The Lanxess membranes are scheduled for launch on the market in early 2012 and are produced at the company’s new manufacturing facility in Bitterfeld, Germany.
The reverse osmosis (RO) membrane elements, the first to be produced by the company, will be used in combination with Lanxess’ existing Lewatit ion exchange technology. Ion exchange resins or membranes can be used to desalinate water for chemical processes or power generation. While membrane technology is very cost-efficient for water with a high salt content, only ion exchangers can purify water with low salt concentrations to the point where purely trace amounts remain. With both methods connected in series, water of the highest purity can be produced even from very poor-quality water.
To help customers use the elements correctly, Lanxess will launch at the same time calculation software to support customer-specific engineering as an addition to the current version of the Lewatit-CalculatION design software for Lewatit ion exchangers.
Applications for the dual system include complete desalination in the treatment of freshwater and the treatment of radioactive wastewater in the primary circuit of nuclear power plants, as well as cooling water or condensation treatment in the secondary circuit.
