2. Science - With proper reactions in the pretreatment, a particle is created of known size. The membrane has a known pore size. The reaction and the separation are physical in nature, based on science, and repeatable. There is no art involved as with the clarification technique. In addition, pretreatment allows for the lowering of the solubility of the various salts in the process discharge stream. Precipitation of these salts reduces not only the metal content, but it reduces the soluble calcium, aluminum, silica and other salts - providing an excellent filtrate stream for reclamation, when economically viable. The pretreatment chemistries of DTW Systems differ from previous clarification techniques in that it is not a saturated reaction but a stoichiometric reaction. This created a reaction that is controllable and predictable.
3. Less Pretreatment Usage - Due to the scientific nature of the reactions, the usage of chemicals to achieve the desired reaction pretreatment is minimized. There is no need to create a particle that will settle; only a particle with size. DTW Systems incorporates certain organic polymers, not inorganic reagents, such as ferric sulfate. The organic chemistries scavenge the various salts, including soluble calcium, iron and aluminum, often increasing the flux of the membrane system, while lowering the discharge value of the metals.
4. Less Sludge Generation - With more efficient pretreatment chemistry, there is less sludge generated. Additives to increase the weight of the particle such as lime and ferrous are greatly reduced. In addition, the particles are formed with reduced levels of hydration, due to the lack of inorganic chemistry. As such, the generated sludge is less tacky and easy to de-water via a filter press or a centrifuge.
Further, the reduction of inorganic pretreatment allows the sludge to maintain a higher concentration of the desired contaminants, often increasing the value of the sludge for recycling or reclamation.
5. Lower SDI - The membrane effectively removes all TSS, organic loads and insoluble silica. Microfiltration membranes are an excellent pretreatment for reverse osmosis systems. Should reclamation be discussed in the future, the membrane filtrate provides a feed to the recovery system that can often be operated at greater than 70% without adverse operational effects.
While solutions are based upon standard packaging techniques, each system is customized to meet the demands of the customer. The DTW System solution is unique to each application. Existing and new technologies are combined in a unique way to create a solution to a problem. These solutions are flexible so as to be adaptable to changing process requirements.
