Concentrates from drinking water treatment - approaches to solving the technical, legal and economic obstacles to the use of NF/RO processes in drinking water treatment
Background:
NF/UO processes produce different quantities of concentrates with a correspondingly higher concentration of the separated substances, including antiscalants (mainly phosphonates and carboxylates). All disposal routes for the concentrates (direct or indirect discharge) are part of the plant permit with the approval of the relevant water authorities. In recent years, the discharge of concentrates into a water body has been viewed increasingly critically by the responsible permitting authorities, particularly if the concentrates contain high concentrations of anthropogenic trace substances foreign to nature, including the added treatment substances or nutrient salts. Since the refusal of the discharge permit for the concentrates is usually equivalent to the end of NF/UO, solutions are required that secure the use of this innovative technology, which has many advantages, in drinking water treatment in the long term.
Aims:
The increasing occurrence of treatment problem cases, where NF/UO processes are to be considered as a serious alternative to classical treatment processes, makes the comprehensive investigation of the concentrate problem and the development of practical and approvable solutions necessary. The lack of long-term safe and approvable solutions represents a significant technology brake and leads to a decision-making dilemma and investment backlog on the part of water utilities. Solutions are needed that can overcome technical and permitting hurdles and enable the broad applicability of NF/UO technical innovation for the benefit of improved environmental and consumer protection. This is also crucial for the exportability of German technology in this field.
Focus of the work:
- Remove existing technical and permitting barriers to the use of NF/UO technology in drinking water treatment.
- Provide practical and verified technical solutions for NF/UO technologies
- Support the evaluation and selection of technology and action alternatives on the part of water utilities through holistic evaluation concepts
- Support the applicability, transferability and exportability of these solutions to the water sector, as well as to other fields of application and markets outside Germany
