Present at the birth of our filtration membrane technology, Lisa Walters, global strategic market manager in our Specialty Coatings and Materials (SCM) business, has nurtured the innovation into a highly efficient, economical and sustainably advantaged solution for recovering industrial process water and wastewater.
Identify and Meet Market Need
After she joined our company in 1999, Lisa put her master’s degree in chemical engineering to work as she moved through various technical, operational and commercial roles. That path eventually landed her in our SCM business in 2010, where she focused on business development.
One of our scientists saw a government request for a way to remove threats from water sources at military bases. That sparked one of our scientists to think that we possibly had existing technology that could be the foundation for an innovative filtration membrane. I was brought in to assess the market need for such a product and oversee its development into a commercial success.
What her market research found was a big hole in the filtration market that needed to be plugged. New regulations, such as the Safe Drinking Water Act in the U.S. and the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) in Europe, introduced more stringent policies and regulations regarding industrial water use and discharge. This was compounded by the increasing scarcity of water globally.
“Companies are focusing more on the sustainability of their operations, and meeting new regulations and decreasing water usage are common goals across almost all of them. They’re also concerned about having enough water to sustain their operations, especially in water-scarce areas of the world. Our challenge in developing a filtration solution was that it had to not only address these needs, but it also had to do so in an economically viable way.”
Filtration Leadership across the Generations
In 2019, we launched our first filtration membrane for industrial use. The second generation, introduced in 2021, saw the addition of an anti-fouling coating to facilitate the removal of oil, grease and other emulsified materials like soapy water. The third generation, which is launching in 2024, offers even more robust filtration and anti-fouling capabilities.
Our technology works by filtering process water or wastewater through a membrane. Particles larger than the membrane’s pore size can’t pass through, removing them from the water stream. Our microfiltration membrane removes contaminants down to 0.15 microns, while the ultrafiltration membrane captures particles as small as 0.05 microns. For comparison, the average human hair is around 70 microns wide, and bacterial cells range from about 0.2 to 1 micron in width.
The filtered water can be reused or discharged as wastewater without expensive treatment to remove any hazardous materials. This reduces both water usage and disposal costs, and keeps contaminants from the environment.
What separates our filtration membranes from others is their ability to remove emulsified oil and other substances without having these sticky materials accumulate on the filter’s surface and block water flow. This anti-fouling plus our filter’s unique structure means clean water is separated at a higher rate than traditional membranes, bringing significant economic benefits. Our membranes also don’t contain any so-called forever chemicals that are common in other systems.
Success in the Real World
These benefits are being captured by a large laundromat chain in Mexico City, where few residents wash their clothes at home and the city faces a massive water shortage.
It was typical for the chain’s laundromats to receive three or four deliveries of water each day, with no recycling of the soapy wash water. One location began using our microfiltration membrane in a pilot project, recovering more than 70% of wash water for reuse and reducing freshwater usage by more than 50%. The pilot’s success led the chain to install our microfiltration membrane at other locations, increasing financial and sustainability benefits.
In another part of the world, a car parts manufacturer wanted to recover wastewater from its cleaning operation, which historically was discharged into the public water system. The filtration system it was using to remove oil and suspended solids to meet municipal water discharge regulations was expensive and inefficient. The manufacturer was also under pressure from the municipality to decrease how much wastewater it discharged.
After installing our ultrafiltration membrane, the manufacturer achieved a water recovery rate of more than 90%. The solution also met the customer’s requirements for high flow rates to achieve significant economic benefits.
I’m
#PPGProud that I’ve been able to take this technology from its inception and build it into a growth engine for my business and a much-needed solution for customers. I give kudos to my various managers for supporting me and allowing me to continue working on this. I also want to give credit to our membrane scientist, Qunhui Guo, who is phenomenal. She was the key driver of this innovation.