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“ While the original interest was for desalination, our recommendation was to rather use the Pall filter system. Presently, in Switzerland, there are four fully equipped container systems waiting for deployment to Cape Town.”
Steve Herbst – Prei Instrumentation A Pall mobile container system ready for delivery.
“ They have done nothing in the interim,” he adds.
This scenario is being played out against a backdrop of denial and doublespeak, Herbst points out, referencing the Q & A column in the Sunday Times newspaper of 13 August 2017, in which De Lille danced around answering the question why the City was so illprepared for the water crisis. The mayor cited that the City requires about 500Ml per day to meet the needs of the population. She said that of this, 250Ml can be satisfied, while 250Ml will come from“ a desalination boat parked in the sea”. This‘ flotilla’( as reported in later articles) has not materialised, so the province is once again looking for other solutions.
Why the Pall system
Prei and Hach have been very active in the acid mine draining( AMD) arena, with plants located in the eMalahleni coal mining area.“ We have put equipment on all of those plants, because it’ s a very harsh environment,” Herbst points out. He explains that in treating the acid mine water, a material akin to cement is produced, as large quantities of lime are required to neutralise the acid. The pH probes are thus not operating in water, but this thick cement-like substance requires daily cleaning and recalibrating. This in turn, becomes a serious maintenance issue and the standard combination pH electrode probes need replacing on a weekly basis. With the Prei / Hach system, however, the pH probes can last anything up to two years, if used in the described manner, Herbst assures.
These AMD plants supply the eMalahleni Local Municipality with clean water, better than the municipality’ s water treatment plant can, which extracts water from the highly polluted Witbank dam, awash with sewage flowing directly into it.
In the gold mining sector, Prei / Hach has three areas covered by their equipment, namely, the Eastern, Western, and Central Basins.“ This water, however, is going back into the rivers directly, at present,” he says. Nevertheless, by 2020, the Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority( TCTA) wants this outflow to be drinking water, Herbst adds and says that with the Pall filtration system, this is possible.
How it works
The system is a complete, automated Pall membrane filtration system in a 12.2m-high cube container. With appropriate site preparation and minimal labour, the system can be operational within hours.
Using the same state-of-the-art hollow fibre membranes as hundreds of installed Aria FAST systems worldwide, the Aria FAST mobile system transforms groundwater, surface water, and secondary effluent into water that is free from harmful bacteria, cysts, and particles. The 60C is a compact system designed for up to 280m 3 / hr( 1 200gpm) for both drinking water and industrial-use water. Iron, manganese, and arsenic components can be effectively removed when oxidised to their particulate form.
The system is designed to operate in tandem with other water treatment technologies, such as reverse osmosis.
The modular units are available for purchase or long-term lease to deliver high-quality membrane filtration without the expense of costly civil works.
Herbst is of the strong belief that this is the answer to some of the water crises crippling the country. u
Pall Corporation is a global leader in high-tech filtration, separation, and purification, and forms part of the Danaher Water Quality Group. Included in this portfolio is Hach, scientific laboratory and field instrumentation company.
Prei Instrumentation is the recognised distributor for both Pall and Hach in South Africa.
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40 Water Sewage & Effluent September / October 2017