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Name of Company: Ikusasa Chemicals (Pty) Ltd

Name of Project: Multi-Purpose Membrane Plant

Project Description:

Ikusasa Chemicals (Pty) Ltd started operating in 2003 as an agent, stockist and distributor of a wide range of speciality chemical raw materials and additives on behalf of international manufacturers in a variety of industries.

Membrane technology has emerged as the most significant advancement in wastewater treatment. The biggest single technical challenge with the use of membranes for wastewater treatment is high fouling mainly due to colloids, soluble organic compounds and bacteria that are present in secondary effluent and are typically not well removed with conventional pre-treatment methods. Membrane fouling results in an increase in feed pressure and requires frequent cleaning of membranes. This leads to a reduction in overall facility efficiency and a shorter membrane life.

Other technical barriers include the difficulty and expense of managing the concentrate from high pressure membranes and the undefined ability of membranes to effectively remove all chemical contaminants and pathogens of concern that are found in municipal secondary effluent.

Due to the ongoing development of new membranes, water treatment engineers have great difficulty selecting the membranes that are most suitable for their specific operating conditions. Ikusasa researched and designed a mobile water treatment pilot plant for the development of site-specific membrane treatment processes.

The Multi-Purpose Membrane Plant has been designed to allow for the use of different types of feed (raw) water e.g. groundwater, sea water and industrial waste water. It also has advanced data capturing and measurement capabilities that will allow for the in-situ testing of membranes as well as the simulation of membrane performance over an extended period.

This capability is enhanced by the use of sensitive instrumentation including inline flow-meters and conductivity meters linked to a unique software simulation program, which allows the water treatment engineers to assess the life of the membrane and vary operating conditions of the pilot plant to simulate different design options. The software program allows for the development of a financial model to estimate the overall running costs associated with a particular water treatment operating system. This enables water treatment engineers to develop the most appropriate technical and financial solution for the water being treated.