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It is very well-known that water covers 71% of the earth’s surface. Even after having this much water, the drinking water is limited to 1% only, which is the issue of major concern these days—wondering why this is so? Well, the other 70% of water is polluted with hazardous components like heavy metals, microbes, and dyes that are dangerous to aquatic systems, human health, and the environment.

In former times we had plenty of water to drink and do our daily chores. However, the time has changed now, and so does the population. With the increasing population, some people are facing a scarcity of water. Well, the population is not the only reason for the above mentioned. The other reason is the increasing amount of populated water. 

After the Industrial Revolution worldwide, there came a strong wave of industries worldwide, at different times. Also, in this paced up world, industries are of great help. In contrast, wastewater discharge from industries, agricultural pollution, and wastewater from municipal, environmental, and global changes are the major sources of water contamination. 

After looking at the above facts and the facts of this study, it was revealed that around 1.1 million people fall ill every year because of the consumption of tainted tap water. In addition to this, global warming has decreased the amount of freshwater, leaving the world with less consumable water. Because of these reasons, water and wastewater treatment, especially Permian water treatment and Permian wastewater treatment, is essential for living now. The story published by Searchlight New Mexico also stated that in 2018 alone, New Mexico’s share of the Permian Basin produced around 42 gallons of oil and gas wastewater. If the Permian wastewater treatment is done on this much amount of wastewater, imagine how much water will be generated that will be suitable for drinking and other household and industry chores. 

So far, we have seen the amount of wastewater produced and the importance of recycling wastewater to make it consumable by different beings on the planet. We will move forward to the next segment, i.e., the techniques. 

Methods Used For Wastewater and Water Treatment 

There are several methods of treating wastewater, but the name very effective ones are as follows:

• Desalination
• Distillation
• Reverse Osmosis
• Ultrafiltration

In this article, we will know about Ultrafiltration in detail because Ultrafiltration has gained a lot of popularity recently. This is because UF can remove a range of salts and most organic viruses and molecules. Additionally, it produces stable quality water no matter the source of water. It also removes 90 to 100 % of pathogens. The bonus point of using UF is that it doesn’t require chemicals to purify or clean the water. It only uses chemicals while cleaning the membranes. 

So let’s dig in and see bit by bit. 

What is Ultrafiltration? 

Ultrafiltration is a similar water purification process as reverse osmosis because the semipermeable membrane is used in both. In this process, water is pushed to pass through a semipermeable membrane. This step separates the high-molecular-weight solutes and solids and keeps them on one side of the membrane, i.e., the retentate side, whereas the low-molecular-weight solutes and water filter through the membrane and go to the permeate side. The ultrafiltration process lies between microfiltration and nanofiltration regarding particle capture size removal. 

How does Ultrafiltration Works?

We will keep the explanation of the working of UF very simple so that anyone can understand the process and gets a general idea. 

Ultrafiltration is the membrane filtration process, and this membrane serves as the barrier to separate viruses, color, organic matter, harmful bacteria, and other contaminants from water to clean it. The UF system forces the water to pass through a 0.02-micron membrane. By this, the large suspended particles don’t pass through this membrane and stick to the outer membrane surface, allowing only fresh water and dissolved minerals to pass through. 

Advantages Of Ultrafiltration

As freshwater supplies are shrinking, interest in recycling water leftovers is increasing, and Ultrafiltration is the best possible way of doing it. This technique has many advantages and is mentioned below. 

•  It treats complex waste streams at high salinity and reduces waste too. 
• Lower energy consumption
• Higher product quality 
• Compact module
• Cost-effective
• Don’t generate secondary waste in large numbers
• High oil and suspended solids removal rate

Ultrafiltration vs. Conventional Technologies

• Ultrafiltration is the membrane technology which is why it has a higher separation efficiency over the traditional technologies. 
• Ultrafiltration doesn’t require the use of chemical additives and coagulants that make it more environmentally friendly in comparison to conventional technologies.
• Permian water treatment is done more efficiently with membrane technologies such as Ultrafiltration as it doesn’t complicate the operational and mechanical processes of the treatment. 
• Conventional technologies are not preferred for Permian wastewater treatment because they produce large volumes of secondary waste. 

Besides the above, Ultrafiltration is reliable pretreatment for Permian water treatment because it has high suspended solids and oil removal rate. Different studies were conducted to check the efficiency of the Ultrafiltration for PW treatment, and it was revealed that UF achieved 99.2% oil removal with a 13.6 % decrease in total organic carbon (TOC). Therefore, UF is a feasible method to remove contaminants for both pretreatment and post-treatment. 

So, if you want to be a slice of this water and wastewater treatment process, consequently removing the scarcity of water, you can take the help of Aquatech. Take the leverage of Aquatech’s experience and expertise to solve the important water challenges. We provide different services to make every water drop count. Check the services on the website and become part of the Aquatech family by opting one or more out of them.