Australia's Largest Recycled Water Project Employs RO Elements From Koch Membrane Systems
Reclaims 7.9 MGD of Municipal Water
Wilmington, MA — Koch Membrane Systems (KMS) recently announced that on September 2, 2007, the Bundamba Advanced Water Treatment Plant was commissioned near the city of Ipswich, in Queensland, Australia. The 7.9 MGD (30 MLD) water reclamation system is part of the Western Corridor Wastewater Recycle Project, the largest recycled water project in the Southern Hemisphere, which will provide 110 MGD (400 MLD) of recycled water to reduce the load on the region's water supply. The plant employs 18-inch diameter MegaMagnum® reverse osmosis (RO) elements from KMS to reclaim municipal effluent for use as the water supply for cooling towers at the Swanbank and the Torong power stations.
The 18-inch diameter MegaMagnum elements are the world's largest commercially available spiral wound RO elements. These elements are designed to significantly reduce the cost, footprint and installation time of RO systems. Each 18-by-61inch MegaMagnum spiral element used for the project contains 2,800-square-feet of membrane surface area, compared to 400-square-feet in commonly deployed 8-by-40 inch products.
Bundamba Advanced Water Treatment Plant (AWTP) Stage 1A was awarded to the Thiess Black & Veatch joint venture by the Queensland state government in early 2007. Stage 1A is the first of two projects that make-up the Western Corridor Wastewater Recycle Project. The Thiess Black & Veatch joint venture selected a four-train MegaMagnum RO system from KMS for the fast-track first phase of the water reclamation initiative. Each pre-engineered, packaged MegaMagnum MM13 train holds 65 membrane elements. Bundamba AWTP Stage 1A was completed with four trains for a total of 260 membrane elements in the system.
The packaged MegaMagnum MM13 systems enable fast installation and start-up. Installation of the MegaMagnum RO system began in May of 2007 and the plant became operational in August 2007, three weeks ahead of schedule.
"Koch Membrane Systems' equipment started arriving at the Stage 1A site on May 14th, with the last pieces of equipment arriving in the first week of June," said Sandy Berman, senior project manager at KMS. "Thiess Black & Veatch was contracted by the Queensland government to build, commission and start-up the plant very quickly, with firm dates required for water production. KMS was able to provide the resources necessary to complete the majority of the start-up in four weeks rather than the seven that had been scheduled."
On September 2, 2007 a dedication ceremony was held at the Bundamba AWTP Stage 1A site to mark the official start-up of the plant. The MegaMagnum RO System is currently performing up to expectations. KMS has also supplied MegaMagnum systems with a capacity of 9.5 MGD (36MLD) for Stage 1B of the Bundamba plant. When complete, the Bundamba AWTP will treat 17.4 MGD (66 MLD).
SOURCE: Koch Membrane Systems