January 2015 - RO, UF, MF Insights 44

Adhesive manufacturers are focused on the spiral wound reverse osmosis (RO) membranes because of the size of the market and importance of gluing. The spiral wound module has grown in market share over the years. The DuPont hollow fiber, which had been leading the RO market in the 1980s and early 1990s, started to lose ground to polyamide spiral wound modules in the 1990s according to an analysis by Jon Johnson and Markus Busch of Dow. They explain that the shift was due to the increasingly fierce competition of a larger quantity of spiral wound module suppliers such as FilmTec / Dow, Rohm & Haas / Hydranautics, Toray, Fluid Systems / Koch, TriSep and Osmonics / General Electric, which significantly reduced module pricing and advanced module concepts. The DuPont concept lost its appeal and the business became increasingly unattractive, which led to the exit of DuPont from hollow fine fiber module production. In most parts of the world, plants have converted from hollow fine fiber module use to spiral wound modules. Prominent examples for seawater plants are Galilah (United Arab Emirates), Agip Gela (Italy) and Agragua Gran Canaria (Spain).

Adhesives are a critical and integral part of the construction. A FILMTEC element contains from one to more than 30 membrane leafs, depending on the element diameter and element type. Using FilmTec’s unique automated manufacturing process, each leaf is made of two membrane sheets glued together back-to-back with a permeate spacer in-between them. FilmTec’s automated process produces consistent glue lines about 1.5 in (4 cm) wide that seal the inner (permeate) side of the leaf against the outer (feed/concentrate) side. There is a side glue line at the feed end and at the concentrate end of the element, and a closing glue line at the outer diameter of the element. The open side of the leaf is connected to and sealed against the perforated central part of the product water tube, which collects the permeate from all leaves. The leaves are rolled up with a sheet of feed spacer between each of them, which provides the channel for the feed and concentrate flow. In operation, the feed water enters the face of the element through the feed spacer channels and exits on the opposite end as concentrate. A part of the feedwater – typically 10-20 % – permeates through the membrane into the leaves and exits the permeate water tube.

Manufacturers are constantly making improvements. Hydranautics states that adhesives have been developed which allow these important improvements:

· automation of the glue lines for improved quality and available active membrane surface area in RO element construction,

Adhesives suppliers find that this is both a large and growing market with a premium on performance. This translates into higher potential profit margins.

The sales of cross-flow membrane equipment and consumables will grow robustly over the next four years and reach $19 billion in 2019. This is the prediction of the McIlvaine Company in RO, UF, MF World Market. There are a number of drivers for the growth not only in reverse osmosis (RO) but also microfiltration, nanofiltration and ultrafiltration.

• Reduced available water per capita. The world population continues to grow. Industry and agriculture consume more water. Due to pollution and other factors, the amount of available potable water is not increasing.

• Growth in ultrapure water demand at power, semiconductor and pharmaceutical plants.

Countries with the lowest amounts of rainfall per capita are among the fastest growing. Within countries there is a continuing population shift to more arid regions e.g. shrinkage in the Northeast U.S. and growth in the Southwest. There are two sources of additional water supply. If the region abuts the sea, desalination becomes an increasingly attractive option. Water reuse is often the most economical option. The average power plant is near enough to a municipal wastewater treatment plant to economically utilize the discharge. However, cross-flow membrane technology is required to bring the water up to the quality needed.

The fastest growing market for cross-flow membranes revolves around gas turbine combined cycle plants. Low cost gas is making these generators the choice for the majority of power plants. The cross-flow membrane technology is needed to provide the ultrapure boiler feedwater and also to purify the wastewater from cooling and other processes.

There are some very attractive niche areas. The use of cross-flow membranes in biotechnology and other pharmaceutical processing is increasing. The membranes provide product separation. The food industry also uses cross-flow membranes in dairy, wine and other production operations. The oil and gas industry has increased its cross-flow membrane use due to the need for hydraulic fracturing in the extraction process.

Oil and Gas Project Tracking is available at a discount to RO, UF, MF World Markets subscribers.

Treatment chemicals are an important addition to most oil and gas processes. Access to details on worldwide oil and gas projects is provided at a substantial discount to RO, UF, MF World Markets subscribers.

Energy Transfer Partners and Regency Energy Partners to Construct Third Fractionation Facility at Mont Belvieu

The Other Oil Sands Fight in Utah with Possible Solution to Lower Environmental Impact

Oilsands Lead not seeping into Rivers According to University of Alberta Lab Tests

Canada’s Oil Sands Industry Goes on Offensive after Facing Escalating Pushback

ICA Fluor Awarded Fabrication Contract for Shell's Carmon Creek Heavy Oil Extraction Project

Propylene Unit Reaches Capacity in Russia due to UOP C3 Oleflex™ Process Technology

Chevron Phillips Says Petchem Industry Should Enhance Connectivity with Social Media

Venture Global LNG Announces Calcasieu Pass Export Facility in Southwestern Louisiana

Freeport LNG Closes Financing, Begins Construction of Initial Two Liquefaction Trains

LNG Canada Selects GE Oil & Gas LMS100 Gas Turbine-Compressor Technology for Proposed Kitmat Facility

5th and final installment: Exclusive Platts Series on China’s Shandong “Teapot” Oil Refineries

This monthly update is devoted to wastewater infrastructure news around the world, outside of the United States and Canada, and is meant to complement McIlvaine's RO, UF, MF World Markets Updates.

This includes only projects where there was an update during the month. There are thousands of projects in the database.

New power generation projects are tracked in two publications. Fossil and Nuclear Power Generation includes both market forecasts and project data. World Power Generation Projects has just the project data.

Location	Location Comment	Project Title
AL	West Jefferson Co.	J.H. Miller 4-Alabama Power
AL	West Jefferson Co.	J.H. Miller 3-Alabama Power
AZ	Springerville	Springerville 2-Alamito Co.
CA	Bakersfield	Constellation/Ultrasystems 1
CA	Bakersfield	Constellation/Ultrasystems 2
Canada	Alberta, Genesee	Genesee 1-Edmonton Power
Canada	Alberta, Genesee	Genesee 2-Edmonton Power
Canada	Nova Scotia, Trenton	Trenton 6-Nova Scotia Power
Finland	Seinajoki	Vaskiluodon Voima Senajoki Plant
France		Electricite de France
GA	Forsyth	Scherer 4-Georgia Power
Germany		Wilhelm Pieck 5 Jaenschwalde
Germany		Wilhelm Pieck 1 Jaenschwalde
Germany		Wilhelm Pieck 2 Jaenschwalde
Germany		Wilhelm Pieck 3 Jaenschwalde
Germany		Wilhelm Pieck 4 Jaenschwalde
Germany		Wilhelm Pieck 6 Jaenschwalde
Germany	West Berlin	Moabit-Bewag/Berlin
IN	Rockport	Rockport 2-Indiana & Michigan Electric
India	Bombay	Trombay 5-Tata Electric Companies
Indonesia	near Jakarta	Cikarang Industrial Estate power plant expansion
Indonesia	West Java, Ciligon	Suralaya 1 Perusahaan Umum Listrik Negara
Indonesia	West Java, Ciligon	Suralaya 2 Perusahaan Umum Listrik Negara
Kenya		Nairobi diesel plant
KY	Trimble Co. Bedford	Trimble Co. 1-Louisville Gas & Electric
LA		Willow Glen 3-Gulf States Utilities
MD	Anne Arundel Co.	Brandon Shores 2-Baltimore Gas & Electric
NC		Buxton 1-5-North Carolina Elec. Mem. Corp.
OH	Moscow	Zimmer 1-Cincinnati Gas & Electric
Philippines	Calaca	Calaca-National Power Corp.
Taiwan	Taichung Harbor	Taichung Harbor 1-Taiwan Power
Taiwan	Taichung Harbor	Taichung Harbor 2-Taiwan Power
Thailand	Lampang	Mae Moh 9-EGAT
TX	Robertson Co. Hammond/Calvert	TNP One 1-Texas/New Mexico Power
TX	Robertson Co. Hammond/Calvert	TNP One 2-Texas/New Mexico Power
WI	Port Washington	Port Washington 4-Wisconsin Electric Power
WI	Port Washington	Port Washington 1-Wisconsin Electric Power
WI	Port Washington	Port Washington 3-Wisconsin Electric Power