Organic fouling is one of the most pressing issues faced by industries using reverse osmosis (RO) membranes, leading to increased maintenance, higher chemical usage, and costly downtime. ZwitterCo’s recently announced Elevation product family provides a transformative solution to these pervasive challenges.
Elevation membranes incorporate patented ZwitterShield™ technology, permanently bonding zwitterionic chemistry to existing membranes. The result is a highly hydrophilic barrier that effectively repels organics, including proteins, oils, and other foulants, preventing irreversible fouling even under challenging feed conditions. This unique chemistry enables significant reductions in maintenance downtime and chemical use, fundamentally transforming operational efficiency.
Reducing Chemical Cleaning Costs
Elevation membranes deliver substantial economic benefits. Users switching from expensive formulated cleaners to commodity chemicals achieve cost savings up to 90%. In practice, this can reduce chemical costs per cleaning per element from $20-$45 to just $1-$5, translating to annual chemical cost reductions up to 75% per element.
More System Uptime, Less Downtime Headaches
In addition to reduced chemical costs, Elevation membranes enhance system uptime. They allow operators to run longer intervals between cleanings—up to 80% fewer cleaning cycles than conventional membranes—significantly lowering OPEX and downtime costs. Furthermore, cleaning cycles become simpler and shorter, achieving full performance recovery quickly, and freeing resources for more valuable activities.
Unmatched Organic Tolerance: Setting a New Industry Standard
ZwitterCo Elevation membranes also provide unmatched tolerance to organics. Their feedwater guidelines for Total Organic Carbon (TOC), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), and Oil & Grease (O&G) are the highest in the industry. Specifically, these membranes handle feedwater concentrations up to 15 mg/l TOC, 50 mg/l COD, and 2.5 mg/l O&G, offering robust performance even in highly contaminated streams.
Proven Across Industries and Challenging Conditions
ZwitterCo’s Elevation BWRO membranes have successfully demonstrated their versatility and effectiveness across multiple industries such as food and beverage, chemical refineries, heavy industrial operations, and landfill leachate treatment. Real-world examples underscore their significant operational benefits; notably, a U.S.-based power plant achieved substantial reductions in both cleaning frequency and membrane element replacements, maintaining reliable operation even during upstream upsets. Additionally, installations managing landfill leachate and sugar refinery wastewater further highlight the consistent reliability and adaptability, even under exceptionally demanding conditions.
Easy Integration into Existing RO Systems
Elevation membranes are designed for ease of integration, featuring industry-standard sizes and configurations, making it simple to replace or upgrade existing RO systems. Their performance, reliability, and simplicity represent a significant step forward, helping industries worldwide achieve previously unattainable operational and sustainability targets.
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