Measures › Water › Decentralised treatment › Membrane filtration
Membrane filtration
Puur Waterfabriek Nieuw-Amsterdam © Logisticon
Water •••
Costs •••
Construction costs •••
Maintenance/management ••
In the Puur Waterfabriek (‘Pure Water Factory’) in Nieuw-Amsterdam near Emmen, the
effluent from the sewage treatment plant is processed to become ‘pure water’. Although the
Pure Water Factory is not an example of green-blue urban planning, it could be incorporated
into green-blue developments. ‘Pure water’ refers to water that contains almost nothing
besides H2O, not even the minerals found in drinking water. The water from this factory is used
for extracting petroleum in Drenthe Province, where the extraction process requires very clean
water. As its raw material, the factory uses the effluent from the adjacent sewage treatment
plant. This water is treated using a series of phases, including a biologically active carbon filter,
membrane filtration and electrodeionisation. The plant can produce up to 10,000 m3 of pure
water per day, representing 25% of the total volume of wastewater generated in Emmen. At
present, the water is only used for extracting petroleum, though other possible uses are being
studied. An interesting detail is that the plant is relatively compact and labour-extensive. As a
consequence, the cost of the water is only twice as high as the cost of producing drinking
water. As a side effect, the pollutants still present in the effluent from the treatment plant are
eliminated from the water and are not released into the surface water. Another advantage is
that the production of pure water does not require groundwater. This type of technological
development shows that closed water cycles are not a utopian concept: urban water cycles
can be closed for only slightly higher costs.
The methods used were selected to ensure that virtually no chemicals are required for the
process. [Puur Waterfabriek]
The Pure Water Factory is a partnership between the drinking water company and the local
water board. [interview with Gerrit Veenendaal, 2011]
In Singapore, membrane filtration is used for treating all wastewater until it is of drinking water
quality, after which it is recycled (see the Singapore example in Chapter 10).
Puur Waterfabriek Nieuw-Amsterdam © Logisticon
Source: http://www.urbangreenbluegrids.com/measures/membrane-filtration/
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