Testimonial #1 - How the Technology was Discovered - Case Study: High Brackish Plant with Seawater R
This original plant case study paved the way to the discovery and development of our innovative, real-time membrane fouling measurement and system performance monitoring and optimization.
See how the technology was able to identify the onset of membrane fouling a full 9 months before the standard ASTM standardization method, used by all membrane manufacturers and plant operators today, could by ambiguous trending leading only to show the presence of irreversible fouling way too late for the plant. The new technology was was again applied when the plant was retrofitted and was able to demonstrate that a nearly perfect-performing plant can still be further optimized leading to significant cost and downtime savings.
Testimonial #2 - US Pioneer RO Membrane Manufacturer & Developer, DuPont's "Permasep Products"
The beta-site software was extensively tested, evaluated, and finally approved and recommended as an early-warning fouling indicator by the engineers of the world's pioneer in membrane desalination applications, DuPont’s Permasep Products, the original author of ASTM D 4516 "Standard Practice for Standardizing Reverse Osmosis Performance Data" (i.e., normalization procedures).
DuPont's technical personnel agreed with our findings and found the software to be “an excellent tool to monitor plant performance, and capable of providing an early warning if membrane fouling is occurring”. See official DuPont testimonial letter below.
Testimonial #3 - Research RO Plant Demo Case History, Top Membrane Manufacturer
Recent performance analysis of over 12,000 data records of operating data covering about 3,500 hours of operation of one pressure vessel with 6 newly-developed membrane elements from a test pilot plant at a major global membrane manufacturer's research site using our proprietary software package, MASAR®'s SilentAlarm, shows the actual performance characteristics summarized in the graph on the left of the measured profile of the Fouling Monitor, with very definitive, very specific and actionable and continuous early fouling detection and monitoring, allowing the operator to decide what steps to take in real time to resolve the impending fouling before too late . The client's technical and research experts stated unambiguously that with this innovative and unique analysis, they have seen something they have never seen before.
Testimonial #4 - Penneshaw Seawater RO Plant Case History, S. Australia Water Corp - Koch Membranes
Analysis of process performance data was performed using our proprietary software package, MASAR®, procured from MASAR Technologies, USA (www.masar.com). The software was custom-designed for South Australia Water Corp.’s Penneshaw SWRO plant, based upon its configuration. MASAR® is able to predict the onset of long-term fouling more quickly than standard data-normalization methods. The MASAR® Fouling Monitor trend throughout the acid dosing trial is shown in the graph here. The paper, "Design, Operating and Research Experience at the Penneshaw Seawater Desalination Plant, South Australia", was presented by SA Corp's Sr. Process Engineer at the 2007 IDA World Congress on Desalination and Water Reuse, Spain.
Testimonial #5 - Evaluation, Monitoring & Troubleshooting of Large Seawater RO Plants, Arabian Gulf
The originality, simplicity and universal applicability of the MASAR® innovative SMART approach are exhibited in open-surface plant case studies of 5 trains from 3 different SWRO desalination plants in the Arabian Gulf. The plants feature different membrane configurations, models and manufactures. The data is evaluated comparatively using both the standard ASTM normalization method, as well as the proprietary corrected parameters based on site-specific conditions of each plant. The result is the establishment and constant monitoring of membrane fouling or non-fouling status for each case in the study and the measurement of its magnitude in real-time as the percentage differential between the two normalization techniques, known as the Fouling Monitor automatically calculated by the SilentAlarm software.
The ability of the technology to dynamically compare the true fouling resistance performance of two different membrane manufacturers and models under the same plant operating and water conditions, for example, is truly remarkable and unmatched.
This paper, "THE SMART SOLUTION TO MEMBRANE FOULING DETECTION, MONITORING AND MANAGEMENT", was presented at the 2015 IDA World Congress on Desalination and Water Reuse, San Diego, California, US.
Testimonial #6 - Fouling Investigation of Fouling SW and Non-Fouling HFF Membranes at SWRO Plant
The originality, simplicity and universal applicability of the MASAR® innovative SMART approach are exhibited in investigating a unique situation at a large open-surface SWRO plant in the Arabian Gulf with 2 trains with fouling spiral-wound membranes and non-fouling hollow-fine-fiber membranes sharing common feed intake and pretreatment. . The technology was able to show the stark differences in fouling behavior between the two membrane systems, as substantiated by the results of on-site membrane autopsies. The Toray SW membranes were impacted by the dosing of incompatible cationic polymer used as a coagulant-aid, while the HFF DuPont Permasep membranes were not!
This paper, "THE SMART SOLUTION TO MEMBRANE FOULING DETECTION, MONITORING AND MANAGEMENT", was presented at the 2015 IDA World Congress on Desalination and Water Reuse, San Diego, California, US.
Testimonial #7 - Port Hueneme Brackish Water Demonstration RO/NF Case History, Filmtec® Membranes
Design and operating data from RO Train A and NF Train A were recently provided by Port Hueneme Water Authority for evaluation using a new, early-warning membrane performance and fouling monitoring technology and software system known as MASAR® The difference in actual performance between the RO and NF trains as shown by the MASAR® evaluation results is truly remarkable. Both trains had suffered from biofouling, MASAR® technology has proven it can be very valuable tool to closely monitor and optimize the operation, performance and cost-effectiveness of water membrane filtration plants. The plant had earlier discovered that the NF membrane elements also suffered from a manufacturing defect that resulted in the continuing deterioration of their performance as truly indicated by MASAR®'s SilentAlarm software.
The paper, "REAL-TIME MEMBRANE FOULING MONITORING - A CASE HISTORY", was presented by PHWA Plant Manager at the 2001 WaterWorld’s World of Water Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Testimonial #8 - Texas Microfiltration Plant Case History, Memtec® Membranes
Analysis of this microfiltration pilot plant with Memtec® membranes shows the real-time performance of the process cycles for evaluation using MASAR®'s SilentAlarm software. The graph shows that the permeability performance of the system is declining with more and more cycles, indicating the need to optimize the system's chemically-enhanced cleaning and maintenance regimes to resore and maintain acceptable performance.
Testimonial #9 - US Brackish Nanofiltration Plant Case Study, Skid 1 - Osmonics Membrane System
MASAR Technologies, Inc., has conducted a trial for its MASAR®'s SilentAlarm software at this 2.4 MGD (9,090 m3/day) plant, with Osmonics nanofiltration membranes. The well water feed TDS was around 765 ppm and the conversion ranged between 78%-84%. The plant experienced a biofouling history, followed by multiple cycles of cleanings (CIPs). Together with Skid 1’s operating data, covering around 3,700 hours of cumulative hours of operation, the the monitoring regime being utilized at the plant at that time, namely, monitoring the membrane DP and the so-called Fouling Factor.
Had the MASAR®'s SilentAlarm software been used as a real-time performance and fouling monitor at the plant, it would have alerted the plant operator of the first event of fouling at 100-200 hours , and corrective measures would have been taken to prevent the second-wave of fouling at 1,000 hours, saving a lot of valuable troubleshooting time and maintenance, not to mention costly loss of productivity and plant availability.
Testimonial #10 - Posts on Researchgate.com - Question Asked on August 5, 2016 by Nishtha D. - Univ
Are there any software which is used in desalination plant to monitor fouling and scaling? and can it be used to monitor or prevent fouling and scaling?
Answer 1 by Rafik Karaman on August 5, 2016
Dear Nishtha,
The innovative "Silent Alarm" technology discussed in the attached article makes a giant and an unconventional leap in that direction by allowing for real-time detection, measurement and monitoring of membrane fouling and scaling.from a manufacturing defect that resulted in the continuing deterioration of their performance as truly indicated by MASAR®'s software.
Answer 2 by Ashish Thakur on March 23, 2020
Dear Nishtha,
MASAR® is useful in testing and optimizing the effectiveness of new treatment chemicals such as coagulants, anti-scalants and biocides, either on pilot systems or on actual plant. It also helps test new processes or equipment (such as microfiltration) and their impact on RO performance and cost.