CaptuRO™

High recovery reverse osmosis (RO) processes are in high demand as freshwater sources become increasingly scarce worldwide. Additionally, brine disposal options have become less available and more expensive due to environmental regulations and sustainability requirements. These trends are drivers for municipalities and industries to utilize high-recovery reverse osmosis processes and extract purified water from industrial, brackish and wastewater sources. CaptuRo™ is also a water reuse solution that maximizes the water recovery rate and thus helps protect local water resources and reduce water pollution discharges for industrial facilities that need to reduce water consumption.
Frontal view of a CaptuRO

High-recovery reverse osmosis technology designed specifically to extract purified water from industrial, brackish and wastewater sources.

Overview

This is a game-changer for multiple industrial markets. CaptuRO is a high-recovery reverse osmosis (RO) technology designed specifically to extract purified water from industrial, brackish and wastewater sources. This means we can supply our clients across multiple markets from healthcare and chemical to food and beverage with the highest permeate water recovery, up to 98 percent, across numerous applications.

How does CaptuRO reverse osmosis work?

It uses a semi-batch RO process enabling a higher water recovery rate when compared to conventional RO process . The system comprises a series of individual containers, employed downstream of the membranes (on the concentrate side), to ensure that turnaround times for the concentration process are optimized.

Semi-batch refers to a variation of the reverse osmosis process, which involves continuously adding feedwater, while simultaneously removing purified water and only intermittently purging the salts out of the system. This allows for a more flexible and adaptable operation.

The process means concentrated salts like silica and calcium sulfate can be purged more easily before they have time to precipitate. CaptuRO’s adaptable operation allows it to run at higher water recovery rates with any feedwater quality and flow rate while minimizing potential membrane scaling and fouling.

View of a CaptuRO

What are the advantages of CaptuRO?

It is a high-efficiency water reuse solution and treatment technology, ideal for extracting purified water from industrial, brackish and wastewater sources. The process provides clients from the beverage to chemical, petrochemical and healthcare markets, with permeate water recovery of up to 98%. Additionally, brine waste can be reduced from between 50% to 75%, and energy consumption can be cut by up to 35%, offsetting investment costs and delivering savings on operational expenditure.

Brine reduction advantages
Brine disposal options have become more constrained and increasingly more expensive due to environmental regulations and sustainability requirements. This ongoing trend has been a driver for municipalities and industries to utilize high water recovery reverse osmosis processes.

CaptuRO minimizes the volume of brine generated, resulting in liquid waste disposal savings. Additional benefits include energy savings and the potential to further optimize the use of antiscalants. The semi-batch process automatically adapts to changes in salt concentration in effluent reclaim applications, allowing the system to run continuously at an optimum recovery rate.

Thanks to its huge potential for water reuse, CaptuRO helps protect local water resources and reduce water pollution discharges.


Features and benefits

CaptuRO comes equipped with various standard features and options:

Standard

  • High recovery, with low fouling and scaling, and low energy consumption performance.
  • Adjustable recovery up to 98%.
  • Uses standard reverse osmosis components in an improved process design resulting in low ownership costs.
  • Automatic feed variation responses.
  • Premium reverse osmosis membranes for brackish water.
  • Programmable logic controller with remote monitoring and control functionality.


Optional

  • Chemical feed pumps, storage systems and control equipment.
  • Hubgrade digital services
  • Clean in-place systems.
  • Veolia Vision NA cloud-based integration and reporting capability.
     

Applications

High quality water systems for production, process and manufacturing uses.
Technologies, services and process expertise to meet environmental requirements, remove contaminants and transform wastewater into a resource.
Solutions allowing the use of treated wastewater for beneficial purposes.

Services

A combination of digital tools and Veolia expertise that make all your water processes smarter, safer and more sustainable.
Rental assets to support and assist your site operations for temporary and longer-term water treatment needs 24/7.
Bundling high performance specialty chemicals, innovative dosing and controlling equipment with related expert support.

Resources

 

 

Contact

The CaptuRO™ semi-batch reverse osmosis technology is a promising solution for industrial clients to reduce their wastewater discharge costs and membrane cleaning costs. It is a resilient technology that offers operational flexibility and resilience to handle variable feed water chemistry, variable and low feed flow rates, presence of foulants and scaling compounds as well as process upsets in the pretreatment. This technology is truly versatile. From pre-treatment to wastewater reuse across all applications — it can recover water at an extremely high rate. CaptuRO™ is a sustainable solution that can lessen the reliance on existing water sources and help ensure business continuity--all while reducing a facility’s total water footprint.
 

John Korpiel picture



John Korpiel, P.E.

Principal Engineer - Veolia Water Technologies North America

Contact John through his LinkedIn account

 

 

 

FAQ about CaptuRO™ 

How reverse osmosis helps industries meet increasingly stringent environmental and regulatory standards?

The general tendency is for industries to comply with more and more stringent discharge limits. Permits are sometimes even requiring “zero” liquid discharge to the environment. Reverse osmose is an economical pre-concentration step before a final evaporation step.  Also, regulations for the irrigation of crops specify limits for salts and micropollutants that might require the use of reverse osmosis.

Why is CaptuRO™ a sustainable solution for water purification?

The semi-batch process allows us to push the limits of concentration. In many cases, higher than what is achievable with conventional RO processes. In that way, the overall water consumption is reduced. This is also often accompanied by energy or chemical savings.

How often do CaptuRO™ reverse osmosis membranes need to be changed?

In general, we see a positive impact on membrane life when chemical cleaning frequencies can be reduced, i.e. the membrane being less exposed to harsh cleaning chemicals (high - low pH). This is generally the case for CaptuRO due to good hydraulic conditions for all membrane elements and better-scaling resilience. Consequently, the typical lifetime of several years can be increased to some degree.

Case Studies

Belgium
Limelco Dairy - Industrial wastewater treatment

Limelco is a dairy producer located in Zonhoven, Belgium. Its production capacity was expected to expand, notably to accommodate a new butter production line. Their existing sewage treatment plant would not have been able to handle the estimated 30% increase in effluent but CaptuRO facilitated effluent reuse through semi-batch reverse osmosis, promoting higher hydraulic recovery rates while minimizing membrane scaling and fouling risks. This ensured compliance with discharge standards, reduced the ecological footprint on water resources and lowered discharge costs.