Singapore start-up Memsift Innovations Pte Ltd has received a build own operate (BOO) service contract from a global pharmaceutical company.
Memsift will design, build, own and operate a 1 000 000 L/year liquid waste treatment system for the pharma company by using its proprietary TS-30™ Improved Membrane Distillation (IMD) process. The project will help to save the disposal cost and water for recycling.
“Based on our knowledge, this is the world first BOO project for membrane distillation technology,” said Memsift founder Dr Antony Prince. “This project will be a gateway for us to enter the pharmaceutical industry and we believe this project will bring us more commercial traction for our brine treatment and liquid-waste treatment solutions from the pharmaceutical industries in the region and globally. We are already in discussion with some of the global players in the pharma sector.”
Memsift conducted a case study together with the pharma company using the actual liquid waste where the TS-30™ system reduced the liquid waste volume by up to 95% and the treated water met requirements.
Memsift’s TS-30™ IMD system is based on a patent-pending thermal membrane process that operates at relatively low temperature and pressure compared to the conventional thermal and pressure driven membrane process. The Singaporean company uses a unique hydrophobic hollow fibre membrane (STOMATE®) in the system that allows water in vapour but not in liquid form. Memsift says that as a result, all the non-volatile inorganic salts and particles will remain in the waste effluent and only the clean water will be recovered through the membrane so the volume of the waste effluent will be reduced.
