World-first Australian solution to treat wastewater at a major beverages company

Australian innovator Products For Industry (PFi) is introducing what is believed to be a world-first pure titanium cross-flow membrane solution, which has uptime, environmental and yield benefits compared to traditional wastewater treatment methods.

After more than 10 years of development, a fully evolved and tested product is now entering service in Australia with a leading beverages company, which will use the new technology to separate solids from liquid streams in various stages of the waste stream process.

PFi is a locally owned and operated business servicing the industrial sector, offering a full suite of in-house capabilities to support manufacturers with machine automation products, systems and solutions, from concept through to production.

“This solution is game-changing for the food and beverage industry, particularly beverages and spirits, because titanium allows for a lower footprint, and longer times between clean-in-place (CIP), thereby reducing downtime,” said PFi managing director Gavin Dunwoodie. “With traditional membranes made of ceramic or plastic, back-pulsing and cleaning often creates problems, so the overall lifetime of the equipment is reduced.”

Titanium (Ti) is the ninth most known metal in the Earth’s crust and possesses the highest strength-to-weight ratio. It is as strong as steel, but weighs 45% less, and is non-magnetic, non-corrosive and does not conduct electricity.

“This forward-thinking beverages company wanted an advanced solution that would continue to increase their throughput, while lowering their environmental footprint. They were clear from the outset that there should be no compromises on quality,” Dunwoodie said.

“What we needed was automation hardware that was streamlined, repeatable and easy to integrate, so we selected Rockwell Automation’s CompactLogix Control System and PanelView Plus Graphic Terminal. These provided us with an integration that would be accepted by global leaders like this beverages company,” he added.

PanelView Plus provides the graphical interface through a seamless integration with the CompactLogix Controller. This integration enables engineers to enter configuration information once and use it for the entire automation design. It also helps build modern applications with high-speed HMI buttons for jogging applications, scalable vector graphics and a pre-configured system banner that provides diagnostic information.

“Rockwell worked with us to select the best hardware for the job, made sure it was fit for purpose, and supported us along the way,” Dunwoodie said. “Additionally, the customer specified that the coding style needed to be PAC-ML, an internationally recognised standard, so Rockwell set up its technologies to match this need.”

Rockwell Automation regional director, South Pacific, Anthony Wong said: “We are delighted to be able to provide automation technology solutions, and ongoing support for PFi’s latest Australian innovation.”

To develop the titanium cross flow membrane solution, PFi built a new factory on its existing site in Queensland.

“We conducted extensive pilot tests at a wastewater treatment plant in New Zealand three years ago, where we found the titanium solution allowed very high flow and flux rates, easy and fast CIP, and no fouling or long-term issues with fats, oils and greases. It also showed us that running costs and energy use would be reduced over the system’s lifetime, and the titanium membrane can be recycled at the end of its use in the solution,” Dunwoodie said. “We also appreciate the support we received from the Australian Government, to help scale up and accelerate the success of this product, which has considerable local and export potential.”

With titanium’s natural advantages as a material, its use in a cross flow membrane comes with several advantages. A continuous length of more than 1.3 m is possible, along with a larger range of apertures and filtration sizes. Wall thicknesses below 400 µm are also possible, which PFi believes to be unique globally, providing high flux rates and flow levels through the membrane. Titanium also offers higher levels of resistance to temperature, acidity and pressure.

A titanium membrane is also back-pulsable, steam-cleanable and chemical resistant, and is cost-comparable with ceramic membranes that cannot be back-pulsed.

Dunwoodie sees great potential for this solution globally and is looking to scale up operations, after successful pilots and testing, and now in service with this beverages client.

“Rockwell’s standard design will help with our solution’s market acceptance when we enter the export market. There is particularly strong potential in the spirit industry, where it can replace paper membranes to deliver better outcomes with reduced waste,” he said. “Titanium provides a true closed loop solution, as the only 100% recyclable membrane, even after 20 or more years in service, which is an outstanding benefit to an end-user’s ESG goals.”