Ceramic Membranes
Ceramic High Flux
This process treats produced water from oil and gas operations, making it suitable for direct environmental discharge, reinjection, or reuse as process or irrigation water.
CHF is designed for both conventional oil and gas production and unconventional sources such as flowback water, shale oil and gas, and oil sands tailings. It also serves other sectors needing suspended liquid and solid removal, such as metal and coal mining. Additionally, it helps remove heavy metals and salts from mine water.
CHF also meets full pre-treatment needs for desalination processes like reverse osmosis and thermal systems. A single CHF stage can replace complex traditional treatment trains—including plate separators, dissolved air flotation, ultrafiltration, and media or cartridge filters.
Benefits of CHF include:
Meets strict discharge standards: CHF consistently reduces dispersed oil and suspended solids to less than 1 mg/l, meeting the world’s toughest environmental regulations.
Outperforms conventional methods: It removes more oil than plate separators, flotation systems, hydrocyclones, centrifuges, and media filters—without higher capital costs and at lower operating costs.
Proven in real-world settings: Full-scale testing has validated CHF performance at oil production sites in the North Sea and UK mainland. The technology is patented globally.
Handles high flow rates efficiently: CHF membranes operate at flux rates 7–10 times higher than those of conventional crossflow microfiltration. This makes the system ideal for large-scale water treatment, significantly reducing both capital and operational expenses.
Ceramic Crossflow Microfiltration
In the process, liquid is pumped parallel to the membrane. A portion of it—called permeate—passes through membrane pores due to pressure differences. The remaining flow sweeps across the surface, constantly removing particles and reducing blockages.
Ceramic membranes trap particles larger than their pore size, including suspended solids, bacteria, colloids, and macromolecules. The filtered permeate is free from these contaminants and is suitable for reuse or discharge.
XMF Applications
XMF is widely used in industries such as wastewater treatment, food and beverage production, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals. Its key benefits include:
High chemical and thermal resistance
Strong mechanical durability
Resistance to fouling and harsh cleaning agents
When selecting XMF, it’s important to match the membrane type with the feed characteristics and application needs. Efficient system design, ongoing monitoring, and regular maintenance are critical to ensure long-term performance and maximize membrane lifespan.