The facility, which processes cotton fibre to produce rolled cellulose, is replacing its ageing settling ponds, clarifier and sand filtration treatment system with a PURON HF submerged ultrafiltration system from Koch Membrane Systems.
The upgraded facility is designed to produce a continuous flow of just over 2 million gallons per day from a mixed stream consisting of 20% recycled whitewater and 80% well water.
Fibrous residuals in the whitewater have the potential to clog a standard hollow fibre membrane. The PURON HF submerged membrane product’s single header design allows the sealed top end of the fibres to float freely, removing the potential to clog underneath a top permeate header.
“The innovative design of Koch’s submerged hollow fibre membrane system was the deciding factor in our decision to purchase the Koch system,” said Mark Carroll, water resource engineer with Archer Daniels Midland. “Their system uses a single header design with the fibres potted in only at the bottom and scour air nozzles centrally located in each of the circular fibre bundles.”
