Industrial markets are among the largest consumers of water. Industry is processing surface or well water to provide make-up water for power generation systems, parts washing, fine paper production, beverage plants, and numerous other applications, including processing industrial wastewaters for recycling or discharging reclaimed water. More and more companies are also purchasing water derived from reprocessing of municipal wastewater plants effluents because it is less costly than water derived from treating surface waters. From the removal of emulsified oils to the recovery and reuse of cooling tower blowdown, Pall can help just about every industrial and agricultural segment handle the most complex water treatment challenge.

For example, because lowering the suspended solids content of feedwater in nuclear power generating stations bears on both the control of radiation levels and the service life of critical system components, Philadelphia Electric installed Pall Septra™ filters at each of its two nuclear power plants in Limerick, Pennsylvania. Each system treats total condensate flow to 30,000 gpm (43 MGD) and has been in continuous service at the station since 1995. Pall Septra backwash filter systems are also in service for wastewater treatment, clarification of coolants and a host of other process applications:

• To maintain high output at production wells, for example, water is filtered through Septra elements at oil fields. The filters strip suspended solids and oil from the fluid to protect the strata during enhanced recovery (water injection) operations.
• To extend the useful life of coolants employed in metal-working applications such as rolling, grinding, etching, and machining, Septra filters have been installed on coolant recycle flows to reduce the particle counts per milliliter at five (5) microns and larger, to within manufacturing plant specifications.

Membrane technology is also saving hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in the treatment of drill water at refineries. For example, a petroleum refinery generates about 2 million gallons of nickel-laden water per year, which must be treated to meet the refinery's NPDES permit conditions. A Disc Tube^™ system was installed to eliminate nickel from the effluent stream and produces condensate quality permeate water which can be used as boiler feedwater. The nickel concentrate stream is recycled for use as drilling water.

Bioremediation is yet another critical area where membrane technology is playing a significant role. Disc Tube membrane technology is proving to be an efficient and cost effective method to remediate wastewater with high levels of contaminants and low levels of solids. A prime example is the French Limited Superfund site near Crosby, Texas. During the 1950s and early 1960s, it was used for sand mining. The site was purchased by the French Limited Trucking Company and was used for disposal of petrochemical by-products until it closed in 1973. By then, 80 million gallons of waste had been dumped into an unlined 12-acre lagoon. Disc Tube technology was one of the methods used in a multi-stage cleanup and represented a number of "firsts" in the United States: first use at a Superfund site first use at a lagoon site first use at high toxicity levels

Since the cleanup began, Disc Tube technology has proven to be highly successful in handling both high levels of toxins and large volumes of water. In fact, participants in the project believe that it may be the ideal water remediation technology for more than 1,000 other Superfund projects over the next decade.

There are many other success stories involving the use of membrane technology and Pall is proud to be on the leading edge of this critically important advance in the sciences of filtration, separation and purification.