Filtration and purification company Sagisa has been working on processes to develop water reuse applications to alleviate the demand on natural water sources, without additional chemical waste being created in the process.
The company suggests that South Africa’s mining sector is not only affected by the current economic climate but by long-standing difficulties rooted in the country’s water scarcity.
One of the new processes has been implemented at a platinum mine in South Africa, using ultrafiltration membranes in combination with natural processes to repurpose water used in the underground mining operation.
The company explains that mine water is returned to the surface, accumulating in a natural pond to allow some settling before flowing though several reedbed ponds for natural purification.
Water is then processed further with ultrafiltration membranes to remove all particles larger than 0.03 µm including bacteria.
The filtered water is of drinking quality and is repurposed at the plant and to local communities.
Consequently, total water intake at the mine was reduced resulting in operational cost saving while reducing the mine’s environmental impact.
Sagisa’s range of filtration products include microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration and hyperfiltration – known as reverse osmosis – with capabilities that range from high temperature gas and catalyst separation using sintered metal filters, down to molecular filtration using polymeric membrane technologies.