Service de l’Eau, the drinking and wastewater utility of the city of Lausanne in Switzerland, has initiated a pilot program with NX Filtration’s direct nanofiltration (dNF) technology with the objective to remove Chlorothalonil from its water sources.
Chlorothalonil is an agricultural fungicide, often used to protect potatoes, peanuts, tomatoes, and other vegetables, that has been classified as a probable carcinogen by the European Commission. Its degradation products are found widely in groundwater on the Swiss Plateau. This is also affecting two water sources of Service de l’Eau, which have therefore been put out of operation.
Over the last year, Service de l’Eau investigated various potential technologies to eliminate Chlorothalonil, including activated carbon, advanced oxidation processes, reverse osmosis, and dNF technology.
Small-scale lab tests with dNF already showed positive results on the removal of Chlorothalonil. Therefore, Service de l’Eau now decided to scale-up its testing program with a full-scale ‘Mexpert’ pilot unit from NX Filtration.
Christophe Mechouk, Head of the engineering division of the Water Department of the city of Lausanne, Service de l’Eau, said, “Chlorothalonil is a major issue for many Swiss water utilities. NX Filtration’s direct nanofiltration membranes already showed promising performance on lab-scale, and we are looking forward to now expand our tests with NX Filtration in real-life conditions.”
