Waste and water treatment company De.mem (ASX:DEM) has begun running commercial scale water treatment plants using its proprietary nanofiltration (NF) membrane.
The water treatment plants are part of a pilot phase aimed at validating De.mem’s low-pressure hollow fibre NF technology which was developed at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and licensed exclusively to the company in 2016.
The innovative NF membrane combines both Reverse Osmosis (RO) and ultrafiltration (UF) in a process that is more energy efficient, low-cost and low-maintenance than standard RO filtration.
One of the pilot water treatment systems has been deployed in Vietnam, and the other two are for industrial customers in Singapore. All three systems have a commercial scale and are for treatment of industrial waste water and potable water generation.
The pilot installations enable De.mem to generate detailed data which the company will use to evaluate the performance of the NF membranes, further preparing them for use in larger projects. In the coming months, De.mem is planning a wider launch of the membrane technology.
The set-up of the pilot plants effectively brings our new NF membrane technology into the field,” said De.mem’s CEO Andreas Kroell. The market need for this technology is strong. We are excited to see this happen only six months after the IPO of our company on the ASX.
In September, De.mem acquired Queensland water and waste water treatment company Akwa-Worx and plans to introduce the NF membrane to Akwa-Worx’s clients including a number of leading corporations from Australia’s mining sector.
The acquisition of Akwa-Worx further established De.mem as a major player in the marked for de-centralised water treatment in the Asia-Pacific region and provides strategic growth opportunities.
The last six months has also seen De.mem win new business in Vietnam, produce the first industrial-sized low-pressure NF membrane module and open a new facility in Singapore for membrane module production.