Wastewater facility in Wuxi China purifies water with Toray’s advanced UF membrane modules
- July 29, 2020
- Posted by: Lyn Wilson
- Category: Corporate, Technology & Innovation, Water Treatment, Asia
Toray Industries, Inc. headquartered in Japan, has announced that a large-scale wastewater treatment facility located in Wuxi New District, an industrial park in Wuxi, China has started purifying water with Toray’s latest UF membrane technology.
The wastewater facility was built by GreenTech Environmental Co., Ltd., a leading provider of advanced membrane treatment solutions. The company chose Toray’s advanced high-surface-area HFUG-2020AN UF mode (HFUG) for 2 specific reasons:
- Its unparalleled performance to meet China’s stringent Class III surface water quality requirement
- To offer significant cost reductions for the 34,000 metric ton facility
Since its commercialization in 2019, water and wastewater treatment facilities worldwide have adopted the new UF technology.
For example, in Idaho, United States, a water district selected the HFUG to treat up to 10,000 metric tons of sewage daily. In Poland, an industrial water treatment facility uses the HFUG to supply 7,500 metric tons of water every day.
Nowadays keeping capital and operating expenses low by not drastically modifying existing configurations and increasing throughput is a goal of water treatment technologies.
On its durable Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane layer, the HFUG has a pore size of 0.01 micron, equivalent to one-fifth thousandth the diameter of a human hair, effectively removing suspended solids and microorganisms in the wastewater.
Using the same proven membrane layer, Toray has applied proprietary fabrication methods to produce thinner hollow fibers while maintaining integrity and permeability. The thinner hollow-fibers in the HFUG result in an active membrane area of 90 square meters, a 25 percent increase than models with similar dimensions.
Therefore the high-surface-area module requires less piping and valve components and an overall reduction of system real estate by 20 percent and consequently significantly reduces capital costs.
The HFUG is recognized for its superior operational stability, compact offering, and economic performance. As part of the Toray Group’s Sustainability Vision and long-term corporate vision, Toray Vision 2030, Toray aims to use the HFUG and membrane technologies in RO, NF, UF, and MBR resolve global water challenges.