Safos & Thusat Blog

Soneera's MemFreeNF™

Peter Thusat -

Soneera's MemFreeNF™ (Membrane-Free Nano Filtration) is an industrial-scale solution that can remove a wider array of pollutants than any other single water treatment system.

MemFreeNF™ continuous-flow electroflocculation – developed by inventor Dr. Vivian Robinson – uses active electrode plate sets to generate metal ions at the anode and small gas bubbles at the cathode. Metal ions capture the pollutants, and gas bubbles float them to the surface – from where they are easily removed. A proprietary electronics control system automatically delivers the correct water treatment dose rate under all conditions, once the correct dose has been set into the system.

Unmatched high-flow efficiency means that the system loses less than 5% of the initial volume of any type of polluted water during the treatment process, making more than 95% of the water available to use again. MemFreeNF™ requires less power and has a smaller footprint than most industrial treatment systems on the market. It supports remote monitoring/adjustment via Internet.

Soneera's technology is unique and is the only system on the market that can treat all types of waste water in all relevant industrial sectors, including:

  • municipal water supply
  • sewage treatment
  • agriculture
  • mining
  • oil & gas
  • pollution/environmental cleanup applications.

Before the start of a MemFreeNF™ field trial at the Sundt Power Plant in Tucson, the plant's head engineer said, “Good luck. We've had 29 different technologies in here trying to treat our blow down water, and all have failed.” None of those other 29 systems could reduce silica levels in the cooling tower water down to the required 40 ppm. MemFreeNF™ successfully reduced the silica content down to less than 10 ppm. Soneera proved its unique system could save the power plant 60% on its chemical spend and also allow the plant to return the treated water back into the cooling towers.

MemFreeNF™ treated oil and petroleum in stagnant water with algae – reducing total suspended solids (TSS) from 740 ppm to 9 ppm in a single pass in less than 50 minutes.

It treated raw sewage at a major city treatment facility to potable water in less than one hour – delivering results that exceeded those from the municipal treatment facility's usual 10-day process.

It treated raw, unscreened sewage from a commercial camp's restaurant, function centre, toilets and kitchens to drinking water clarity with absolutely no odor.

MemFreeNF™ does not take salt from water (desalinate) but can be used very advantageously to pre-treat water before desalination.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

Treating polluted water by means of electrical technology is not new, is it?

This is correct if you use the term “electrolysis” and correct also if you use the term “electrocoagulation”.

  • Electrolysis has been around for more than 200 years (since 1789) and was first used commercially in 1888.

  • Electrocoagulation is a process for dropping the waste material to the bottom of the treated water.
    Electrocoagulation typically generates large volumes of sludge with high bound water content that can be slow to filter and difficult to dewater. These treatment processes also tend to increase the total dissolved solids (TDS) content of the effluent, making it unacceptable for reuse within industrial applications.

Soneera employs superior “continuous-flow electroflocculation”.

  • Electroflocculation is quite a bit newer. In layman's terms: it floats approximately 95% of all pollutants to the surface and drops approximately 5% (especially the heavier molecules) of the pollutants to the bottom of the water. Dr Vivian Robinson – the inventor of Soneera's MemFreeNF™ system – has written the official paper on Electroflocculation for the Encyclopedia of Applied Electrochemistry.

  • Some electroflocculation and electrocoagulation systems are “batch” processes that treat a certain amount of waste water at any one time in a container. The real problem with batch systems is the electrodes tend to clog and typically have to be cleaned after every treatment process. Power usage in batch systems is also very high and costly, whereas power usage in Soneera's system is very low – typically 0.03 to 0.07Kwh/m3 – depending on pollutant loadings.

  • MemFreeNF™ is a continuous-flow electroflocculation system that can treat upwards of 100,000 gallons per day to 200,000+ gallons per day depending on the type of waste water treated. This “continuous-flow” capability is one of the inventor's key patents.

  • Soneera's treatment system uses a patent-pending mechanism to “skim” the floated waste solids from the surface of the water while all the cleaned water continues to flow smoothly through each chamber in the container.

  • MemFreeNF™ removes suspended solids and renders the dissolved molecules inert and insoluble. This makes the leftover substance well-suited (after drying it) for stabilized landfill, etc. Depending on the actual water treated, the residual material may potentially be used as fertilizer or in other commercial applications.

  • By adding Chlorine and a UV system at the end of the process, MemFreeNF™ can treat raw sewage to potable drinking water standards.

  • MemFreeNF™ employs a combination of iron and aluminum electrodes with a power source controlled by proprietary software developed in-house by Dr. Robinson and his engineers. This software (The Brain) controls the amount of electricity going to the electrodes during the continuous flow of water. Soneera has strong protocols in place to prevent hacking, reverse engineering or unauthorized copying of the software.

Who is Soneera's primary competitor, and how does its solution compare?

Soneera's main competitor, Halliburton, claims to also have a “continuous-flow electroflocculation” solution with its CleanWave™ system.

  • The CleanWave™ system is actually several separate off-the-shelf technologies coupled into one large system comprised of three to four 40-ft. containers. Halliburton advertises its cost to treat polluted water at approximately 4 cents per gallon or $1.52 per barrel.

  • Soneera's MemFreeNF™ can treat polluted water for less than a penny per gallon or $0.42 per barrel – although Soneera usually quotes at 1.5 cents to 3 cents per gallon.

For more information, contact:

Soneera Water, LLC

http://soneerawater.com

CEO: Darrell Behan
Tel: +1 480 570 2703
Email: darrell@soneerawater.com

VP Marketing: Peter Thusat
Tel: +1 216 221 1233
Email: peter@soneerawater.com