Q IWA Publishing 2010 Water Science & Technology: Water SupplyWSTWS | 10.

1 | 2010

113

Industrial water reuse opportunities and high

temperature compatible membranes
A.-C. Valentin

ABSTRACT
Process condensates represent a real value to the industry as it usually contains several
items of potential savings, including but not limited to heat energy and water. In most
cases the condensate has become contaminated with unwanted particles or with product
carryover making it unfit for direct reuse in the process or as boiler makeup water.

A.-C. Valentin
GE Water & Process Technologies,
1 allee du 1er Mai,
77183 Croissy-Beaubourg,
France
E-mail: anne-cecile.valentin@ge.com

Conventional methods use heat exchangers for partial recovery of the heat content to
be followed by ion exchange or reverse osmosis limited to 30408C feed temperature.
By using the Durathermw High Temperature compatible membranes in RO and NF, it is
now possible to process the condensate at temperatures up to 808C thereby maintaining
the calorific value of the stream. Many plants also produce a product using evaporation.
The overheads from the evaporators usually contain a small amount of their product that
must either be recovered by an additional evaporation step or disposed of in a waste
treatment plant. These reverse osmosis or nanofiltration systems allow concentration
of the product, produce high quality water suitable for reuse, and reduce the load on the
waste treatment plant. The treated condensate can then be used for various utility
operations including boiler & process makeup.
Key words

| condensate recovery, high temperature, nanofiltration, reverse osmosis,

water reuse

INTRODUCTION
natural

generate savings while benefiting from CO2 emission

resources will be the main challenge for the 21st century

trading and governmental incentives. Such projects can

as those resources become scarce. Oil is becoming scarce

also be used as part of the corporate communication to

and more expensive to extract. Even if the production is

highlight the environmental awareness of the given industry.

limited to specific regions, the ability to transport oil

This article will describe the high-temperature compatible

and liquefied gas easily has allowed the globalization

membranes and how they can be used in industries

of oil&gas commerce. As a consequence, the difficulties

generating or consuming hot aqueous streams for water

around oil availability are driving the prices up affecting

and energy recovery.

Better

managing

the

environment

and

the

every industry on the planet. Water scarcity remains a local

problem: even if it is commonly known that pure water is
becoming scarce at a global level via massive pollution of
rivers or salt water intrusion in aquifers, the price setting of

INDUSTRIAL CONDENSATES

water remains dependent on the local availability of water.

Whatever the industry, most industrial processes require

In an inflationary environment, water & energy

at some level a transfer of heat and water is the most

recovery projects become effective tools for industries to

common transport fluid for this heat both for heating and

doi: 10.2166/ws.2010.083

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A.-C. Valentin | High-temperature compatible membranes for industrial water reuse

Water Science & Technology: Water SupplyWSTWS | 10.1 | 2010

for cooling purposes. In the absence of contamination,

In the case of contaminated condensed vapor after

water or steam is directly reused for the same heat transfer

product contact, the range of possible contaminants is

function. For example closed cooling circuits are using

broader as it will include any substance present on the

water as cooling fluid with constant recycle. In evaporation,

product surface, which is soluble in hot water.

distillation or steam generation, the clean condensates from

Whatever the generating process, the industrial con-

the first effects are recycled to the entry of the heating

densates typically have Total Dissolved Solids content

process in order to recover the calories and optimize the

comparable to city water (200 400 ppm). The organic

energy efficiency.

content (TOC) which can vary greatly depending on the

substance evaporated, was less than 500 ppm in the applica-

Contaminated streams

tions detailed in this article.

When used for heat transfer, steam can be contaminated

by contact with the product or with product-related

AVAILABLE CROSS-FLOW TECHNOLOGIES

equipment. The contaminated condensed steam identified

as condensate becomes a waste stream with an elevated

Membrane cross flow filtration covers a wide range of

calorific content.

selectivity from the suspended solid removal with micro-

Concentration processes based on heating, whether

under partial vacuum or at atmospheric pressure, are based

filtration (MF), to the demineralization applications using

Reverse Osmosis (RO).

on the evaporation of all or part of the solvent. For aqueous

The purification of condensates requires the removal of

liquids, the condensed solvent identified as evaporator

dissolved salts and organics: reverse osmosis and nano-

condensate, is another hot waste stream generated by

filtration are the two filtration technologies that will allow

equipments such as evaporators, concentrators, spray

remove charged and uncharged dissolved species.

dryers or crystallizers.

Membrane materials can be either polymeric or

Unlike clean steam condensates, the condensates

inorganic. Non-polymeric membranes exist in a variety of

generated by product evaporation and contaminated con-

inert materials (ceramic, stainless steel or carbon), which

densed steam (after product contact) are not suitable for

can be used up to very high temperatures. They are

direct recycle into a boiler and are generally transferred

covering the MF and ultrafiltration (UF) ranges, with

to the wastewater treatment plant. The use of high-

selected membrane as tight as 5,000 Dalton. However this

temperature compatible membranes for the purification of

is not sufficient for the removal of dissolved minerals.

aqueous condensates and contaminated condensed vapor

allows the recovery of both water and energy.

Polymeric membranes
The different polymeric membranes can be split into two

Typical contaminants

different structure groups.

Condensate composition will vary depending on the

The homogenous membranes: they consist of one single

generating process, however there are main characteristics,

polymer cast on a non-woven backing material which

which apply to all of them. Because they are generated

provides the mechanical resistance.

from the condensation of contaminated water vapor,

The composite membranes, also called TFC (Thin-Film

condensates are hot. That may seem obvious, but the

Composite) or TFM (Thin-Film Membrane), they are

available condensate temperature typically varies from

made in two-layer or three-layer designs. The thin

558C to 958C. The second main and common characteristic

skin layer is polymerized in situ on a polyethersulfone

is the extremely low content of suspended solids.

UF membrane, cast on a backing. The three-layer

The dissolved solids present will then include minerals

design has two thin film membranes on top of the UF

and organics.

membrane. The three-layer design provides an extremely

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Figure 1

A.-C. Valentin | High-temperature compatible membranes for industrial water reuse

Water Science & Technology: Water SupplyWSTWS | 10.1 | 2010

2-layer versus 3-layer membranes.

smooth surface compared to the two-layer design as

was also economical and all other applications and

shown on Figure 1. The Duratherm RO and NF

industries tried to converge to this configuration. The

membranes are built using three-layer polymers, whereas

element construction consist in a number of different

the most common RO and NF membranes available

components organized around a permeate collection tube.

on the market for water applications are built with

The semi-permeable membrane is pleated and glued in the

the two-layer design.

shape of envelopes, with the thin-film membrane on the

outside. A permeate carrier is placed inside the envelope
and will drive the permeate stream along the spiral into the

Membrane element configuration

So the membrane used is an assembly (superposition) of
polymers cast on a non-woven support fabric. This membrane can be assembled in different module configuration:

permeate tube. The feed spacer material, which creates the

flow channels for the feed and concentrate streams, is
placed between the different membrane envelopes. This
assembly is glued and rolled around the central tube. The
outside shell of the spiral assembly can be in different

spiral-wound

materials: fiberglass reinforced resin for industrial appli-

tubular

cations, or polypropylene cage for sanitary applications as

hollow fiber

the most common (Figure 2).

plate & frame

Because a spiral-wound element is a complex assembly

Tubular and hollow fibers are common configurations

of many different components, it is important to not only

for UF applications because they can tolerate suspended

verify the resistance of the membrane, but also of the entire

solids. Main applications are surface water filtration and

module, including the different components. So if the

wastewater treatment.

backing material in polyester provides good temperature

Plate & frame being the least compact configuration,

resistance,

central

tube,

anti-telescoping

device

and

it is used for small flow rate applications with a very

interconnector should be selected in high temperature

important amount of suspended solids mostly with UF and

compatible materials such as polysulfone instead of the

RO membranes. Well established industrial examples are:

standard PVC or ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene).

Kubota membrane bioreactor, Rochem High pressure

The glue, which seals the membrane envelopes and

systems for landfill leachate, Novasep Pleiade for electro-

maintains the different layers together (permeate carrier,

deposition paint recovery.

feed spacer, membrane sheet) also needs to be selected

The spiral-wound configuration was developed in the

1980s for water desalination. Being the most compact, it

for high temperature stability: special formulation of

polyurethane and epoxy can meet those requirements.

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Figure 2

A.-C. Valentin | High-temperature compatible membranes for industrial water reuse

Water Science & Technology: Water SupplyWSTWS | 10.1 | 2010

Spiral-wound element construction.

HIGH TEMPERATURE OPERATION

Operating parameters
The spiral-wound RO elements designed for high temperature operation will be built with components and materials
stable up to about 1008C. However during operation,
the membrane module will not be exposed to static hot
water, but to a combination of fluid velocity, pressure and
aggressive pH during cleanings. The limitations for those
parameters are usually defined on the membrane element
literature considering 508C as the absolute maximum. When
considering the Durathermw membrane products, those
parameters quantified as pressure drop, operating pressure
and pH ranges had to be adjusted to those extreme
temperatures. Indeed plastic materials tend to soften at
elevated temperatures and therefore the risk of membrane
compaction related to operating pressure, as well as the risk

factors as in the Winflows program developed by GE

Water & Process Technologies.
Those factors developed for the normalization at 258C
of operational data from RO systems indicate that at 508C
the flux of water is about twice the flux at 258C. However
fresh water used in industry, whether coming from a local
well or from the city network, is rarely as warm as 258C,
and if considering a more realistic fresh water temperature
of 108C, the ratio of fluxes exceeds 3. So operating an RO
system at high temperature allows a remarkable increase
in water flux.
Operating a spiral-wound RO membrane at fluxes
as high as 100 l/m2 h on contaminated water presents
however a serious risk of fouling because of the local
concentration on the surface of the membrane. In order to
keep that risk under control and to maximize the element
lifetime, the membrane elements should not be used above

of telescoping, related to pressure drop need to be taken

into account and reflected through stricter limitations.
The Wagner diagram (Wagner 2001) provides guidelines
regarding operating pressure depending on the application
temperature that reflect the experiences gained using such
elements (Figure 3).

Permeability and rejection

The evolution of water transport at increasing temperature
is commonly incorporated in reverse osmosis projection
programs, using the published temperature correction

Figure 3

Wagner diagram.

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A.-C. Valentin | High-temperature compatible membranes for industrial water reuse

33 l/m2 h as indicated on the GE Duratherm Excel

specification sheet (2008). In order not to exceed this
maximum flux, the operating pressure will be reduced.
The salt passage through the membrane is quantified

Water Science & Technology: Water SupplyWSTWS | 10.1 | 2010

System design
The purification of condensates for reuse can be performed
via RO technology in 2 different ways:

with the B-value, which is the specific salt permeability

standard temperature (T , 408C)

through the membrane measured at 1 bar. The B-value

high temperature (408C , T , 808C)

increases also with temperature as described by Snow

Even if the standard RO membranes are given for

(1996): at constant pressure, NaCl transmission doubles

operating temperature up to 508C, the standard RO

at 708C compared to 258C. So in case an RO could be

machines are commonly designed for continuous operation

operated at 708C at the same pressure than at 258C, the

up to 35 408C especially when they incorporate plastic

RO permeate would then have a better permeate quality

tubing for the low pressure piping. The standard tempera-

at 708C compared to 258C because the water flux

ture RO will therefore requiring cooling the condensate

increases faster with temperature than the salt flux

prior to the RO and if necessary re-heating the RO

(B-value). However because there is a limitation on the

permeate. The RO machine will not require any particular

water flux due to fouling risk, the RO will be operated at

feature, but the system will require a heat exchanger.

about 50% of the 258C operating pressure in order to

maintain

the

flux

below

33 l/m2 h.

Therefore

the

increased salt flux will be diluted in a relatively constant

water flux, leading to increased salt concentration as
described in Figure 4.
Therefore a RO system will produce a higher salinity
permeate when operated at high temperature, while
keeping the permeate flow rate constant.

High temperature RO equipment will require upgraded

components:
all stainless steel piping
high temperature resistant instrumentation & sensors
stainless steel pressure vessels
high temperature resistant membranes
The pump will require high temperature materials,

The temperature will not affect the rejection of large

but the operating pressure will be less than for a standard

organics and rejection will remain above 95%. However

temperature system. When including the membrane

the rejection of small organics which is very dependent on

elements, the difference in capital investment between a

the operating pressure, will degrade as operating tempera-

standard RO and a high temperature compatible RO for the

ture increases. That is why the treatment of condensates

same design is estimated between 20 and 50% depending on

with important quantity of volatile organics will require

the flow rate. However when TOC consists mainly in small

innovative system designs in order to optimize the overall

organics including volatile, complex and therefore more

total organic carbon (TOC) rejection.

expensive system designs might be necessary in order to

achieve high rejection on TOC.

CASE STUDIES
Water scarcity and oil rising prices are strong motivations
for industries to look at recycling the contaminated
condensates. The following examples are case studies for
existing systems using the Durathermw High temperature
membrane elements manufactured by GE Water & Process
Figure 4

Salt rejection at high temperature for high rejection (HR) and high flow (HF)
RO membranes.

Technologies. They are located in factories in the rubber,

dairy and beverage industries.

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Table 1

Water Science & Technology: Water SupplyWSTWS | 10.1 | 2010

The pilot study confirmed that NF was necessary in front of

Tire condensate composition and purification

the RO to remove the large organics, which fouled the RO

Contaminant

Condensate content

NF rejection

RO rejection

Total hardness

50 100 ppm

. 80%

.95%

recovery of the condensate while achieving . 99% rejection

Iron

1 5 ppm

. 90%

.95%

for all minerals (Table 1).

Copper

1 5 ppm

. 90%

.95%

The system set-up is outlined on Figure 5. Because the

Sodium

1 5 ppm

Variable

.95%

steam produced is not only used for the curing process, the

membrane. The NF/RO system installed provides an 85%

Silica

0.5 5 ppm

10 20%

.95%

amount of treated condensate is not sufficient as boiler feed

Sulfate

1 5 ppm

. 80%

.95%

and make-up water is added between the 2 membrane steps.

Chloride

1 5 ppm

Variable

.95%

The feed stream to the RO has a temperature of 458C and

TDS

70 100 ppm

Variable

.95%

therefore does not require high temperature membrane, but

TOC

30 300 ppm

Variable

.95%

a full stainless steel RO installation is necessary. Now

treated by the Reverse Osmosis, the boiler feed water has a

Tire condensate
In the manufacturing of car tires, the tire assembly made of
different rubber layers reinforced with metal is submitted
to steam during the vulcanization process. This curing

significant lower salinity compared to the previous city

water after zeolite softener, allowing a significant increase
in boiler cycles, therefore further contributing to a reduction
of the plant fresh water consumption.

process generates both a clean condensed vapor and a

condensate contaminated with organics from contact with

The results

the bladder and inorganics from the concrete storage sump.

The clean condensed vapor is recycled in the boiler, but the

The high-temperature system installed to treat the curing

contaminated condensate is discharged to the sewer.

condensate allowed the factory to:

A tire factory producing 17,000 pieces daily generates

3

17 m /h of 708C condensate, with about 50% clean condensed vapor and 50% contaminated condensate with
minerals and organics including ketones and aromatics
with an average TOC of 30 ppm, with spikes to 300 ppm.

Figure 5

Tire condensate recovery system.

increase its return to the boiler house from 40% to 60%

eliminate the sewer cost of sending 8 m3/h of contaminated condensate to the drain
reduce the discharge temperature to the sewer for the
total plant by 33%

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Water Science & Technology: Water SupplyWSTWS | 10.1 | 2010

increase 5 times in boiler cycles substantially reducing

The RO unit is operated at 658C continuously and

the cost of raw and demineralized water and the

delivers a 90% recovery producing 1,800 m3/d of 658C

associated chemical water treatment cost

permeate. After a ClO2 dosage to prevent any microbiolo-

improve the quality of boiler feed water allowing for

gical activity, the permeate is used hot for boiler feed and

improved operation and lower maintenance cost at the

hot Clean-In-Place (CIP). The heat of the remaining

boiler house.

permeate is recovered via heat exchangers including milk

In the first 24 months of operation the system has

enabled a reduction of gas consumption of approximately
52,000 Mcf (million cubic feet) in a year or 10% energy
savings for the plant. With current gas prices at $9.00 per

heater, before being used in cold applications such as

process water, cold CIP or cooling. Considering the
important BOD content of such condensate, the high
temperature operation of the RO unit prevents also

Mcf this equates to $468,000 in fuel cost savings.

important biological growth. When operating an RO at

The consequent simple payback for the system was less

low temperature, significant amounts of sanitizers (chlorine,

than 2 years.

peracetic acid) have to be added.

Dairy condensate

The results

Cow milk naturally contains about 88% of water. Any dairy

The implementation of the high temperature RO system to

product, whether yogurt or hard cheese, has a higher dry

treat dairy allowed this site to:

matter content than milk and therefore any dairy plant will

become self-sufficient in water except during exceptional

have significant waste water volumes generated by the

concentration of fats, proteins and sugars from milk.
Because the volumes of wastewater are important, the

shut-downs
reduce by 66% the volume of wastewater discharged to
the sewer

use of reverse osmosis on dairy condensates was already

recover energy either from direct reuse of hot RO

described by the International Dairy Federation in1988

permeate or via heat exchangers for milk pre-heating.

(IDF 1988) but the described systems did require cooling

before treatment. Depending on the product evaporated,
the condensate composition varies significantly as reported
in IDF (1988) in Table 2. Therefore the achievable permeate
TOC will depend on the raw material evaporated, and more
difficult products such as acid whey will require more
complex system designs.
A dairy factory processing 850 million liters of milk
per year for the production of butter and milk powder
generates more than 2,000 m3/d of wastewater, mainly
coming from the evaporation of milk into powder. This
evaporator condensate is collected at 658C.
Table 2

The savings generated were almost equally distributed

between water savings, energy recovery and wastewater
cost reduction (Table 3) as reported by Envirowise (2003).
Considering the investment cost of the RO system, the
payback period was only 9 months.
Even though a high temperature RO system costs
between 20 and 50% more than a standard unit, the
expenses of heat exchangers (CAPEX) and higher CIP
frequency (OPEX) can partly offset this difference. However
the final argument for choosing a high temperature RO
operation is the potential energy savings.
Distillery condensate

Dairy products characteristics

Product

pH value

COD (mg/l)

BOD5 (mg/l)

Skim milk

5.9 8.0

14 88

11 68

UF-whey permeate

6.8 7.8

52 86

41 56

Sweet whey

5.4 8.6

34 389

28 256

Acid whey

3.2 5.6

216 1,053

132 928

The spirits are commonly produced by distillation of

sweet liquor prepared with fruits, vegetables or grains.
The distillation bottoms called spent mash are treated as
a waste. In many distilleries, this mash is also concentrated
via evaporation in order to reduce the final waste volume.
The condensate from the spent mash evaporation from

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120

Table 3

Water Science & Technology: Water SupplyWSTWS | 10.1 | 2010

motivation for the end customer, and the energy recovery

Effective cost comparison

was originally seen as a bonus feature. Therefore the return

Savings per year ($/year)

Water reuse

736,000

Energy savings

800,000

Wastewater reduction

716,000

Total

2252,000

Capital costs ($)

on investment is estimated so far around 6 months.

CONCLUSION
The purification of hot condensates is achievable up to 808C

High temperature RO

1650,000

for continuous operation using Durathermw membrane

elements. The achieved permeate quality will depend

whisky production has been evaluated for high-temperature

RO treatment and reuse in the process.

on the feed stream composition (minerals and organics)

and innovative system designs are requested for organic

A distillery producing 45 million litres of spirit per year

is generating 25 m3/h of 80 908C condensate from spent
mash concentration. A pilot study was performed to verify
that the treated permeate was suitable for reuse inside the
production process. The analysis of the feed and permeate is
detailed in Table 4.

reduction of 90% and more when volatiles are present.

The opportunities for reuse of the treated condensate
need to be selected based on the flow rate, the calorific
content and the residual contamination of the permeate.
In the case studies described, the projects initiated with
a site survey for water and wastewater. Such preliminary
studies are unique opportunities to map the water uses
inside a factory across production, utilities and wastewater

The results
The full-scale system is delivering more than 95% reduction
of Total Dissolved Solids, and a 90% reduction of TOC.
Because the present organics are small, mainly volatile, the
system design had to be optimized to provide the necessary
quality for reuse into the production process.
Since the fresh water used so far for the production process
is at 88C, and considering that the condensate available at
758C is being entirely reused in the production process, the
energy savings alone should represent about 1 million USD
annually, based on 0.8$/m3 for fuel.
The return on investment will need to be confirmed after
2 years of operation. However water reuse was the main
Table 4

pH

demineralized water production is a hindrance to such large

scope reuse/recovery projects as the capital investment and
the savings will not affect the same budgets.
The savings generated by any condensate recovery
project are based upon water reuse, energy recovery and
wastewater minimization. The access to all those costs is
essential in order to evaluate the economical feasibility of
these projects. Depending on the industry, the condensate
recovery project may bring significant additional benefits
including product recovery, improved boiler efficiency,
reduction of chemical consumption, improved product
quality, but also public incentives for reduction of fresh
water consumption and CO2 emission trading.

Distillery condensate composition

Unit

treatment. The outsourcing of utilities such as steam and

Feed

Permeate

7.1

N.A

Conductivity

mS/cm

453

m-alkalinity

ppm CaCO3

172

4.2

Sulfate

ppm

, 0.1

, 0.1

Chloride

ppm

1.4

, 0.6

Sodium

ppm

131

2.1

Total hardness

ppm CaCO3

, 0.1

Total suspended solids

mg/l

11.1

2.6

Total organic carbon

ppm as C

322

35

REFERENCES
Dairy profits from zero water use 2003 Envirowise CS404.
Duratherm Excel Series Product Fact Sheet 2008 AMFspwDurathermExcel_EN, December 2008.
Snow, M. 1996 New techniques for extreme conditions: high temperature
reverse osmosis and nanofiltration. Desalination 105, 5761.
The Quality, Treatment and Use of Condensate and Reverse
Osmosis Permeates 1988 Bulletin of the International Dairy
Federation no 232/1988, Brussels, Belgium.
Wagner, J. 2001 Membrane Filtration Handbook, 2nd edition,
Revision 2, Osmonics, Minnetonka, USA.