INNOVATION AND NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT IN
MEMBRANES – STEPS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LATEST
MEMBRANE PRODUCT FROM SIEMENS – THE ‘N’ SERIES.
Christopher Kersten1
1
Siemens Australia Ltd
15 Blackman Crs
Windsor NSW 2756
christopher.kersten@siemens.com
ABSTRACT
Siemens manufactures MEMCOR® ultrafiltration products at its factory in Sydney, Australia.
The R&D team at the factory consists of 35 engineers, scientists and technicians working in
the areas of membrane formulation, membrane and module design, manufacturing and
membrane processes. This paper outlines key stages that a new membrane development goes
through, using the example of Siemens’ most recently released membrane formulation, the ‘N’
series.
The starting point for the ‘N’ series of membranes was the membrane formulation stage. The
‘N’ product was developed as part of an ongoing project within Siemens to identify and test
new membrane materials and manufacturing regimes. The aim of this development work is to
identify new membranes with improved hydraulic and durability performance compared to
commercially available membranes.
Development Phase: Once a promising formulation is identified there are several stages to pass
on lab scale manufacturing and testing. Then, pilot scale manufacturing demonstrates the
product is manufacturable and products are made for field performance testing at R&D trial
sites.
Validation Phase: Following successful pilot testing, larger scale manufacturing runs are
conducted. These produce membranes for validation testing, typically undertaken at customer
sites and on a range of water sources. In parallel, applications for various state and regional
approvals are initiated. This includes NSF61 approval in the US for products that come into
contact with drinking water, and Regulation 31 approval for contact with drinking water in the
UK.
Commercialisation Phase: When validation is complete the product moves to
commercialisation. This includes the scale-up of manufacturing, which requires new capital
equipment or changes to existing manufacturing processes. Other steps include the
development of technical documentation and marketing materials, and training of service
teams and the sales force, leading up to product launch.
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MEMBRANE DEVELOPMENT
Memcor was one of the early pioneers in the use of membranes for water treatment. This
started with the development of polypropylene microfiltration (MF) membranes in the 1980’s
and 1990’s, including the M10C membrane module. The M10C is still produced by Siemens
today and is used in a number water treatment plants around the world, including two plants
supplying the city of Tauranga in the North Island of New Zealand. When Tauranga’s Joyce
Road treatment plant was upgraded in 1997 it was the first public sector use of microfiltration
membranes in New Zealand (www.tauranga.govt.nz, 21 July 2012).
Siemens acquired the ‘Memcor’ and ‘Memtec’ brands as part of its purchase of the ‘US Filter’
business from Veolia Environnement in 2004. Siemens had seen the growth opportunities in
the water market and made a decisive move into the water industry. In a joint Press Release
with Veolia, then President of the Siemens I&S division Jorgen Ole Haslestad was quoted as
saying (www.veolia.com, 12 May 2004),
"This acquisition is an important step in the framework of strengthening our Group portfolio.
The growing water segment will play a critical role within our industrial activities at
Siemens. With it, we will be able to expand our product and service offerings for our
customers, in particular within the world's largest water market, the United States."
Siemens membranes are manufactured at a 15,000 sq.m facility in Sydney, Australia. The
R&D team based within the factory comprises 35 engineers, scientists and technicians, and is
continually developing and evaluating new membranes. While polypropylene still makes a well
performing membrane, market demand for membranes has shifted towards materials that have
higher chlorine resistance. Polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) has emerged as one of the
preferred materials for MF and UF membranes, due to its superior chemical resistance, as well
as improved flexibility and toughness when compared to alternatives such as Polyether
Sulphone (PES). Membranes made from PVDF provide excellent chemical resistance, good
mechanical properties, and excellent filtration performance. PVDF is widely used in the water
treatment industry by a number of membrane manufacturers (Pearce, 2007).
Market analysis and customer feedback are the precursor to membrane development at
Siemens. These drive the product specification and performance targets that lead to the
development and commercialisation of new membranes. A recent series of work at Siemens
has culminated in the commercialisation of a new PVDF membrane product – the ‘N’ series of
membranes. This comprises a new membrane formulation integrated into some of Siemens
existing module configurations. New products include the S10N submerged filtration
membrane module, and L10N and L20N pressurised system membrane modules.
This paper outlines 3 stages in the development of a new membrane at Siemens –
Development, Validation and Commercialisation. These are part of Siemens wider Product
Lifecycle Management (PLM) process that exists for each product line from idea conception,
through to ultimate obsolescence.
Development Phase
Drawing on Memcor’s 25 years of experience in membrane technology, new materials and
membrane formulations are systematically developed and tested to meet product innovation
targets. Formulation design and development are used in conjunction with manufacturing
process control to meet product performance criteria such as pore size, filtration performance,
hydraulic stability and mechanical stability. By developing, selecting and refining products
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using a method akin to an ‘innovation funnel’, products are optimised and selected that best
meet the product performance targets.
The culmination of the development phase is the manufacture of full scale modules in standard
configurations. These are operated at Siemens controlled testing facilities located in Sydney
and Singapore. Modules are operated over a range of different fluxes and with different
backwash conditions. Membrane cleaning regimes are also tested to establish the relative
hydraulic performance capability and stability of new formulations in comparison to previous
formulations. Figure 1 illustrates some of the pilot testing equipment used to collect product
performance data. Figure 2 shows the type of hydraulic performance data that is collected and
evaluated on development modules.
Figure 1 - Siemens pilot testing equipment
Figure 2 - Example of permeability data collected
Validation Phase
Following a successful test outcome in the development phase, the formulation is moved into
validation. Larger production runs of several hundred modules are made. The majority of
these will be beta-tested at selected customer facilities. Sites are chosen on a number of
criteria including:
•
customer relationship,
•
ease of access to site and retrieval of site data,
•
time to installation,
•
any regulatory limitations, and
•
exposure to feedwater sources or applications of interest
Testing occurs over 6 to 12 months. During this time, plant hydraulic performance is
monitored, and modules are periodically removed and returned for autopsy analysis including
fouling resistance, membrane permeability and integrity. At the end of the initial testing phase
modules are normally left in place to develop a longer term data set. This testing is used to
validate the performance of the new membrane, and also forms part of a set of case studies to
support the sale of the new product.
In parallel with this beta-testing, applications are made for regulatory approvals in established
markets such as the United Kingdom and USA. Some Asian countries are also starting to
develop a regulatory framework to control what products and manufacturers are able to
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supply into these markets. Some might expect this be an activity undertaken during
Commercialisation rather than Validation, but regulatory approvals for contact with drinking
water are a key precursor to being able to launch a new product in these major markets. They
also can take a long time to complete, so these approvals are initiated as soon as possible after
the product design development stage is completed.
Regulatory approval in the US starts with NSF/ANSI Standard 61 Drinking Water System
Components (NSF61). NSF uses a 7 step approach (www.nsf.org, 21 July 2012) from
application submission, a review of formulation information, initial plant audits, sample testing
and a toxicological evaluation. The NSF61 accreditation covers not only Siemens
manufacturing processes, but also those of the raw material suppliers. The timeline for an
NSF61 accreditation can range from 3 to 12 months from the time an application is submitted.
The N series membrane obtained NSF61 approval in August 2011.
For the United Kingdom, approvals for materials to be used in contact with drinking water are
obtained from the Secretary of State, under Regulation 31 of the Water Supply (Water
Quality) Regulations 2000 (DWI, June 2012a). Their decision is aided by advice and testing
co-ordinated by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI). For water filtration membranes there
is a 2 step testing process (DWI, June 2012b). The first step is an assessment of any effects on
water quality from the materials used in the filter. This can be achieved by testing each
material to the requirements of BS6920 and/or listing by the Water Regulations Advisory
Scheme (WRAS). The second step is a leaching study where a complete unit is tested. The
timeline for UK approval is typically more than 6 months from the time an application is
submitted. For the N series membrane, the second step – full unit testing – has not yet been
completed in the UK, and as such the product cannot yet be used for drinking water
applications in that region.
In Australia and New Zealand, Standard AS/NZ 4020 – Testing of products in contact with
drinking water provides guidance but is not a regulatory approvals process. Historically,
NSF61 approval has been viewed positively by customers in Australia and New Zealand. In
contrast there is a growing trend to regulating the waste water recycling sector. All States in
Australia have endorsed the 2006 Australian Guidelines for Water Recycling (AGWR)
(McCormick, 2010), though some States such as Victoria are more advanced in introducing
legislation that reflects this than others. The AGWR adopts a HACCP style approach to risk
management for each process stage in a treatment plant, using a 3 step approach – Validation,
Monitoring and Verification (McCormick, 2010). In this case Validation involves challenge
testing to establish a conservative minimum Log Removal Value (LRV) rating for bacteria and
virus for each membrane type.
Commercialisation Phase
As of August 2012 the ‘N’ series product is in the Commercialisation Phase. There are both
internal and external aspects to Commercialisation. On the internal side, one of the key focus
areas is the ramp up of new product activity. This includes commissioning of new or upgraded
capital equipment and identifying and troubleshooting any issues that impact on staff safety,
quality and throughput. Bills of Materials (BOM’s) for the new products need to be developed
and validated, and any new materials incorporated into the production planning, supply chain
and Material Resource Planning (MRP) systems. QC specifications and Work Instructions are
developed for any new or modified production processes, and manufacturing staff undertake
training on these. Internal sales force training is undertaken to make staff aware of the
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performance parameters of the new membrane and the value proposition of the product to the
end users of the technology.
Internal documentation such as process design and project costing tools need to be updated
for the new product. On the external side, product specific documentation is developed to
support the new product, as well as case studies of some of the Validation test work. An
example of such documentation is the product specification sheet for the L20N membrane
shown in Figure 4 below. There are also product manuals, sales brochures and other
documentation that need to be revised.
As part of production planning, existing backlog orders are reviewed for suitability to convert
to the new product, and internal and external discussions are held about if and when specific
projects could transition to the new product. A limited release of the N series modules on
selected projects and customers has begun to utilise existing manufacturing capacity, while the
factory tools up to produce the new membrane in larger quantities. Figure 3 shows some
L20N modules in progress in the factory.
Figure 4 - Product Specification Sheet
Figure 3 - L20N modules in the factory
Conclusion
There are 3 key stages in Siemens development of a new membrane product. The first is
membrane development and performance testing at our research facility in Sydney, Australia.
The second stage is validation of a chosen membrane formulation, including testing at pilot
level and full scale testing at customer sites. This is carried out in parallel with regulatory
approvals. The final stage is commercialisation, where the factory is tooled up for full scale
production and larger numbers of membranes are put into service. Longer term monitoring of
initial validation sites is also undertaken in this stage. The timeframe from concept to final
commercialisation is product dependent, but can typically range from 12 to 24 months.
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References
DWI, June 2012a. Advice Sheet 1, Overview of the application process and general
requirements, Version 6.4
http://dwi.defra.gov.uk/drinking-water-products/advice-and-approval/Advicesheet1.pdf
DWI, June 2012b. Advice Sheet 6, Approval of membrane filtration systems & associated
equipment, Version 1.7
http://dwi.defra.gov.uk/drinking-water-products/advice-and-approval/Advicesheet6.pdf
McCormick, A. How Safe is Recycled Water, LGSA Water Management Conference,
Orange, NSW, September 2010
Pearce, G., Introduction to membranes: manufacturers’ comparison: part 1, Filtration
+Separation, Elsevier Ltd, Oct 2007, p 36-38
www.nsf.org, How to Become NSF Certified, accessed 21 July 2012.
http://www.nsf.org/business/water_distribution/process.asp?program=WaterDistributionSys
www.tauranga.govt.nz, Microfiltration, accessed 21 July 2012.
http://www.tauranga.govt.nz/council-services/water-drainage/water-supply/water-supplysystem/water-treatment/microfiltration.aspx
www.veolia.com, Sale of US Filter Corporation’s systems and services business to Siemens,
12 May 2004, accessed 12 July 2012.
http://www.veolia.com/en/medias/press-releases/Sale-of-US-Filter-Corporation-s-systemsand-services-businesses-to-Siemens.htm
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