GE Water & Process Technologies, a unit of General Electric
Company (NYSE: GE), is integrating major components of its advanced
water treatment technologies portfolio to provide a complete seawater
desalination and water reuse solution for one of Ukraine's largest
ammonia fertilizer producers, the Odessa Port Plant.
"The Odessa Port Plant is an ideal example of the product and
process design synergies that GE has achieved," said Jeff Garwood,
President and CEO of GE Water & Process Technologies. "Our recent
acquisition of ZENON Membrane Solutions has enhanced GE's product
offering with superior UF pretreatment capabilities. This enables GE
to readily supply complete desalination and water reuse solutions for
high purity water applications, along with other water and wastewater
solutions for industrial and municipal plants of all sizes."
Odessa is one of Ukraine's most water short regions, yet is home
to one of the country's largest populations and fastest growing
economies. With scarce supplies and rising prices for this precious
resource, the innovative desalination and water reuse solution at the
Odessa Port Plant will reduce demand on potable water supplies while
providing a cost-effective and virtually limitless supply of high
purity water for fertilizer manufacturing.
The 15,360 m3/day (4 MGD) system, scheduled for completion early
in 2008, will purify both seawater and manufacturing process water,
and will operate at a recovery rate of 75 percent. The three primary
process steps will consist of pretreatment with ZeeWeed
ultrafiltration (UF) membranes, desalination with GE reverse osmosis
(RO) membranes, and final polishing with GE electrodeionization (EDI)
process.
Ultrafiltration is increasingly being accepted as the best
available technology for RO pretreatment, providing a physical barrier
to virtually all suspended particles from the feedwater, which will
benefit the Odessa Port Plant's RO system with lower cleaning
requirements, higher flux rates, and extended RO membrane life. Once
passing through the RO system, an EDI system will remove residual
salts and other dissolved contaminants using an electrically driven
membrane process.
UF, RO and EDI are at the core of GE's advanced separation
technologies and are supported by a broad range of ancillary products
and services. Together with thermal/evaporative, monitoring, chemical
feed, and control equipment and process chemicals, GE is one of the
industry's largest single-source equipment suppliers and service
providers.
ABOUT GE WATER & PROCESS TECHNOLOGIES
GE Water & Process Technologies, a unit of General Electric
Company, is solving some of the world's most pressing water challenges
by providing industrial, agricultural and potable water, while
lessening our dependence on fresh water sources. Technologies to
accomplish this include desalination, advanced membrane, separation
solutions, and water reuse and wastewater management and process
technologies. GE delivers value to customers by improving performance
and product quality, reducing operating costs and extending equipment
life.
For more information on GE Water & Process Technologies, visit
www.gewater.com.
