BASF subsidiary to provide ultrafiltration technology for Indian desalination facility

Germany-based BASF’s subsidiary ‘inge’ has received a contract to provide ultrafiltration technology for a desalination facility to be built in Jamnagar in Gujarat, India.

As part of the deal, the company will supply around 4,000 modules from the T-Rack 3.0 series, which will allow delivery of around 450,000m³ of pretreated water per day to one of the country’s largest oil refineries.

inge CEO Bruno Steis said: "Onsite pilot testing confirmed that our T-Rack 3.0 ultrafiltration modules meet the very demanding performance requirements in terms of process stability, filtrate quality and yield, especially during the monsoon period.

"Our unique technology delivers a continuous supply of pre-filtered water at a consistently high quality level independent of seasonal fluctuations with high turbidity, thereby helping to reduce the plant’s energy and operating cost significantly."

Water treatment specialist IDE Technologies is constructing the desalination plant. The company will use inge ultrafiltration to protect the sensitive reverse osmosis membranes, as well as to minimise the energy footprint of the facility.

The desalination facility is said to deliver around 170,000m³ of processed water per day, after multiple seawater pretreatment.

The company plans to deliver the modules by the end of this year, while the desalination facility is expected to be commissioned in 2015.

Bruno Steis added: "The Jamnagar project is a landmark in our company’s history.

"It demonstrates that inge ultrafiltration membrane technology delivers exceptional performance at large-scale for multiple industries in need of innovative, sustainable and cost-effective solutions for water filtration."

The ultrafiltration technology from inge will be used to treat drinking water, process water, wastewater and seawater.