IntelliFlux reduced energy consumption by 50% and increased water production by 4%.

Case Study:Optimization of Brownfield Membrane Bioreactor

Intelligently reduce OPEX and improve performanceA 12-week demonstration of the IntelliFlux Controls (“IFC”) filtration cleaning optimization software was performed on a hollow-fiber membrane bioreactor (“MBR”) treating municipal sewage. The scope of the demonstration was to assess the benefits of IntelliFlux based responsive membrane fouling management and cleaning compared to the conventional mode of cleaning utilized at the plant.

Conventional cleaning of the membranes involved backwash for 30 seconds with air scour triggered every 14.5 minutes, as well as regular cleaning in place (CIP). After converting to IntelliFlux control mode, the cleaning frequency and intensity was automatically adjusted in response to the fouling intensity, which resulted in the following key performance enhancements:

1. Air scour was not triggered in 80% of the backwashes, which reduced overall energy intensity by 50%.

2. Backwash duration was limited to 15 seconds for over 55% of the instances, which lead to a net enhancement of 4% increased recovery.

3. Responsive cleaning maintained higher permeability yielding a net 3% permeability decline per week, as opposed to nearly 6% conventionally. This projected a doubling of the interval between CIPs.

About UsIntelliFlux Controls offers self-adaptive expert control software for artificial intelligence-driven optimization of water treatment systems.

IntelliFlux can be applied to all existing or new microfiltration or ultrafiltration membrane systems regardless of type, application, or configuration, including polymeric and ceramic membrane materials; hollow fiber, flat sheet, and tubular configurations; and dead-end and recirculation system configurations.

IntelliFlux takes on the burden of monitoring and optimizing your membrane system so that your operators can focus on higher-level tasks.

With IntelliFlux cloud remote monitoring, anyone can view their system operation using a customized interface with detailed performance metrics developed by our in-house filtration experts.

WWW.INTELLIFLUXCONTROLS.COM

18100 Von Karman Ave, Suite 850, Irvine, CA, 92612, USA | +1 949 705 4562 | info@intellifluxcontrols.com

IntelliFlux Optimized Conventional Operations

Backwash Type 15-second backwash 30-second backwash with air scour

Backwash Interval 22.4 minutes 14.5 minutes

Net Water Recovery 98% (4% more water) 94.1% Membrane Energy Consumption (kWh/m3)

0.033 (>50% energy saving) .076

IFC InstallationThe IFC system was installed and commissioned within 10 days. The process included assessing the existing system hardware, defining the control points and settings, as well as customer requirements, following which the hardware and software solution was installed on the customer system. The installation also included deploying IFC’s custom remote monitoring software to give the customer real-time performance data on the system and IntellIFlux’s benefits.

IntelliFlux Real-Time Remote Monitoring Dashboard

IFC Backwash MatrixThe backwash settings and controls were fine-tuned by IntelliFlux to provide 7 levels of automated washing intensity, incorporating all of the available automated equipmnent.

All traditional fixed time interval based membrane system cleaning protocols are consistently either “over cleaning or under cleaning” the membrane. IntelliFlux is the only solution that intelligently optimizes membrane cleaning in real-time.

With IntelliFlux, the operator spends almost no time worrying about the membranes, whereas with conventional operations maintaining the membranes is a major operator concern.

Responsiveness to Fouling EventsFouling events, such as temporal worsening of feed water quality, can wreak havoc on conventional, non-adaptive filtration systems. However, IntelliFlux responds instantaneously to changes in the fouling rate with unprecedented sensitivity (as quantified by the “Amplified Fouling Signal”). The following example showcases how IntelliFlux can adapt to fouling events:

• The top graph shows how the amplified fouling signal senses the drop in permeability that is not discernable to the operator when monitoring the permability.

• The bottom graph shows the automated IntelliFlux response of increased cleaning intensity and frequency during the fouling event with a return to less resource-intensive cleaning after the event had passed.

WWW.INTELLIFLUXCONTROLS.COM

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18100 Von Karman Ave, Suite 850, Irvine, CA, 92612, USA | +1 949 705 4562 | info@intellifluxcontrols.com