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Project title

Towards sustainable production - closing water and solvent cycles at Millipore

Primary Funding Agency

Environmental Protection Agency

Co-Funding Organisation(s)

n/a

Lead Organisation

Millipore Ireland BV

Lead Applicant

John Quirke

Project Abstract

Millipore has established its operations in Ireland since 1987. The initial phase of the plant manufactured water purification systems and filtration devices. A 1989 expansion of the existing manufacturing facility and the construction of a membrane casting plant was followed by a further expansion in 1998 -1999 to introduce a Hi-flow membrane manufacturing process. The original objective of this project was to implement membrane technology to recover solvents and ultra pure water from specific process streams for reuse in production.These technologies were found not to be feasible due to either economic or technical constraints. Therefore the approach of the project was changed to focus on elimination of the solvent from the wastewater through process improvement. Prevention at source was implemented through the use of wiper blades to prevent solvent carry-over to the next step in the process.A wiper system was designed and trials were carried out that proved positive and therefore the focus of the project changed from internal recovery to prevention. More work will be carried out with regard to the impact of the wiper on membrane quality as well as whether consistent running can be achieved using this system.

Grant Approved

�91,173.04

Research Hub

Cleaner Production - Green Enterprise - Innovation and Demonstration

Research Theme

n/a

Start Date

n/a

Initial Projected Completion Date

n/a