Motorcycle Manufacturer, Tamil Nadu, India

Male mechanic working on a motorcycle in an indoor workshop setting.

Project Background

The client, one of the oldest motorcycle manufacturers in continuous production, made its first motorcycle in the early 20th century in England. The company operates in India and over 50 countries around the world. With modern development facilities in the UK and Chennai, India, the client makes its motorcycles in Tamil Nadu.

Environmental regulations have made the treatment of effluent mandatory before allowing it to flow into the natural ecological system. The scarcity of fresh water availability has also necessitated that wastewater be treated for recycle and reuse.

The client has installed an Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) to treat the wastewater generated from this unit. The ETP has complete pretreatment along with biological treatment. The tertiary treatment is comprised of Ultrafiltration (UF) followed by a Reverse Osmosis (RO) system. The RO permeate is recycled back to be used in the plant process.

The UF system in the RO pretreatment system is required to provide consistent product water with low silt density index (SDI).

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QUA Solution

The client and the OEM involved in this project approached QUA because of its experience, local support in terms of pre and post sales service and successfully running installations. QUA’s Q-SEP ultrafiltration membrane has been proven for its consistent and reliable operation because of its low fouling characteristics, uniform pore size distribution and large surface area. Q-SEP was thus able to provide a reliable solution and resolve the client’s concerns.

QUA supplied 10 units of Q-SEP 6008 for this plant. Q-SEP operates at a 33% higher flux of 40 LMH compared to the competitor’s membranes which operates at a flux of 29-30 LMH, so fewer units were required for replacement. Q-SEP thus enabled the client to save on the total system cost, due to the fewer number of membranes required. The replaced Q-SEP membranes have been operating since April 2019, and the client is very satisfied with the performance of the system:

• Q-SEP has continuously provided a consistent permeate output of 22m³/hr.
• The SDI at the outlet of Q-SEP is 2 or less, 100% of the time.
• Permeate turbidity has been <0.3 NTU.
• The Q-SEP pretreatment has resulted in lower RO cleaning frequency.

The Client has rewarded Q-SEP’s superior performance by placing a repeat order of 14 membranes for their phase II expansion project. These have been supplied and were commissioned in July 2019.

Q-SEP® Hollow Fiber Membranes

Q-SEP® hollow fiber ultrafiltration modules contain membranes manufactured with QUA’s innovative patented “Cloud Point Precipitation” method. This process ensures a high pore density along the length of the fiber and uniform narrow pore size distribution in the membrane. Q-SEP modules deliver superior performance characteristics and product water quality that surpass the quality from conventional UF modules. The narrow pore size distribution allows the membrane to produce water with a low silt density index (SDI). The lower product SDI leads to less frequent and easier cleaning of downstream RO membranes. In addition , the Q-SEP membranes provides an excellent rejection of bacteria and viruses.