sterling Group Acquires CST
Industries
Houston, TX -- In August, the Sterling Group, L.P., a
Houston-based private equity firm, has finalized the
acquisition of CST Industries, Inc. ("CST") from CSTI
Holdings LLC, an entity controlled by Don Wagner, CST's
President and CEO, and George K. Baum Capital Partners,
L.P., a Kansas City, Missouri-based private equity fund.
Headquartered in Kansas City, Kansas, CST is a leading
global manufacturer and erector of factory coated metal
storage tanks. The Company's comprehensive product offering
includes bolted and factory welded tanks for use in a wide
variety of applications, aluminum geodesic domes, and
agricultural feed and waste storage systems.
CST serves numerous end markets including water, wastewater,
fire protection, oilfield, agriculture, industrial liquid,
plastics, chemicals, minerals, food, construction materials
and energy. CST's manufacturing facilities are located in
Parsons, Kansas; DeKalb, Illinois; Winchester, Tennessee;
and the United Kingdom.
"This company and its predecessors have manufactured tanks
for over 100 years, and we intend to continue to support
management in their growth plans," said Frank Hevrdejs,
Chairman of Sterling. "We have great respect for Don Wagner,
Ron Stier and the company they have built, and are excited
about the opportunity to partner with CST's management team,
which has proven its ability to grow the business globally
by expanding sales of the company's tanks into new markets."
"CST has had success in growing its business because of its
great employees and the advantages of its products," said
Mr. Wagner, who has been the President and CEO of CST and
its predecessor since 1990. "Ron Stier has been an integral
part of the company for nine years and is well prepared to
lead CST to the next level. This company is a great platform
for growth, and with the financial and operating assistance
of the Sterling Group, the future is very bright."
"It's an exciting time for our business and we are looking
forward to our partnership with Sterling. We clearly share a
common vision of growing our business through satisfying our
customers across our many markets," said Ron Stier, the
recently-promoted CEO of CST. "Don has been instrumental to
the success of CST and, personally, a great partner. We are
pleased he will continue to be active on our Board providing
continued support to our management team."
The acquisition was financed primarily with equity from
Sterling Group Partners II, L.P., as well as a significant
reinvestment by the CST management team. BNP Paribas
arranged debt financing for the transaction.
Source:
http://www.sterling-group.com/ |
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Project Approved : Power from
Pig Waste
 London,
England -- An innovative series of projects that generate
electricity from pig waste in Mexico have been approved
under the Clean Development Mechanism. Climate Change
Minister Ian Pearson welcomed the approval of the 31
small-scale projects, which bring the number of Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM) approved projects with UK
participation to 124.
Mr
Pearson said, "These projects are an excellent example of
how the Clean Development Mechanism can make a difference to
the local economy and standard of living in developing
countries, encourage clean growth, and reduce greenhouse gas
emissions."
He
continues, "Mexico is one of the biggest producers and
consumers of oil, so by using methane to generate clean
electricity and heat on site, these projects are reducing
reliance on a dirty, non-renewable source of power. The
techniques that allow this energy to be produced at a lower
cost can be replicated around Mexico and exported to the
world."
"Pork
production is increasingly shifting to developing countries
and Mexico is a major producer. By pursuing projects like
this one that support producers and local workers, improve
the local environment and contribute to reducing greenhouse
gas emissions, Mexico is playing a major international role
and the UK is proud to support their efforts." Mr. Peason
said.
The 31
Mexican projects use methane gas recovered from pig waste at
piggeries run by Granjas Carroll, and will mitigate 310,000
tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent every year by reducing
reliance on the Mexican electricity grid.
The
environmental benefits include an overall decrease in
greenhouse gas emissions, improved air quality, an
improvement in waste water quality, and potential for its
use in irrigation by neighboring farms instead of being
dumped into clean waterways.
The
projects will also create local skilled jobs involved in
manufacturing, installing, operating and maintaining
equipment and additional employment opportunities in the
agri-industrial sector as a result of using recycled water
for irrigation on surrounding farms.
Website:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/
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Historic
Drinking Water Plant Gets UV Upgrade
 Erlanger,
KY -- The City of Poughkeepsie, New York has announced the
installation of Aquionics UV disinfection equipment to treat the
city's drinking water. The closed chamber, medium pressure
systems provide high efficiency disinfection with online
transmittance monitoring.
The Poughkeepsie Water Treatment
Facility serves a community of nearly 80,000, drawing water from
the Hudson River to meet an average daily demand of 8MGD.
Prior to installing the Aquionics
equipment in March of 2005, chlorination occurred in open
settling basins, followed by filtration. This process required
relatively substantial chemical usage and produced significant
disinfection by-products. With the addition of the Aquionics UV
treatment equipment, the amount of chemicals consumed has been
reduced, lowering disinfection by-products by 15-20%.
The resulting disinfection levels
comply with the new guidelines of the Surface Water Treatment
Rule issued by the EPA. Six Aquionics Photon UV systems function
in parallel to meet the desired disinfection levels. The high
efficiency, medium pressure closed channel design disinfects
with fewer lamps than comparable low pressure, open channel
systems. Each chamber is fitted with UV monitors to measure
actual UV fluence and dose for record keeping. With the addition
of an optional on-line Transmittance Monitor, real time
transmittance values are used to automatically adjust the dose
pacing of the UV system.
A full validation of the Poughkeepsie
system by HydroQual (of Mahwah, NJ) confirmed the predicted
performance of the system. 'We considered alternative
technologies to meet our goals,' explained City of Poughkeepsie
plant manager, Randy J Alstadt: 'The relative cost, a compact
size which fits into our existing facility, and the technical
merit were deciding factors in choosing Aquionics equipment'.
To keep maintenance low, the systems
are equipped with an automatic cleaning mechanism to keep lamp
sleeves free of organic deposits. The units only require
periodic replacement of the UV lamps, a simple operation that
can be carried out by on-site staff.
For more information contact:
Aquionics Inc.
21 Kenton Lands Rd.
Erlanger, KY 41018
Telephone: (859) 341-0710
Web site:
http://www.aquionics.com/
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| Help Forum :
Hot Messages from the Help Forum
People post their requests
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St. Charles Wasterwater
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rwilley@bellsouth.net
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| From the Job
Fair: Division Manager
- Houston, TX
Our client is one of the
leading non-hazardous waste collection companies in the
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will run the largest and fastest growing facility.
Experience must include full
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| About Us :
Water and Wastewater Newsletter
© 1999-2006 Water and Wastewater.com
Home page: http://www.waterandwastewater.com
Joseph Taylor, Editor
Water and Wastewater Newsletter
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::
New RO Membrane Not -
Degraded by Chlorine
::
Sterling Group Acquires CST
Industries
::
Project Approved : Power from
Pig Waste
::
Historic Drinking Water Plant
Gets
UV Upgrade
:: The News Center : More headlines
:: The Water and Wastewater Blog
:: Help Forum
::
Water and Wastewater Plant
Directory : Featured Plant
:: The Job Fair
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:: Ask Tom! Column!
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| Hi Everyone,
RO filters, pig manure and
acquisitions, we have it all in this week's newsletter, read
on!
With over 10,000+ subscribers,
our goal is to provide information
to improve your business by using the resources available on the
Internet.
Thanks,
Joe Taylor, Editor
jtaylor@waterandwastewater.com
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Cluster Systems - Advanced Treatment and Community
Character
Guest article by Dennis F. Hallahan, P.E., Technical
Director, Infiltrator Systems Inc.
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Featured
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Award Winning Separation System Protects MBR
Management of a 1.2 MGD
wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) here reports
successful installation of a solids separation and
removal system which protect membranes in its new,
state-of-the-art membrane bioreactor (MBR) addition.
Meanwhile, immediate maintenance benefits have been
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| Call For
Photographs
This weeks photo is of a 4
million gallon manure tank Octaform Systems built for Karrot
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stay-in-place, concrete forming system encapsulates steel
reinforced concrete, protecting the tank from corrosion.
Photo courtesy Kurt Roberts
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 John
joined Nalco in 1987 after receiving a PhD in Organic
Chemistry and completing a post-doctoral fellowship at
Northwestern University. As a research team leader, he
studied polymer structure-activity relationships, and
established an audit process to identify areas for gaining
new efficiencies and profitability.
He is now a Global Technical
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Center, and providing global support for water treatment.
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