WaterQ retrofits industrial MBR in Venice with ClearQ submerged membranes
Water technology company WaterQ, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, will start delivery of ClearQ membranes in January 2013 for the retrofit of the industrial membrane bioreactor operated by SIFA ScpA in the port of Marghera, Venice, Italy.
In total WaterQ will deliver nine skids with 128 modules. 'The membrane surface will exceed 100.000 m2 allowing the operator to treat 50.000 m3 wastewater per day,' says Bram Van Gelder, sales manager of WaterQ. 'A phased replacement of the current modules allows us to constantly test our new modules before they become operational.'
The ClearQ is a hollow fibre submerged membrane system with low energy consumption. Raw water infiltrates into the fibre from outside and then collects the permeate flow from the bottom of the membrane fibre. The membrane cuts off suspended solids, colloid, bacteria, viruses and giant molecule organic matter. It is made of lightweight PVDF thermoplastic providing a good chemical stability and making it easy to clean. Van Gelder: 'These advantages enable our customer SIFA to extend the periods between chemical cleaning and to operate at lower pressure.'
WaterQ is a young water technology company dedicated to developing advanced wastewater treatment technologies, such as MBR technology and containerised MBR system. In close cooperation with its subsidiary in Beijing, China, WaterQ started several projects covering municipal and industrial wastewater treatment and recycling, landfill leachate and lightly polluted water treatment.
In Europe, the core business is selling containerised MBR system, ClearQ submerged hollow fibre membrane system, FlatQ submerged flat sheet membrane system and PureQ hollow fibre UF membrane system.
SIFA ScpA is a joint venture of Regione del Veneto − representing Venice and its surrounding municipalities − and a number of private companies. The joint venture was founded in 2005 specially to safeguard the water quality of the Lagoon of Venice. SIFA operates a municipal and industrial water treatment plant next to the lagoon. The effluent of the industrial WWTP is pumped through a 20km long pipeline into the Adriatic Sea. The effluent of the municipal WWTP is transported to a special constructed 100ha wetland for a final polishing step. The construction of the two WWTPs, the wetland and the pipelines was completed in 2011.