MF/UF Technologies in Automation

The automation industry has transformed rapidly over the past decade, which has enabled the growth of MF/UF technologies. MF/UF technologies need advanced control systems by their nature. The number of actuated valves and well timed control sequences required of modern systems has helped keep capital costs lower by minimizing non-production time of the membrane trains and thus minimizing installed membrane surface area. As more plants become reliant on automation, plant operators have a new found flexibility to manipulate and control the system using the HMI screens. Rockwell has released a platform called PlantPAX that helps give operators the tools that could once only be available to programmers. This freedom allows operators to change the way the system behaves to optimize production and reduce inefficiencies. Through the use of ControlLogix and CompactLogix processors, programmers can now create more complex sequences, allowing for completely automated backwashes, maintenance cleans, recovery cleans, and membrane integrity tests. The membrane integrity test now commonly uses the complicated LVR (Log Removal Value) calculations for city, state and federal regulations. This complex equation becomes programmable using the higher level processors’ math functions. These processors have improved tremendously over the years. The transformation from PLC 5 & SLC 500’s processors to ControlLogix and CompactLogix has truly given operators the tools to improve recovery and enhance system performance.

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