NX Filtration starts pilot with Dutch water utility

WMD, the drinking water utility of the province of Drenthe in the Netherlands, has recently initiated a pilot project with NX Filtration, the global provider of breakthrough direct nanofiltration (dNF) technology for pure and affordable water. The objective of the pilot project is to test dNF technology on the removal of various micropollutants from WMD’s groundwater sources.

WMD services over 200,000 households and companies across Drenthe with the supply of drinking water. Amongst its key initiatives as part of its 2023 vision, WMD seeks to invest in new water treatment technologies to remove an increasing amount of micropollutants from water derived from groundwater sources. These pollutions, which include nickel–iron alloys (Ni/Fe) and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), are mostly a result of agricultural and industrial activities in the second half of the last century.

Initial lab-scale tests (based on NX Filtration’s ‘Mexplorer’ test unit) with NX Filtration’s dNF technology demonstrated high removal of Ni/Fe, EDTA and other micropollutants. Because of this, WMD decided to expand its pilot program to test dNF technology in a full-scale setting, based on NX Filtration’s large scale ‘Mexpert’ pilot system.

NX Filtration has seen a large international expansion this year, launching pilot projects with a French utility company, an Indian wastewater treatment plant, an Indonesian hospital, and a nearby Dutch province.

With the technology, WMA will use a one-step treatment setup applied directly to the source water, keep desirable minerals in the produced water, and save energy and materials.

The pilot program is expected to run from November 2021 to the summer of 2022.