Optimized Pretreatment and Unique Separation (OPUS™)

The OPUS™ technology consists of multiple treatment processes, involving degasification, chemical softening, media filtration, ion exchange softening, cartridge filtration and reverse osmosis (RO) technologies. The pretreatment processes ahead of the RO are designed to reduce the hardness, metals and suspended solids in the feed water. The RO process operates at an elevated pH, which effectively controls biological, organic and particulate fouling, eliminates scaling due to silica, and increases the rejection of silica and boron.

On feed water applications with high dissolved gases and excess alkalinity, the feed water is subjected to degasification with the addition of an acid to reduce the quantity of solids generated in the downstream chemical softening process and the alkali demand associated with raising the pH. The degasified water is then softened in a multi-stage process using a proprietary highrate chemical softening and thickening technology called the Multiflo™ process.

This process utilizes a proprietary draft tube mixing technology to assist in the formation of crystalline solids. These dense solids (6 to 10% by weight) are then removed in a settling zone using lamella plates.

The water from the Multiflo™ process is then further treated with media filtration, ion exchange softening, and cartridge filtration to reduce the hardness, metals and suspended solids to lower concentrations, without pH correction. Removal of total hardness and metals in the feed water eliminates the potential for scaling of the RO membranes due to calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate, calcium fluoride, barium sulfate, strontium sulfate, iron and manganese precipitates. The pretreated water is then pressurized through an RO system, operated at an elevated pH in either single pass or double pass mode, to reduce the total dissolved solids, silica, boron, and organics present in the feed water.