Applications
Chemical & Metallurgy
Food & Beverage
Energy Industry
Biopharmaceuticals
Water Treatment
Chemical & Metallurgy
Food & Beverage
Energy Industry
Biopharmaceuticals
Water Treatment
Biopharmaceuticals Applications
Antibiotics Applications
Antibiotics are a class of secondary metabolites with anti-pathogen or other activities produced by bacteria, molds, or other microorganisms during their lives.
Suntar’s membrane is widely used in the antibiotic industry based on membrane separation technology and continuous moving bed technology:
- Use ceramic membranes and Flow-cel membranes to replace traditional filtration methods such as plates and frames to clarify the fermentation broth, improve the quality of the filtrate, and reduce resin pollution and solvent consumption in the subsequent processes.
- Use ultrafiltration membrane to remove protein, decolor and improve quality
- Use nanofiltration membrane to concentrate antibiotics to replace or shorten the evaporation concentration-time; increase the crystallization yield or reduce the evaporation loss
- Use IX moving bed instead of a fixed bed to save resin consumption and reduce unit consumption.
- Membrane technology to recycle all kinds of mother liquor, waste liquor, and reclaimed water
Vitamins Applications
Vitamins are known as ‘eternal’ products. They are a type of organic substances necessary to maintain the life activities of animals, and they are also important active substances to maintain the health of the body.
The application of Suntar membrane in the process of vitamin separation based on membrane separation technology and continuous moving bed technology:
- Use Flow-cel membrane to replace traditional filtration methods such as plate and frame to clarify the fermentation broth, improve the quality of the filtrate, and reduce resin pollution in the subsequent process
- Use ultrafiltration membrane to remove protein, decolor and improve quality
- Use nanofiltration membrane to pre-concentrate vitamin antibiotics to reduce evaporation loss and evaporation cost
- Use IX moving bed instead of fixed bed ion exchange, saving resin consumption and reducing unit consumption
- CR chromatographic separation and recovery of vitamin mother liquor
- Membrane technology to recycle various mother liquor, waste liquor, and reclaimed water
Traditional Chinese medicine Applications
In the traditional processing method, the liquid medicine needs to be transferred, purified and concentrated repeatedly which takes up to 1 or 2 months. This increases the chance of bacterial contamination and lowers the active ingredient concentration due to heating. Most of the product has a high impurity concentration, poor clarity, and stability which hinders the industrialization and marketing of traditional Chinese medicine. Membrane separation technology helps to solve the problems faced in industrial applications.
Main features:
- Apply ultrafiltration technology to remove impurities such as tannin which significantly improves the clarity and storage stability of the injection.
- No phase change during separation preserves the biological, physical and chemical stability of the active ingredient in the original formulation.
- The measurable content of the active ingredients of this is 10-100% higher than the usual method, thus saving raw materials and solvents.
- Apply nanofiltration or reverse osmosis technology for the extraction and concentration at low temperature to reduce damages to product thus improving product quality.
- Short process flow and production cycle that is simple and cheap to operate.
Food & Beverage Applications
Amino Acid
Amino acid is a general term for a class of organic compounds containing amino and carboxyl groups. There are more than 300 natural amino acids that have been discovered, of which 22 are required by the human body.
The membrane application is used to filter the fermentation broth to remove all bacteria, solid proteins, colloids, and other insoluble content. At the same time to remove most of the macromolecules, such as protein, polysaccharides, etc. This clarifies the resin feed increasing the utilization rate of resin while solving most of the sewage problems.
Suntar membrane separation and moving bed technology are widely used in the production of amino acid:
- Ceramic membrane filtration, clarify fermentation broth, improve filtrate quality, reduce resin pollution in the subsequent processes
- Ion-exchange moving bed replace fixed bed, reduce resin consumption, reduce unit consumption
- Membrane technology to recycle wastewater and reclaimed water
Organic acid
Based on many years of membrane applications and engineering experience, Suntar cooperates with citric acid, lactic acid, dibasic acid and other organic acid manufacturers and developed a series of membrane technologies combined with continuous moving bed technology for the production of organic acids. This revolutionized the traditional production process of organic acids.
- Ceramic membranes replaced traditional plate and frame filtration, clarify fermentation broth, improve filtrate quality and reduce resin pollution in the subsequent processes.
- Membrane filtration removes impurities with small molecular weight and improves the product quality.
- Continuous ion-exchange moving bed system replaces traditional fixed bed system, increases desalination stability and product recovery rate as well as reduce resin consumption.
- Chromatography extracts organic acids and revolutionized the extraction process.
Sugar
Traditional sugar production generally uses obsolete equipment that requires a large quantity of filter aid which results in high fluctuation in product quality. In addition to consumption, glucose is also used as raw material for medicines and chemicals which both require high-quality glucose. Under the premise of ensuring product quality, it is often necessary to sacrifice product yield which pushes sugar manufacturers to innovate on the production process. Suntar developed a membrane separation technology together with the moving bed systems for sugar production which are highly recognized by the sugar manufacturers.
- Apply membrane filtration technology to replace traditional drum filtration, filter the saccharification liquid, improve filtrate quality, reduce filter aid consumption.
- Apply ion-exchange moving bed to replace fixed bed for deashing, reduce resin and unit consumption.
- Apply nanofiltration to concentrate and remove impurities, produce a high purity product.
- Apply industrial chromatography to separate sucrose and glucose
- Apply membrane separation technology for water recovery
Sugar Alcohol
Suntar has been committed to the application and development of the sugar alcohol industry. We have applied membranes and continuous moving beds to the production of xylitol, erythritol, sorbitol, etc., and have developed a biological fermentation method for the extraction process of xylitol.
Suntar’s membrane separation technology and continuous moving bed technology have a wide range of applications in the sugar alcohol industry：
- Apply ceramic membrane to replace the traditional plate and frame filtration for fermentation broth clarification. Higher filtrate quality reduces resin pollution and bacteria recovery in the subsequent processes.
- Apply membrane ultrafiltration to remove protein, pigment, and improve quality.
- Apply membrane nanofiltration to concentrate sugar alcohol, replacing or reducing evaporative concentration-time which improves crystal recovery and reduces evaporative loss.
- Apply a continuous ion-exchange moving bed system to replace a fixed bed system, reducing resin consumption and unit consumption.
- Apply chromatography to replace column chromatography which improves resin utility and product recovery.
- Membrane technology to recycle wastewater and reclaimed water
Plant extraction
Plant extraction is mainly water extraction, solvent extraction, ultrasonic extraction, resin adsorption, and other methods. The extraction liquid is mainly filtered by plate and frame filtration and the filtrate is often turbid which causes a great burden on the subsequent processes. Solvent extraction requires a large amount of solvent. In recent years, membrane separation technology in plant extraction has become more abundant. Suntar has also developed many applications in the plant extraction industry, and has developed an overall production process based on membrane separation technology and moving bed technology.
Suntar’s membrane separation technology and continuous moving bed technology have a wide range of applications in the plant extraction industry：
- Apply ceramic membrane to replace the traditional plate and frame filtration for extraction of clarified liquid. Higher filtrate quality reduces resin pollution and solvent consumption in the subsequent processes.
- Apply membrane ultrafiltration to remove protein, pigment, and improve quality.
- Apply membrane nanofiltration to concentrate plant extract, replacing or reducing evaporative concentration-time which improves crystal recovery and reduces evaporative loss.
- Apply a continuous ion-exchange moving bed system to replace a fixed bed system, reducing resin consumption and unit consumption.
- Membrane technology to recycle wastewater and reclaimed water.
Tea
The principle of tea extract is very similar to that of Coca-Cola which involves the processing of standardized concentrated liquids or tea powder to produce finished beverages. Therefore, industrialized tea extraction is a revolution in the history of the tea industry.
From tea leaves to tea concentrates or tea powder, although the brewing process is easy, how to maintain the original aroma and color of the tea soup without precipitation is a technical difficulty in the food processing industry. The emergence of membrane separation technology is the most effective application to solve these problems.
Dairy product
Membrane technology has been used in the dairy industry for many years. The advantages of membrane separation technology in the dairy industry make it more and more practical and have a broad application prospect in dairy processing.
- Reduce wastewater and environmental pollution
- Simplify production process and reduce energy consumption
- No dairy contamination as no additives added.
- Low temperature operation to prevent thermal degradation of product. Protects the nutrients in dairy from degradation and loss to improve utilization efficiency of dairy product.
Membrane separation applications in dairy industry:
- Sterilization of skimmed milk with ceramic membrane
- The concentration of skimmed milk with nanofiltration
- Standardization of dairy product
- Milk protein concentration, whey recovery, and processing
- Production wastewater recycling
Wine
A widely consumed beverage made by the fermentation of fresh grape and grape juice. Wine manufacturer has incorporated membrane separation technology in wine production. With microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, and reverse osmosis technology, the applications help wine manufacturers to improve the current production process.
Here is the process:
- Clarification of wine
- Purification and concentration of sugar
- Adjustment of alcohol content
- Stabilization of wine
- Purification of feed water for production
- Recovery of wine from pomace
Chemicals & Metallurgy
Alkaline recovery
In the production of viscose fiber, NaOH is commonly used to soak cotton pulp which is then pressed. The composition of cotton pulp is complicated with more than 85% cellulose. The general formula of cellulose is (C6H10O5)n.
The pulp is soaked in 200-210g/L NaOH solution The main purpose is to react cellulose with NaOH to produce alkaline cellulose but a large amount of concentrated alkaline is also produced. The concentrated alkaline solution contains dissolved hemicellulose which can be separated with membrane separation technology achieving alkaline recovery.
Chlor-alkali industry
The chlor-alkali industry is one of the basic chemical raw material industries. Currently, the softening process is done with flocculation sedimentation method. This process is complicated and difficult to operate which requires large amount of chemicals and filter aid.
In recent years, Suntar has increased the applications of membrane separation technology in this industry and developed softening process based on membrane technology.
- Ceramic membranes replace sand filtration, cellulose pre-coated filter, and other equipment for the softening process which shortens the overall extraction process.
- Nanofiltration membrane to remove divalent ions.
- Membrane filtration produced water recycling
Lithium extraction
Secondary brine has high salinity which is hard to process with membrane directly. It needs to go through adsorption followed by membrane filtration to remove impurity further and concentrate lithium ions.
Raw brine has low salinity which can be treated with membrane directly. Through one pass or multiple pass membrane filtration system impurities are removed and lithium ion concentrated.
The salt lakes that can be developed and utilized are mainly divided into sulfate and carbonate salt lakes. In sulfate salt lakes, the brine is saturate with CaSO4 and scaling is very likely to occur. This causes fouling of the nanofiltration membrane which are insoluble in water or acid. In carbonate salt lakes, CO32+ and HCO3－ are mutually converted. It is difficult to retain HCO3－ which affects the removal rate of CO32+.
Dyestuff industry
Membrane separation technology is an important technology application for dye post-process with the advantages of improving product quality, increase product yield, increase production capability, reduce raw material consumption, and reduce environmental pollution. It is widely used in the industry as it complies with the clean production process standards.
Energy Industry
Nuclear power
Boric acid is added to the primary circuit of nuclear power plants to control reactivity and ensure the safety of nuclear power plants. Nuclear power plants generally have the problem of high dissolved silicon content in boron-containing water. When the silicic acid and silicic acid colloids contained in the dissolved silicon coexist with ions such as calcium, magnesium, and aluminum, they form silicate deposits on the surface of the fuel cladding which endanger the safe operation of the unit. The chemical and physical properties of dissolved silicon are very close to that of boric acid which makes the separation very difficult.
Due to the particularity of nuclear power plants, there are strict requirements for water quality thus no impurities should be introduced when removing the dissolved silicon. At the same time, a high recovery of boric acid must be ensured, otherwise it will cause a very large amount of radioactive waste.
With nanofiltration system, the silicon concentration in the tank can be reduced to around 400ppb and reduce the loss of boric acid and wastewater discharge.
Oil-water separation
Membrane application in oil-water separation：
- Oilfield produced water
- Cold rolling oily wastewater
- Reuse of degreasing fluid
- Coking oil wastewater treatment
- Oily wastewater from edible oil refineries and restaurants
Treatment of oil production effluent is mainly to remove oil and suspended solids to prevent oily water and suspended solids from being reinjected into the oil field which could block the oil production layer. Ceramic/Carbon tubular membrane technology can be used to achieve oil-water separation
Water Treatment
Power industry
This project application adopts multimedia filtration and reverses osmosis to recycle the wastewater discharge from the power plant so that the produced water can be used in other processes in the plant.
Fermentation industry
The water recycles project of Tongliao Meihua Bio-Tech Co. Ltd is located in Tongliao city, Inner Mongolia. It uses a double-membrane process to remove the impurities in anaerobic and aerobic treated wastewater to reuse in the desalinated water systems for the power plant. This project includes reclaimed water from both the west and east sector with a flow rate of 10000m3/d and 12000m3/d respectively as the largest monosodium glutamate wastewater recycle project in China.
Leather industry
The leather industry adopts the double membrane process to recycle wastewater with high salinity and complex water quality. The produced water can be used for other processes in leather production. This project significantly reduces wastewater discharge and freshwater consumption.
Rare earth element extraction
Water from rare earth element extraction is treated with “primary treatment + multiple media filtration + reverse osmosis + cement sedimentation + AO MBR system”. Using microorganisms such as nitrifying bacteria and denitrifying bacteria, the system can achieve high oxygen removal.
Steel industry
Wastewater from iron and steel smelting and processing is reused for production water and boiler recharge water.
Petrochemical industry
In the petrochemical industry, double-membrane processes are used to recycle petrochemical wastewater which has complex water quality. The permeate can be used for circulating cooling water and pure water production. This process solves the problem of unstable operation that similar domestic projects are facing and reduces water cost which has significant social and economic benefits.
Oilfield industry
The quality of oilfield wastewater is complex, containing environmentally polluting substances such as petroleum, demulsifying agent, salt, phenol, sulfur, etc. The oily wastewater of the Yanchang Oilfield project is pretreated with an inorganic ceramic membrane to meet the discharge standards. The secondary surface water is pretreated and filtered with an ultrafiltration system and the produced water is reused in production. This project has a capacity of 2100m3/d which includes 1000m3/d produced oily sewage and 1100m3/d Hulu River surface water.
Metallurgy industry
There are many products and different series of production processes in the metallurgical industry which discharge a lot of wastewater with varying water quality. It can be divided into many types based on water source and quality. It is one of the main environmental polluting wastewater sources.
Pulp and paper industry
The feed water of this project is low salinity seawater. It is treated with a combined process of sedimentation, filtration, ultrafiltration, and reverse osmosis where the produced water can be reused in production. Water supply capacity is 30000m3/d equipped with a set of 33000m3/d flocculation precipitation filter unit and a set of 25000m3/d reverse osmosis system.
Coal chemical industry
The coking plant uses a double-membrane method for desalination of wastewater and the produced water is used for circulating cooling supplementary water
Zero Liquid Discharge
When there is a strict requirement for low salinity discharge or low discharge volume, companies are forced to adopt Zero Liquid Discharge to meet the requirement.
Municipal wastewater upgrading
This project upgrades and transforms wastewater into surface water. The biochemical effluent undergoes ultrafiltration, ozone treatment, and MBR treatment to meet the Grade A standards.
Potable water
Potable water is made with municipal tap water provided by the government using deep-processing special techniques. Feedwater is directly purified, activated, and energized at the user terminal to simulate a natural water treatment system. This application kills the virus and bacteria and filters out impurities such as color, odor, chlorine residue, ozone hydrogen sulfide, bacteria, virus, and heavy metal.
Leachate
The treatment system needs to be able to handle feed with high concentration and good biodegradability in the beginning and feed with low concentration and poor biodegradability to ensure stable outlet water quality.
