| Using modern high-performance ultrafiltration
modules, Manchester engineers have designed and built a series
of compact, skid mounted ultrafiltration systems with nominal
clean water output from 500 to 10,000 gallons per 8-hour shift.
(1-20 gpm). The basic systems are complete with all the necessary
controls, alarms and fail-safe devices. The designs are modular
for ease of expansion, and critical components are selected
for ruggedness and long service life.
Applications include oil/water separations for the safe and
environmentally sound disposal of spent oily wastewater and
coolants from machining and grinding operations, spent parts
washer waste, effluent from commercial and industrial laundries,
car and truck washing operations, and wastewater from remediation
processes where hydrocarbons and similar fluids need to be
disposed by environmentally acceptable methods.
Membrane Ultrafiltration has become widely used in the past
two-dozen years as a separation process for concentrating
solutions of macromolecules, or for removing water from emulsions
of oils, latex, paints and similar substances. The process
uses crossflow filtration, in which the liquid to be filtered
is recirculated at high velocity, and under 30 -150 psi pressure
over the surface of a semi-permeable
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membrane contained in a module. Water and other smaller molecules
are forced through the membrane into the outer shell of the
module, while the larger constituents are retained and become
more concentrated. Most of the water leaves the ultrafilter
as permeate, while the concentrate (usually about 5 - 10% or
less) of the volume being processed, is retained for separate
disposal or further processing.
Other related processes, such as Reverse Osmosis (RO) or
Microfiltration (MF) are distinguished by differences in the
sizes of the molecules retained. RO is used to desalt seawater
or recycle ultrapure water (removing the salts),
while Microfiltration membranes retain visible particles,
such as metal hydroxide precipitates.
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