What Is Industrial Water Filtration?
Industrial water filtration is the removal of contaminants, impurities and particles from water to meet specific water quality requirements for a variety of industrial processes in an industrial setting. It is essential for protecting equipment, ensuring product quality and maintaining environmental compliance. The water filtration systems used vary depending on the type of contaminants in the water, the purpose for which the water is used and the industry in which it is used.
The Main Purpose of Filtration
- Improve water quality
- Protect equipment and systems
- Prevent pollution and improve product quality
- Meet environmental requirements
- Remove harmful substances in water
- Improve energy efficiency
- Provide special water quality requirements
The main purpose of filtration is to ensure that the quality of water meets specific standards by removing impurities, pollutants and harmful substances from the water to meet the requirements of different industrial, production, environmental and drinking purposes.
Types of Industrial Water Filtration
Mechanical Filtration
Mechanical filtration is the most basic water treatment method, usually used to remove large impurities, suspended solids and larger solid particles in water.
Working Principle: Capture solid particles in water through physical media such as filter mesh, filter cartridge, sand and gravel.
- Common equipment: Coarse sand filter, filter bag, mesh filter and so on.
- Application Scenario: Pretreatment step, removing larger particles, filtering cooling tower water, circulating water and so on.
Activated Carbon Filtration
Activated carbon filtration is mainly used to remove organic matter, chlorine, odor and some volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from water.
Working Principle: Activated carbon can adsorb harmful substances and pollutants in water due to its highly developed pore structure.
- Common equipment: Activated carbon filters, activated carbon columns, etc.
- Application scenarios: Food and beverage industry, chemical production, wastewater treatment, odor removal, etc.
Reverse Osmosis (RO) Filtration
Reverse osmosis is a highly efficient membrane filtration technology, widely used to remove dissolved salts, heavy metals, organic matter, bacteria and viruses from water.
Working Principle: Water passes through a semi-permeable membrane, which has a very small pore size and is able to reject most dissolved substances and contaminants, allowing only water molecules to pass through.
- Common equipment: Reverse osmosis membrane unit, reverse osmosis equipment.
- Application Scenarios: High purity water preparation, seawater desalination, electronics manufacturing, pharmaceutical industry and so on.
Ultrafiltration
Ultrafiltration is a membrane filtration technology with a large pore size that removes suspended solids, macromolecules, bacteria, and some viruses from water.
Working Principle: Water passes through ultrafiltration membrane, which has a pore size between microfiltration and reverse osmosis, and is capable of removing large particulate matter and bacteria.
- Common equipment: Ultrafiltration membrane, ultrafiltration unit.
- Application Scenarios: Food and beverage processing, dairy product treatment, industrial wastewater reuse, etc.
Ion Exchange Filtration
Ion exchange filtration is mainly used to remove calcium and magnesium ions (hardness ions) and other charged ions in water.
Working Principle: The water flows through the ion exchange resin, which adsorbs calcium and magnesium ions in the water and releases sodium or potassium ions, thus softening the water quality.
- Common equipment: Ion exchange column, ion exchanger.
- Application Scenario: Boiler water softening, cooling tower water treatment, water softening, etc.
Electrodeionization
Electrodeionization (EDI) combines ion exchange and electric field-driven process, widely used in the preparation of ultrapure water.
Working Principle: Through the synergistic effect of ion exchange resin and electric field, the ions in the water are removed so that the water reaches ultra-purity.
- Common equipment: EDI unit, EDI module.
- Application Scenario: Electronic manufacturing, pharmaceutical, chemical analysis and laboratory water, etc.
Ultraviolet Disinfection
UV disinfection is a chemical-independent disinfection method, mainly used to remove bacteria, viruses and microorganisms from water.
Working Principle: The water stream is irradiated by ultraviolet light (UV-C) emitted from UV lamps, which destroys the DNA or RNA of microorganisms in the water, thus killing them.
- Common equipment: UV disinfection system, UV lamps.
- Application scenarios: Drinking water treatment, wastewater disinfection, swimming pool water treatment, etc.
Microfiltration
Microfiltration is a membrane filtration technology suitable for removing larger suspended and particulate matter in water, with pore size usually between 0.1 and 10 microns.
Working Principle: Water passes through a microfiltration membrane, which has a moderate pore size to remove larger particles and some bacteria.
- Common equipment: Microfiltration membrane, membrane filtration system.
- Application scenarios: Water treatment pretreatment, drinking water, industrial wastewater treatment and so on.
Coagulation Precipitation And Flocculation
Coagulation and flocculation is a physical and chemical method, mainly through the addition of chemicals to make the fine particles in the water to form larger agglomerates, to facilitate precipitation and filtration.
Working Principle: By adding coagulant and flocculant, suspended and fine particles in water form larger flocs, which are eventually removed by sedimentation or filter cloth.
- Common equipment: Flocculation tank, sedimentation tank, mixer and so on.
- Application scenarios: Industrial wastewater treatment, sewage treatment, etc.
Components of The Filtration Process
Wastewater Treatment and Recovery System
Function: The wastewater treatment and recovery system is designed to handle the wastewater generated during the filtration process, removing contaminants and recovering the water for reuse. This helps reduce waste and minimizes the environmental impact of industrial operations.
Sedimentation Tank: This equipment uses gravity to remove solid particles from wastewater, allowing heavier particles to settle at the bottom.
Membrane Separation System: Utilizing advanced technologies like reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF), this system further purifies the wastewater by separating dissolved contaminants from the water.
Chemical Coagulants: These are chemicals added to wastewater to form precipitates that help remove heavy metals and other harmful substances from the water.
Applications: This system is commonly used in industrial wastewater treatment, helping recycle and reuse water in various sectors. It ensures that wastewater meets environmental discharge standards, minimizing pollution and promoting sustainability.
Water Quality Monitoring and Control System
Function: The water quality monitoring and control system ensures real-time monitoring of water quality, maintaining the effectiveness of the filtration process. It automatically adjusts operations based on any changes in water quality to optimize treatment efficiency.
Online Water Quality Monitors: These devices include pH meters, turbidity meters, dissolved oxygen meters, and ammonia nitrogen analyzers, which provide continuous and real-time water quality measurements.
Automation Control Systems: PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) or SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems are employed to automate the water treatment process and maintain water quality stability.
Applications: Used across various water treatment processes, this system ensures that the water meets the required production or environmental standards, enhancing the overall water quality management and operational efficiency.
Microbial Removal and Disinfection Stage
- Function: This stage is designed to eliminate harmful microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens, ensuring the safety and cleanliness of the water.
- Ultraviolet (UV) Disinfection System: The UV system uses high-energy UV light to damage the DNA of microorganisms, effectively inactivating bacteria and viruses, ensuring the water is free from harmful pathogens.
- Ozone Disinfection System: Ozone strong oxidative properties make it highly effective in killing pathogens and removing organic contaminants, ensuring that the water is disinfected without the use of harsh chemicals.
- Applications: This disinfection process is widely applied in drinking water treatment, wastewater disinfection, and swimming pool water sanitation, helping ensure that the water is safe for consumption and use.
What Factors Affect the Cost of Industrial Filtration?
Water pH, hardness and other properties: water pollution, water pH, mineral content, etc. affect the softening of water, acid-base adjustment needs, which in turn affects the choice of water treatment processes and equipment.
Filtration technology and equipment selection: different types of filtration equipment cost differences.
Treatment of water volume and size, long time high flow water treatment will lead to higher equipment loss, energy consumption and maintenance costs.
Why are We Worth Choosing?
Industrial water filtration plays a vital role in modern industrial production. With increasingly stringent environmental requirements, optimization and intelligent management of industrial water filtration systems have become the key to improving production efficiency, reducing environmental pollution and lowering costs.
Apure, as a manufacturer of water treatment monitoring, provides in addition to industrial water filtration, can also provide a series of water quality testing instruments and meters, as well as flow meters and level meters, as well as measuring the temperature of the metering, if you have any questions or needs for industrial water filtration solutions, our professional team is ready to help you.