Technologies Archives - Okiana

Oxidants & Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs)

dev — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 20:07:32 +0000

Oxidants and advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are essential for ensuring safe drinking water and/or treatment processes.

Typical oxidation processes have various applications. They can help reduce the presence of unwanted elements, such as iron and manganese. They are also instrumental for disinfection, in which pathogens like bacteria, viruses, and other parasites that can cause waterborne diseases are eliminated or inactivated.

Oxidation processes are usually conducted via either chlorination or ozonation.

AOPs are a group of processes that utilize highly reactive hydroxyl radicals (OH radicals) to break down a wide range of contaminants. These radicals are even more powerful oxidizers than chlorine or ozone alone.

The AOPs use various methods to generate hydroxyl radicals. Some common techniques include combining ultraviolet (UV) light with ozone or hydrogen peroxide.

AOPs are often used in:

Municipal drinking water treatments, as an additional treatment step.
Industrial wastewater treatment, for breaking down complex organic pollutants.
Water reuse applications: AOPs help purify wastewater for reuse purposes like irrigation.

The post Oxidants & Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) appeared first on Okiana.

Membrane Bioreactor (MBR)

dev — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 19:52:44 +0000

MBR (Membrane Bioreactor) is a type of wastewater treatment system that combines biological treatment with membrane filtration for a high-quality effluent.

It is a combination of two treatment technologies:

Biological treatment – Similar to a conventional wastewater treatment plant, MBR uses a biological process where microorganisms break down organic matter in the wastewater.

Membrane Filtration – Instead of using a settling tank like traditional systems, MBR utilizes fine membranes to separate the treated water from the mixed effluent (containing water, microorganisms, and organic matter).

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Clarifiers & Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF)‎

dev — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 19:45:17 +0000

Clarifiers & Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF)

Clarifiers are sedimentation tanks that remove various kinds of particles, sediments, natural organic matter and color from the water to make it clear.

They enable larger, heavier particles to sink to the bottom. The settled sludge is removed from the bottom of the tank.

Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF)

DAF is particularly useful for removing very small particles (i.e., low specific gravity particles) like oil and fats, which wouldn’t settle well in a clarifier.

As part of the process, tiny air bubbles attach to suspended particles, causing them to float to the surface where they can be skimmed off easily.

It is typical of all types of clarifiers & DAFs to use coagulation and flocculation processes.

The post Clarifiers & Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF)‎ appeared first on Okiana.

Reverse Osmosis (Desalination)

dev — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 19:33:50 +0000

Desalination by reverse osmosis is a fundamental method of water treatment in many industrial, municipal and agricultural applications.

Reverse osmosis is the process of separating ions from water. The feed water stream is separated into one stream of purified water and another stream of concentrated solutes and particulates (called “brine”).

The process of separation occurs by applying pressure on the membranes. Dissolved salts will not permeate the membrane as easily, however, because of their size and charge characteristics. By contrast, the clean water with very small amounts of dissolved solids passes the membranes and is collected as permeate water, while the solution with the molecules that cannot pass through the membranes is collected as concentrate.

Typically, the RO membranes can handle up to 50,000 mg/l of total dissolved solids (TDS).

Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis (BWRO):

TDS typically falls up to 10,000 mg/l.

The membranes in his case have slightly larger pores compared to SWRO. This allows for easier passage of water through the membrane at lower pressure (and therefore less energy consumption).

Sea Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO):

TDS in much higher than BWRO and can treat up to 50,000 mg/l of salts.

The membrane pores are a little tighter than the BWRO membranes and the working pressure is higher. Therefore, the energy consumption is higher compared to the BWRO membranes.

In some cases, for specific applications, SWRO membranes will be used for brackish water.

At Okiana, we use several new technologies and approaches to reduce brine and raise the recovery ratio.

For instance, we offer ultra-high pressure (UHP), which enables treating up to 120,000 mg/l of TDS and/or increasing recovery ratios. This approach involves pressure that is much higher, reaching as high as 170 bars.

Another technology that our engineers use often is Energy Recovery Device (ERD) units, which uses the pressure from the rejected high-pressure brine steam to pressurize the incoming feed water going into the RO, reducing the system’s overall energy consumption.

A cross section of membrane in operation:

The post Reverse Osmosis (Desalination) appeared first on Okiana.

Mobile Systems

dev — Tue, 28 May 2024 11:17:01 +0000

Okiana developed modular systems that can provide agile solutions on demand for small or medium amounts of treated water.

These systems are designed for application in diverse environments, including in disaster areas.

These systems can produce drinking water from almost any source of water, including seawater, surface water, and brackish water.

The water treatment systems are modular and compact. They can be mobile or containerized and equipped with necessary systems for water treatment, such as filtration, desalination, seawater desalination, or any other technology.

Outstanding advantages:

● Relative ease of transportation and shipping

● Easy installation on site, simply plug-and-play

● Easy and relatively simple maintenance and service

● Small footprint (some of our facilities comprise several containers, one on top of another)

● Automatic operation

● Eliminate the need for a structure on site

● Can be easily integrated with other water treatment plants on site.

The post Mobile Systems appeared first on Okiana.

Electrodeionization (EDI)

dev — Tue, 28 May 2024 09:08:22 +0000

EDI is a process which combines semi-impermeable membrane technology and is commonly used as a post treatment of reverse osmosis (RO).

This application is typically used at power stations, pharmaceutical industry and other process industries.

In comparison to conventional DI, EDI provides many benefits:

Continuous water supply
Smaller footprint
No need off-site regeneration
No need for chemical handling
No hazardous waste stream
Consistent water quality
Reduced operational cost (chemicals, water)

The post Electrodeionization (EDI) appeared first on Okiana.

Ultraviolet Light (UV)

taldevus_admin — Sat, 25 May 2024 08:26:07 +0000

Ultraviolet Light (UV) technology involves radiation with wave lengths shorter than 4000 angstroms (visible light) and as short as 100 angstroms, which borders X-ray range. UV light is used as a disinfectant in both commercial and municipal applications ranging from high purity water to recreational water, including aquaculture. UV is best known for environmentally friendly use in:

Microbial Control
Chlorine / Chloramine Destruction
TOC Reduction
Ozone Destruction

Okiana offers complete UV systems for high technology industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, semiconductors, soft drinks, water authorities, potable water, offshore platforms, waste water, and more.

The post Ultraviolet Light (UV) appeared first on Okiana.

Ion Exchange

taldevus_admin — Sat, 25 May 2024 08:25:50 +0000

The idea is to replace any ion in the water with a known ion in the resin. This process is called ion exchange (IX). This advanced technology is able to exchange selective ions in water. The ion exchange process produces very high-quality water. The most common use of this technology is for softening deionized water and removing selective ions from the liquid.

Deionization is a physical process for the elimination of ions from the process liquid by using resin (polymeric materials). The resin has special features to remove ions from process liquid by absorption (electrical charges). The absorbed ion is replaced by another ion which is temporarily connected to the resin. The idea is to replace any ion in the water by a known ion in the resin. This process is called ion exchange (IX). This technology is able to exchange selective ions in water.

The ion exchange process produces very high-quality water.

The resin is consumed over time and it is to be replaced with new resin or special resin, which is intended for regeneration by chemicals for the next session.

The most common use of this technology is for softening deionized water and removing selective ions from the liquid.

The post Ion Exchange appeared first on Okiana.

Nano filtration

taldevus_admin — Sat, 25 May 2024 08:25:32 +0000

Nanofiltration is a specialized membrane filtration process that operates at the nanometer scale, allowing for the selective separation of particles and molecules based on size and charge.

Nanofiltration, which functions as a specialized form of either filtration or desalination, offers distinct advantages in water treatment processes.

Unlike conventional filtration methods, nanofiltration operates at a molecular level, selectively removing ions and small organic molecules while allowing water molecules to pass through.

Nanofiltration membranes have smaller pore sizes compared to those used in microfiltration and ultrafiltration, typically ranging from 1 to 10 nanometers. This selective permeation allows nanofiltration to remove not only bacteria and viruses but also smaller dissolved substances such as organic molecules, and certain ions.

This makes nanofiltration highly effective in water purification processes, especially in treating some cases of brackish water, removing hardness ions, and concentrating valuable compounds in industrial applications. Nanofiltration is also used in wastewater treatment, pharmaceutical production, food and beverage processing, mining and various other industries that require precise separation and purification of substances. In addition, it consumes less energy than reverse osmosis and enables high permeate flux rates.

The post Nano filtration appeared first on Okiana.

Filtration & Ultrafiltration

taldevus_admin — Sat, 25 May 2024 08:25:15 +0000

Filtration techniques, such as ultrafiltration and microfiltration, play vital roles in water treatment processes worldwide. Ultrafiltration employs semi-permeable membranes to remove particles as small as 0.01 microns,

effectively eliminating bacteria, viruses, and colloidal matter from water sources.

This method is crucial for producing high-quality drinking water and treating wastewater for reuse.

Industrial process water often benefits from ultrafiltration, as well especially, before desalination.

Microfiltration, on the other hand, targets larger particles, typically ranging from 0.1 to 10 microns, making it effective in clarifying water and removing suspended solids.

Traditional filtration techniques:

Filtration encompasses various techniques for removing solid or colloidal material that sedimentation cannot tackle on its own. These techniques range from screen filters to disk filters, with filtration rates from approximately 800 microns down to 10 microns.

Media filters, a common treatment device, excel at removing solid or colloidal material with higher filtration degrees, reaching 15 microns or more.

Utilizing gravity rapid rate or pressure-driven sand beds composed of materials like crushed granite, these filters cater to diverse applications for relatively large flows, including drinking water production, irrigation, stormwater management, and aquaculture.

The aforementioned techniques offer efficient and environmentally friendly solutions, ensuring access to safe and clean water for communities while mitigating health risks and environmental pollution.

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