Vitens, a drinking water utility in the Netherlands, is starting a pilot program with NX Filtration, a provider of direct nanofiltration (dNF) technology for pure and affordable water. In the pilot programme, Vitens will use NX Filtration’s dNF membrane technology to produce drinking or industrial process water from the Dutch Ijssel river. The pilot program of Vitens is expected to run from Oct 2022 to the last quarter of 2024.
Groundwater is Vitens’ primary source for drinking water production. As a response to growing demand for water in combination with increasing periods of droughts as a result of climate change, Vitens is looking into finding alternatives for its traditional groundwater sources and to supply industries. This has led Vitens to start testing new technologies for additional surface water sources in order to safeguard its water supplies to households and industries for the future.
Doeke Schippers, strategic advisor at Vitens commented: “We have already worked with NX Filtration’s direct nanofiltration membranes in small scale testing environments. Based on these results we are now ramping-up to a multi-year testing program for the treatment of surface water from the Ijssel River. This will provide valuable inputs to develop alternative sources for drinking water supply that will enable our customers to continue to benefit from healthy, safe and affordable drinking water in the future.” The Ijssel River is a Dutch distributary of the river Rhine that flows northward and ultimately into the Ijsselmeer, a natural harbour in the North Sea. It more immediately flows into the east-south channel around the Flevopolder, Flevoland, which is kept at 3m below sea level.
Erik Roesink, founder and chief technical officer (CTO) at NX Filtration commented: “NX Filtration is honored to cooperate with Vitens in this innovative journey. Our direct nanofiltration technology has already proved its value in large projects ranging from Indonesia to Sweden and Canada, demonstrating consistent high performance combined with very low energy and chemicals consumption compared to alternative technologies. In the Netherlands we are currently involved in various pilot projects on drinking water production and wastewater reuse, through which we seek to also bring these benefits to the Dutch water market.”
