Reverse Osmosis Elements Provide High Efficiency, Low Energy Seawater Desalination

Dow Water & Process Solutions (USA), a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, is helping power plants, municipalities and manufacturers put the ocean to work. Launched in Americas at the CaribDA 2014 Conference & Exposition, June 24-27, the new DOW FILMTEC SEAMAXX Reverse Osmosis elements help reduce the high amount of energy typically needed to create freshwater from saltwater.

While reverse osmosis is the most widely practiced desalination technology, The Pacific Institute estimates that seawater desalination averages about 15,000 kilowatts per hour per million gallons (3.96 kWh/m3) of water produced, making it one of the most energy-intensive, and therefore one of the most cost-intensive, water treatment processes available.

The enhanced membrane chemistry of DOW FILMTEC SEAMAXX elements helps minimise pressure and energy consumption and provide reliable, long-term permeate quality for single, double pass and interstaged desalination systems.

“Turning seawater into high quality, usable water is a growing trend in the Caribbean to overcome the challenge of water scarcity and water shortages,” comments Felipe Pinto, Americas marketing manager for reverse osmosis, DW&PS. “Our goal is to develop sustainable technologies that provide the region with increased and efficient access to clean water at lower cost, with less impact on the environment.”

DOW FILMTEC SEAMAXX elements have low energy consumption (17,000 gallons per day[1]), and an optimized module design, with 440 ft2 of active membrane surface and interlocking technology that will help maximise the productivity of a desalination system with low differential pressure, low cleaning frequency and high cleaning efficiency. Demonstrating success in producing up to 99.7 percent water purity, and up to 10 percent energy savings and less fouling at high operating flux compared to conventional low energy elements, DOW FILMTEC SEAMAXX elements are an excellent choice for applications that treat medium to high total dissolved solids, brine treatment and high salinity brackish water.

As a dedicated innovator of sustainable water separation and purification technology, Dow will be presenting a case study on June 26th during the CaribDA 2014 conference. Visitors will have the opportunity to hear from Steven Coker, municipal technical leader, DW&PS, on the application of high permeability DOW FILMTEC SEAMAXX elements, and its successful commercial application in a Canary Islands-based desalination plant.

For more information, please visit www.dowwaterandprocess.com.

[1] Standard Test Seawater Conditions: 32,000 milligrams per litre (mg/L), 25ºC, 800 pounds per square inch (PSI), and 8% recovery.