The OrangeBoat Advantage

the-orangeboat-advantage-inframena

Membrane based water treatment plants are increasingly favored for their efficiency and reliability, but they also introduce some unique technical challenges in management, development and installation. OrangeBoat provides solutions for different challenges. This article describes a few cases.

OrangeBoat has provided technical support for membrane based water treatment systems during the design, execution, and operation phase of the project.

Case 1- System design

An engineering company contacted OrangeBoat to prepare a proposal for the configuration and selection of reverse osmosis elements and antiscalant recommendations for seawater desalination plant (95,000 m³/day  or 25 MGD)

and a brackish water plant (25,000 m³/day  or 7 MGD)).   OrangeBoat prepared a proposal that included the evaluation of RO configurations based on different membrane elements from different membrane manufacturers, review of water chemistry, evaluation of antiscalant type and dosage from different chemical suppliers. The customer awarded the OrangeBoat the contract due to the scope of information that would be provided.  In addition it allowed the client to get a 3^rd party perspective on the design. 

Most projects require extensive amount of projections to determine the optimum  configuration of the reverse osmosis systems.  In addition, scaling projections are required and need specific expertise.  By outsourcing this activity to OrangeBoat allows the client to have their engineers focused on the process.  A report is prepared that included recommendations for the configuration of the reverse osmosis system, the selection of membrane element and antiscalant.  Furthermore, recommendations pertaining to the operation of the reverse osmosis system is provided.

Case 2- Seawater Desalination plant  - Cleaning optimizaton

A seawater desalination plant (capacity 100,000 m³/day  or 26 MGD) has been in operation for 2 years.  The customer observed that the maintenance cleaning procedures did not restore the performance decline of the reverse osmosis system. 

Chemical suppliers had been contacted but focused on solutions around their products.  In order to solve most fouling problems there needs to be a comprehensive solution that goes beyond most product offerings.  The customer contacted OrangeBoat to provide solutions to address the fouling problems.  A solution should include membrane element cleaning tests based on generic and commercial membrane cleaning chemicals; evaluation of system design and operation; membrane element autopsies. 

The final solution resulted in a generic cleaning cleaning procedure that can be used for routine cleanings and a commercial chemical cleaning procedure to periodically supplement the generic cleaning program for added efficacy.  The review of the operating data of the desalination plant resulted in recommendations for the operation of the water treatment plant such as the reverse osmosis system, the multi mediafilters, and the chemical injection points.

The support provided by OrangeBoat allowed the customer to reduce the costs of operation since less cleanings were needed and longer membrane element life was achieved.

Case 3 - Troubleshooting

A desalination plant (10,000 m³/day or 2.6 MGD) had been in operation for approximately 3 years.  The customer observed that several pressure vessels started to leak.  The customer contracted OrangeBoat to determine the possible cause(s) of failure.  OrangeBoat prepared a report describing possible causes of failure including plant specific data.  This report allowed the customer to negotiate with the pressure vessel manufacturer that resulted in the replacement of leaking pressure vessels at no costs for the customer.