Lanxess develops new Lewabrane RO membranes

Lanxess Sybron Chemicals will introduce seven new types of Lewabrane membrane separation elements for reverse osmosis (RO) at the 2014 AMTA Conference & Expo to be held 10 to 13 March in Las Vegas, US.

The new 8in and 4in-diameter RO products include LE low energy membranes for energy savings, and FR fouling-resistant membranes for water that receives high levels of discharge. The LE membranes provide high flow and rejection performance and can have surface areas of 85ft², 400ft² and 440ft². The FR membranes use a special 34mm-wide feed spacer to minimise fouling, and can be 85ft², 370ft² and 400ft² in surface area.

The company has also introduced the 4in HF high flow membrane with a surface area of 85ft².

All Lewabrane products comprise a thin-film polyamide composite membrane, wound in several layers to form a spiral-shaped element designed specifically for water treatment applications. The separation elements were engineered specifically for industrial water treatment and are manufactured at Lanxess’ Bitterfeld site in Germany.

Lanxess CEO and president Firuza Mir said: "Our various single ion rejection performance data validates the advantage of the high cross link chemistry within the PA separating layer."

The Lewabrane RO module will include a detailed power consumption module that allows designers to determine the efficiency of power consumption for various RO membrane types and system configurations. The application calculates RO system configurations and their output, including feed pressure and permeates quality.