What pretreatment does a Plimmer require?

 

Due to the fact Plimmer is not a filter, the only pretreatment required is a 25 micron filter . This is to avoid the entrance of external bodies in the space between the electrodes.

 

How long will a cell last?

 

Being a capacitor, the cell's life is quite long. All cells produced are still operating at high standards. 

 

What about Plimmer's energy usage?

 

The usage is related to the input salt concentration. For a salinity lower than 1000ppm TDS the energy usage is between 50 and 80 Watt/hou r per 1 cubic meter of treated water and for a single passage.

Higher salinity or more passages will increase the energy usage. The maximum income water salinity ( 9-10.000ppm TDS) and 4 passages will absorb about 600 Watts/hour per 1 cubic meter treated.

 

What % of water does Plimmer recover?

 

Plimmer can recover about 80% of income water as product. The recovery will change with the income water composition. The lowest recovery is with low concentration Bicarbonates only waters, and the 80% figure is stated with this type. Increasing the Chlorides and Nitrates concentration it is possible to reach 85% and 90% in some cases.

 

 Can the user decide the water's quality?

 

The Customer can adjust the quality of the produced water simply by acting on the Plimmer's front panel. The Plimmer will vary the percentage of salts removed. This will change both the residual hardness and the water's taste.

 

How efficient is Plimmer in removing CO2?

 

There is an equilibrium between CO2 and HCO3-. In a membrane the CO2 will pass freely the membrane barrier leading to two negative effects, the first is that produced water will be acidic and that the conductivity will increase, the second is related to transformation of Calcium Bicarbonate to Calcium Carbonate that is a fouling specie.
The Plimmer's electrodes will also collect HCO3- ions avoiding the creation of free CO2.

On the other hand, if income water contains free CO2, it will be converted in HCO3- making the removal easier.

This fact makes Plimmer an excellent pretreatment unit for a RO system. Plimmer will totally avoid the use of chemicals (both NaCl for softener regeneration and antiscalant to avoid precipitations).

Delivering water below 100uS and with low CO2 concentration, ensures permeate production below 1uS, using a single passage. The water can be then used for Pharmaceutical processes , cutting initial and operating costs tremendously.  

 

What about Silica removal with Plimmer?

 

Silica is an almost an undissociated salt. For this reason the purification process only removes very low percentages.

 

If I need to produce small quantities of high quality water can I use Plimmer and  a mixed bed cartridge?

 

Yes, a mixed bed cartridge will perform highly with plimmed water . Higher performance relative to RO systems will be obtained due to the highly efficient removal of CO2 .  

 

How will Plimmer perform on high T.O.C. waters?

 

T.O.C. in water can arise from two different kinds of pollutants:
Ionized species ( Humic acids and/or Folic acids)
Unionized (like some Hydrocarbons)

Plimmer will react well with ionized species removing them like any other ion.

 

How will Plimmer remove Nitrates?

 

The Plimmer has a very high percentage removal of Nitrates. Often 95%+ removal will be obtained.

 

How will  Plimmer remove Iron and Manganese?

 

Because the Plimmer is not a filter, the removal of precipitated forms of manganese and iron will be low. However, if the Iron is in an ionized form (i.e Fe++) percentage removals will be high.
Considering the Plimmer's ability to remove Humic and Folic Acids it will often remove complexed Iron with excellent results.

 

How will Plimmer remove Arsenic?

 

Arsenic is an ionized substance and for this reason it will be easily removed by Plimmer . It is also important to say that Plimmer does not accumulate Arsenic at all inside the unit. With the normal 80% recovery the waste water from Plimmer does not need any treatment before waste.

For example, with an income concentration of 50ppb the waste concentration will be 250ppb . In most countries the acceptable Arsenic concentration in waste is 500ppb.

This will make operation of Plimmer very cost competitive.

 

Will Plimmer remove heavy metals?

 

Yes, Plimmer will remove heavy metals because they are normally ionized . It is important to say that both cationic and anionic species will be removed . Therefore metals, cyanides most of cianocomplexes and hexavalent chromium will be also easily removed.

 

What about free Chlorine and Plimmer?

 

Unlike RO membranes, free Chlorine is not harmful for the Plimmer and will pass through the unit.
At the same time chloramines will be removed . This will make bad taste of Chlorine disappear while leaving the free Clorine for water quality protection .

 

Will Plimmer remove Ammonia?

 

Yes, Plimmer will easily remove Ammonia because is an ionized substance.

 

Will Plimmer remove H2S and bad smell from water?

 

Yes, Plimmer will remove H2S easily, also removing the strong egg smell. 

Can Plimmer be used in waste treatment affination after a biological plant?

 

Yes, Plimmer can become an important tool in water reclamation after biological plants.

•  Typically a biological plant will have at least 2 steps:

•  Aerobic Oxidation for reduction of COD and BOD

Anaerobic denitrification
Denitrification is a space consuming step because often is necessary to use huge basins.

Plimmer can take the place of this step removing both Nitrates and Ammonia in an easy way.
This means that the denitrification step can be performed only on Plimmer waste thus reducing the basin size to 20% only. While at the same time Plimmer will also remove most of other salts, the treated water will gain a much higher value being reusable both in industry and in agriculture . All this avoiding the usage of RO membranes and with a much lower energy usage.
By combining MBR with Plimmer it is possible to treat and reclaim waters with high C to N ration in a very space and energy saving way.

 

Can Plimmer be used in Galvanic water treatment?

 

Yes , Plimmer can become a very useful tool in the reuse of Galvanic waters. This can be done as a principle in 2 ways . The first is related to the ability of Plimmer to desalt waters with a relative high salt concentration . It is then simple to collect the water after a chemical coagulation and precipitation plant treat and deliver it back to Galvanic line . Income TDS of 1000-1200 ppm can be easily reduced to 100-200 ppm delivering the best condition for recycle .

The second way is to use Plimmer for water recycle at the border of Galvanic line. Considering that Plimmer does not use chemicals for regeneration there is a big potential for metal recovery in plating solutions eventually with the aid of a distiller.

 

I noticed many different versions of the Plimmer, what are the differences?

 

Three types of Plimmer are produced: Alfa, Delta and Gamma .

Plimmer Alfa is the simplest form of Plimmer. This unit is normally used to substitute a Softener , as RO pretreatment or for Arsenic removal . The Flow per cell is higher and salts rejection lower. A salt rejection of 75-90% is typical. The minimum outlet conductivity of Plimmer Alfa is limited to 120uS.

Plimmer Delta is a more complete unit where the flow per cell lower but removal reaches 95%+. Plimmer Delta exploits the principle of multiple passages

Plimmer Gamma is the line for tailored made “special” applications normally developed in conjunction with Customers.

Furthermore, Plimmer comes in any dimension , and can virtually purify any quantity of water , depending on the number of cells in the machine.