Arizona-based paper manufacturer Doubletree Paper Mills started up a new water treatment system for its expanded manufacturing operation in Gila Bend in 2014. Doubletree purifies groundwater and recycles wastewater with reverse osmosis for use in its paper products processes. The new integrated water treatment system, supplied by Massachusetts-based Desalitech, increases its water production capacity by 100% to 400 gal per minute while reducing wastewater production and energy use.
Doubletree previously treated groundwater pumped from a well to the plant with a conventional reverse osmosis system at a water recovery rate of 75%, producing 50 gal of wastewater from every 200 gal of raw water fed to the system. The manufacturing company replaced the existing conventional reverse osmosis units with Desalitech ReFlex reverse osmosis systems featuring CCD technology. This new installation boosts water recovery on their high-purity process water stream to 90%, reducing wastewater production by almost a factor of three while reducing energy use by nearly 25%.
"Product quality, environmental sustainability and safety are our top priorities when considering any changes to our facility's operations. The culture at Doubletree encourages our employees to seek and identify opportunities to reduce operating expenses, especially if carbon and water footprint can be reduced in the process,” said Samir Kanuga, Doubletree's VP of finance. “This is a solid upgrade to the water treatment system and has enabled us to increase water production without any additional stress on the existing facility.”
Source: Desalitech
