September ULTRAPURE WATER journal Examines Deionization

Online, September 6, 2010 (Newswire.com) - LITTLETON, Colo.-Deionization is an important technology employed in the treatment of high-purity water used in semiconductor, pharmaceutical, power generation, and industrial plants. The September on-line issue of ULTRAPURE WATER includes technical articles that focus on this part of the water business.

One article by Dr. Avijit Dey and Rajendra Kulkarni examines selenium removal from oil refinery wastewater. Excessive quantities of selenium in refinery wastewater are a problem that facilities must deal with. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) now has discharge limits of 5 parts per billion (ppb) for facilities. The problem for facilities is that no conventional treatment technologies can reliably meet this discharge standard, the authors noted.

Their article identifies potential technologies available for removal of selenium from the refinery wastewaters. Technologies examined included reverse osmosis (RO), ion exchange, and an advanced biological metals removal process. The authors recommend that a split-wastewater stream system with iron co-precipitation technology in parallel with an RO treatment.

A second article by Dr. David Kratochvil, Michael Bratty, David Sanguinetti, Songlin Ye, and Teryl Murray examines ion-exchange systems that are useful to improve water reuse in power stations. The authors examine a sulfate-removal process that employs ion exchange to remove total dissolved solids (TDS) from hard waters. This approach can selectively remove calcium, magnesium, and sulfate from power plant feedwater.

The Back to Basics column by Robert Decker reviews what deionization is, and focuses on how ion exchange, electrodialysis reversal (EDR), and electrodeionization (EDI) technologies work in a water treatment system.

Lastly, authors Mark Owen, Dr. Tom Hawkins, and Dave Moser look at a new photochemical process and its use in water purification. These five photochemical processes work together within a novel photoreactor to remove microorganisms, reduce organic and inorganic water contaminants, and heavy metals.

In addition to these technical articles, the September issue also features news briefs and information about the November Ultrapure Water Micro 2010 conference. Ultrapure Water's August on-line issue is available at http://www.ultrapurewater.com. Information on Premier Subscriptions are available at the Ultrapure Water web site, or one may also send an email to: [email protected], or call 303/973-6700.