Process Solutions
It all starts with a concept...
Our Process Solutions team works closely with our customers, in a staged approach, from concept through to plant delivery, developing process solutions that meet their unique challenges.
To do this, we use our expertise in the treatment of process liquors across the full pH spectrum to effect dissolved organic and inorganic separation and fine particulate separation.
The majority of these process liquors are super saturated, and a key aspect of our know-how is the technique to achieve a sustainable treatment process within these streams.
Our know-how is based on:
- application of membrane separation technologies, including Reverse Osmosis (RO), Nano Filtration (NF), Micro Filtration (MF) and Ultra Filtration (UF)
- in-house developed know-how of dynamics in membrane fouling and scaling and the management to achieve sustainable operations in harsh and aggressive operating environments
- an ability to understand various processes and identify the appropriate application of separation technologies to improve process outcomes
- a thorough knowledge of waste water and fluid chemistry
- a sound knowledge of allied process options including, primary and secondary fluid treatment technologies, ion exchange, stripping and scrubbing
Some examples of applications of this expertise are:
- concentration of metals to improve yields in downstream processes
- extraction and purification of acid, for reuse
- extraction and purification of caustic, for reuse
- extraction and purification of water, for reuse
- separation and fractionation of organics, oligomers and micro-flocs in process liquors
- specific separations of certain analytes, such as chlorides, to limit accumulation in recycle streams, without loss of valuable resources
- separation of process poisons from process streams providing yield benefits
- concentration and recovery of raw materials from waste streams, for reuse
Specific examples where we have applied this expertise are:
- continuous fractionation, separation and concentration of organic material in a high pH process liquor, providing process control, yield, and environmental benefits
- separation and recovery of leach acids in various hydrometallurgy processes with subsequent reduction in lime treatment loads, water recycle and resource recovery
- phosphate recovery from process water and water balance control
- chloride removal from contaminated ground water
- water recovery improvement in high scaling water
- iron removal from uranium process liquor
The industry sectors where we have applied this expertise are nickel, uranium, copper, alumina, sulfuric acid, phosphate, nuclear and gold.
Most of our projects incorporate plant using at least one stage, but usually a number of stages of membrane separation to provide the desired process improvement. We have detailed knowledge of the various membrane types including their performance characteristics in a wide range of liquors. We use this knowledge to target certain applications with specific membrane types to achieve high value solutions.
We have excellent relationships with most industrial membrane manufacturers, without being aligned to any one in particular, and stay up to date with state of the art developments in the membrane industry.
For more information or to discuss your particular process issue, contact Neil Wende or Lynton Mayne via our contact page.