Project Overview
A beverage manufacturing company in Malaysia required a reliable pretreatment solution for its production water supply. The plant draws water from a nearby river, which carries high levels of suspended solids, colloids and seasonal variations in turbidity. To guarantee stable downstream production and protect the reverse osmosis (RO) system, we designed and supplied a 30 m³/h ultrafiltration (UF) system.
Raw Water & Challenges
- Raw water source: river water with turbidity fluctuations between 15–80 NTU in rainy season
- High colloidal and organic content, SDI far above RO feed requirement
- Limited footprint in the existing water treatment room
- Customer required fully automatic operation with minimal manual maintenance
Solution
We configured a skid-mounted ultrafiltration system with the following design:
- Capacity: 30 m³/h permeate output, designed for 24-hour continuous operation
- Membrane configuration: hollow fiber UF membranes (0.01 µm pore size) arranged in parallel rows on a blue epoxy-coated steel frame
- Filtration mode: dead-end filtration with automatic backwash every 30–60 minutes based on transmembrane pressure
- Chemical enhanced backwash (CEB): automatic dosing of NaOCl and acid for periodic membrane cleaning
- Piping: UPVC manifold piping with butterfly and ball valves for corrosion resistance
- Control: PLC + touch screen control cabinet with automatic backwash sequencing, inlet/outlet pressure monitoring, and online turbidity meter
- Pretreatment upstream: multi-media filter and 100 µm security filter to protect the UF modules
Results
- UF permeate turbidity: consistently below 0.1 NTU
- SDI₁₅ reduced to below 3, fully meeting RO feed requirements
- Bacteria removal rate > 99.99%, improving hygienic safety of the production line
- System runs fully automatically with only routine visual inspection
- Commissioning completed within 5 working days on site
Equipment Supplied
- UF membrane modules with automatic backwash system
- Feed pump and backwash pump
- UPVC piping and valve manifold
- PLC control cabinet with touch screen HMI
- Online turbidity and pressure monitoring instruments
Conclusion
Since commissioning, the UF system has operated stably and provided consistent, high-quality feed water for the customer's RO and beverage production line. This project demonstrates our capability to deliver customized ultrafiltration solutions for food and beverage applications with challenging surface water sources.