Environmental solutions company Procon Environmental Technologies has delivered one of its Mycelx filtration units to a water treatment plant at South African ferrochrome producer Samancor Chrome’s Tubatse Ferrochrome smelting operation, in Steelpoort, Mpumalanga province.

Tubaste engineering manager Frank Rosslee says that the Procon Mycelx system is adding significant value to the plant as it provides protection against damage to the expensive reverse-osmosis membranes used to desalinate the process water. The plant processes up to five-million litres a day of which 50% to 60% will pass through the Mycelx units.

Procon chief environmental engineer Jacques Steyn says that an additional filtration system was required at the plant to prolong the life of the reverse-osmosis system that is used for water treatment. The plant aims to treat water to industrial standards, but the expensive reverse-osmosis system cannot tolerate hydrocarbons in the feed water.

The Mycelx filtration unit will run at the plant in conjunction with industrial water treatment company Veolia Water Services’ ultrafiltration and reverse-osmosis systems.

The ultrafiltration system will remove all solids during the first stage of treatment, after which the water will pass through the Mycelx filtration unit, which removes hydrocarbons from the water before it is pumped through the reverse-osmosis system to be desalinated.

Steyn says that there are two sets of filters at each stage of the process and one filter is in use while the other is on standby.

Procon reports that the Mycelx filtration system removes 99,9% of hydrocarbons to meet sewage and stormwater discharge limits. It has ISO 9001: 2000 certification and meets a standard of one part per million, or less, for oil removal.

Mycelx has a single pass removal, even at high flow rates, and permanently binds slightly soluble organic compounds and colloidal metals. The system does not release pollutants as it has viscoelastic characteristics.

The company indicates that the National Water Act requires filtration to reduce oil and grease levels to below 2,5 mg/ℓ to be potable and that the Mycelx adequately meets this requirement. Further, the technology provides a low life-cycle cost as it absorbs ten times the amount of oils than other technologies, including activated carbon.

Steyn says that the Mycelx technology is a green manufacturing process with no waste generation. He adds that the company has seen a significant increase in interest in filtration systems, such as the Mycelx, in the past three to four years, as industries are becoming increasingly aware of the environmental impact of their processes.

“We have seen an increase in environmental concerns because there is also a significant need to recycle and reuse water. This has picked up dramatically over the past few years,” says Steyn.

Procon reports that the Mycelx technology process is environment friendly as it results in the permanent removal of oil from process water, has low energy consumption levels during filtration and has no sludge or oily water waste.

The used Mycelx filter cartridges can be disposed of as hazardous waste or used in the boiler start-up process.

Steyn says that most of the filtration systems installed by Procon are designed for a specific site as each location has unique circumstances that need to be accounted for during plant design.

Procon also offers smaller basic flow systems of the Mycelx that include standard modular systems, which can filter between 3 000 ℓ/h and 40 000 ℓ/h.