Lanxess Announces Successful Test Results of New RO Elements

 Lanxess AG said that its reverse osmosis membrane elements have successfully completed a year-long practical test in Germany's largest industrial water treatment plant.

The new element grades with alternating strand design (ASD) feed spacers impressed Zellstoff Stendal GmbH based in Arneburg with their performance and consistently high level of rejection. Optimised for applications in brackish water, these Lewabrane-branded elements are characterised by very low energy ((LE) consumption and high fouling resistance (FR).

During the period of the project, the Lanxess RO elements demonstrated excellent performance and impressed with a consistently high level of rejection. This has a positive effect on the service life of the mixed bed and a number of chemicals required for regenerating the ion exchangers.

After one year, the elements were removed and taken to the applications laboratory Lanxess operates in Bitterfeld for an “autopsy”. Compared to a standard element, there was hardly any increased pressure drop along the element when using the ASD grades. This indicates less blockage from fouling or biological growth.

“The outstanding results of our ASD products in benchmark tests with other manufacturers at one of the largest pulp manufacturers in Europe once again underline the extraordinary quality of our products,” said Alexander Scheffler, responsible for Lanxess's global membrane business.

“We were very impressed by the performance of the ASD membrane elements from Lanxess. We test a lot of products in our plant and hardly any of them have been able to provide such consistently high results throughout an entire year,” added Frank Gorges, plant technician for water treatment at Zellstoff Stendal GmbH in Arneburg.

Lanxess water treatment technologies for pulp manufacturing

Zellstoff Stendal, part of the American-Canadian Mercer International Group, is the largest and most cutting-edge manufacturer of NBSK (Northern Bleached Softwood Kraft) market pulp in Central Europe. With their outstanding properties – especially their high tensile strength and the high degree of whiteness – these pulps are used, for example, for high-quality printing and copying paper, wallpaper bases, household paper such as paper tissues and kitchen roll, filter paper and a range of other specialist papers like silicone base paper.

Wood elements such as bark and lignin that are not used for pulp production are incinerated in boiler plants. A combined heat and power process, in this case, generates heat energy that is used as process steam and electricity. Located in the north of Saxony-Anhalt, the plant generates enough power to cover its own needs and also feeds a large part of the renewable energy generated into the public electricity grid.

More than 50,000 cubic meters of water are needed every day for pulp manufacturing in Arneburg, and this is treated using reverse osmosis and ion exchange resins. The Lewatit MonoPlus S 100 and Lewatit MonoPlus M 600 grades are used in the multi-step process, while Lewatit MonoPlus SP 112 H and Lewatit MonoPlus MP 500 is used in the mixed bed.

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