This new cleaning method could prevent water treatment facilities from disposing of millions of cartridge filters each year, helping them to reduce their plastic waste and achieve their sustainability objectives.
Over time, the sediment collected on cartridge filters creates physical and chemical fouling, which causes their performance to drop. As a result, reverse osmosis (RO) plant operators need to conduct periodical cartridge filter replacement to maintain optimal membrane performance and are constrained to sending the old filters to landfill. In some plants, cartridge filter replacement occurs several times a year or even monthly, resulting in not only cartridge costs but also in substantial losses due to the downtime required for filter replacement. Some plants may have up to 20,000 cartridge filter units, making replacement time very significant.
“A world thirsty for water, desalination and water reuse solutions must be accompanied by continuous improvements, and pre-treatment solutions that have been neglected for many years,” said Frédéric Dugré, president and CEO of H2O Innovation. “Our laboratory in Madrid, Spain, which is specialized in membrane performance and filtration, has performed over 1,700 membrane autopsies. This expertise has led H2O Innovation to apply the same chemical cleaning solution to cartridge filters, allowing a greener and more sustainable process.”
