Annex 1: Some Key Applications for AFM®
Wastewater
Municipal
• Municipal wastewater
Water source
Tertiary treatment after
activated sludge, solids
load to be reduced to
<100mg/l prior to
AFM®.
Advantages
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Wastewater
Process water
• Textiles
• Leather
• Oil in water
• Food washing
Clean water
Single pass
• Drinking water
o Ground water
o Surface water
• Process feed water
• Drinks industries
• Food processing
• Pharmaceuticals
• Hospitals
• Electronics,
• Boiler feed
Clean water
Marine and brackish water
• Drinking water
• Drinks industry
Clean water
Recycling or multi-pass
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Swimming pools
Aquaculture
Aquaria
Fountains
Water features
Cooling towers
Dryden Aqua Ltd
Butlerfield-Bonnyrigg,
Edinburgh EH19 3JQ Scotland
The wastewater will be
from a variety of
sources. AFM® is
usually used as part of
the water treatment
process.
Ground water
Surface water
Municipal drinking water
supplies
Ultra-pure water, pre-
treatment. Water from a
variety of sources
Seawater, brackish
water or ground water
with a high TDS.
Water supply for reverse
osmosis
Recycled water around a
process. This is one of
the main applications for
AFM® with over
100,000 systems
currently running in
Europe.
Cooling tower
applications are
becoming of increasing
importance, especially
to reduce cost and
Legionella aerosol risk
from the towers
Will more easily comply with discharge legislation
Product water of a higher quality more suitable for
second use applications
No chlorine or less required when the water is used for
class 1 irrigation
Return in capital from revenue is always under 2 years
and often under 1 year.
Textiles. AFM® applied after the fluidised bed biofiltration.
Advanced coagulation and flocculation systems have been
developed and optimised for AFM® to remove the dyes and
facilitate recirculation of the water.
Leather. The industry generation a hexavalent chromium
wastewater, with pre-reduction of the water and conversion of Cr5+
to Cr3+ gives good performance with AFM®
Oil in water. AFM® can filter oil in water up to 100mg/l and
remove >99% of the oil in a sustainable manner. Higher
concentrations require an alginate flocculent. Permits AFM® to be
used up to 2000mg/l and achieve >99% removal.
AFM® offers a continuous and sustainable solution for the removal
of metals and metalloids, such as ferric, manganese and arsenic to
a concentration in accordance to the European directive and WHO
Will remove 50% more sub 5 micron solids from the water. No
subject to biofouling and transient wormhole channelling. High
security against the passage of copepods, oocysts and other
parasites.
Perfect for removing cyanobacteria, diatoms and most freshwater
phytoplankton as well as zooplankton without any blockage issues.
AFM® is used to treat municipal water prior to use in Hospitals, and
food industries to minimise the risk from Pseudomonas. Already
used in hospitals in the UK and Asia. Example, Belfast maternity
hospital when tragically several babies succumbed from
Pseudomonas, problem solved with AFM®
Ultra-pure water treatment usually involves a 3-stage process. 1.
Sand filtration, 2. Carbon filtration, 3. one micron cartridge
filtration. AFM® can replace all three stages as a single one-pass
stage prior to the reverse osmosis membranes. Water flow is
usually under 10m/hr velocity
One of the problems with membrane filtration is fouling from the
coagulants and flocculants. The use of grade 0 AFM® gives a very
high performance and negates the need to use chemicals. If
coagulants and flocculants are used, then grade 1 AFM® is applied.
AFM® does not coagulate, or allow channelling so as long as the
chemicals are dosed properly in accordance to turbidity they will
never reach the membranes. System performance is superior to UF
because AFM® grade 1 with controlled flocculation will give
nominal filtration better than 0.1 microns and will remove chemicals
from solution such as soluble reactive silica, phosphate and
dissolved organics that would otherwise foul the membranes
Swimming pools, water features fountains and marine mammal
systems can use AFM® as part of the DAISY system (Dryden Aqua
Integrated System). DAISY provides the ultimate in water
treatment with a visibility through the water in excess of 25m and
turbidity usually less than 0.05NTU.
Aquaculture and Aquaria require the best possible water quality.
AFM® provides at least double the performance of sand and
reduces the viral parasitic and bacterial risk
Cooling towers, AFM® provides a much better quality and reduces
the nutrient load and bacterial cell biomass as measure by ATP in
the circuit. The result is reduced cost, reduced corrosion and lower
risk from Legionella.
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Application