Dow Water completes pilot of its commercial ultrafiltration modules in Spain

Dow Water & Process Solutions (DW&PS), a unit of Dow Chemical, has completed successful pilots of its ultrafiltration modules at its Global Water Technology Center in Tarragona, Spain.

During the pilot test, the modules have delivered continuous, quality feedwater to Reverse Osmosis system downstream for almost a year during the testing period.

It had also reduced the overall costs of operation at the centre, Dow said.

The pilot was aimed to evaluate feedwater quality produced by the DOW Ultrafiltration system.

It is expected to help the company in developing a wide range of Ultrafiltration technologies and to improve its existing offerings, and is in line with its commitment towards research and development (R&D).

The ultrafiltration commercial modules were used for pre-treatment for the Reverse Osmosis system downstream for over 300 days of the testing period.

The pilot was considered successful as it confirmed sustainable and stable operation of the product in a real wastewater reuse application with fairly high organic content.

DW&PS EMEA technical service and development manager Verónica García said: "This type of pilot experiment does not usually last more than few weeks and, therefore, the long duration of the DOW Ultrafiltration piloting emphasises the company’s long-term commitment to product development and continued research."

The firm had used DOW Ultrafiltration SFP-2880 system for the pilot programme. It was fed with secondary effluent from the Vilaseca municipal wastewater treatment plant in Tarragona, Spain to derive authentic results from real wastewater conditions.