Arbortech Corporation | Products for a Better Environment

Commentary

Membrane & Separation Technology Newsletter
November 2005

Resistance to Change Still Plagues Industry

While it appears that RO, NF MF and UF now are widely accepted for producing potable water, and MBRs are gaining ground for municipal wastewater treatment, membrane technology still has barriers to overcome for industrial wastewater treatment, especially where recycling or waste minimization are concerned. Conventional wastewater treatments are well entrenched and less complex than membrane separation. However, the costs of conventional wastewater treatment continue to increase, and often still leave streams unacceptable for disposal or reuse.

Says Arbortech President Ray Graffia, Jr., "We continue to generate [considerable] interest, prepare lots of proposals and wind up with folks sitting on their hands when it comes time to issue purchase orders...It is so exasperating to show paybacks of less than a year or two and still have companies sit there and do nothing" using the justification "It's the way we've done things for more than 20 years." (Arbortech manufactures stainless steel UF systems for recycling aqueous cleaners used in metalworking and other industries).

At a recent desalination workshop geared, in part, toward oil and gas producers, who generate massive volumes of oily wastewater, I observed first hand this resistance to change. Several speakers at the event, RO module and system manufactures, put forth membrane solutions for converting these wastes into a resource suitable for reuse by the exploration company or by local farmers as irrigation water in the arid regions where many oilfields are located. A representative from one oil firm admitted that his company had been spending $9 million annually (for years) to have produced water trucked off-site for deep well disposal. It appeared as though the oil producer's very presence at the workshop offered some hope - for the company's bottom life, for membrane system vendors and for the planet. Not so, countered the RO reps, who had see the oil firm, and others like it, review and then reject their solutions year after year.

What obstacles still prevent investment in membrane systems? Are these issues endemic to all new technologies and those perceived as "new"? Sluggish adoption of membrane processes primarily is due to lack of knowledge by potential users, rather than inadequacies in the membranes themselves. Among these barriers are:

A lack of awareness of the technology, Distrust of new technology, Benefits of the technology not understood.

Lingering misconceptions and unfavorable perceptions that might once have been true may be factors. (These issues may prompt resistance to many new technologies.)

High price or uncertainties about investment costs, High risk of failure, Waste minimization / zero discharge negatively affects the bottom line.

Intertia, the bane of much human activity often plays a large role.
Fear of being first to adopt new technology, Low priority given to investing in membrane processes compared to core production equipment, Priorities elsewhere rather than on new technology's benefits.

A few doubts also may be warranted.
Lack of suitable membranes and process equipment for industries, Capital equipment costs sometimes higher.

However, benefits far outweigh the negative and may include: increased energy efficiency, reduced water use, potential to reclaim and recycle water and raw materials, minimized environmental impact, lower operating costs and smaller space requirements. Graffia notes that the savvy membrane technology vendor must have resolution to the potential users' reservations, a strategy he refers to as "education, investigation , experimentation and implementation," as well as the "workforce, technical capabilities, equipment, references, training resources and other information necessary to help these now-educated manufacturers invesigate, experiment and eventually implement the process under consideration."