Advanced Membrane Technology

Ecomagination has played a key role in advancing water reuse and purification. Improved membrane materials and spiral-wound membrane element configurations have greatly increased the capacity to successfully address fouling, temperature, pH value and contaminants.

Ecomagination has played a key role in advancing water reuse and purification. Improved membrane materials and spiral-wound membrane element configurations have greatly increased the capacity to successfully address fouling, temperature, pH value and contaminants.

Consequently, such progress has opened the door to a variety of new applications in industrial water treatment. By putting water on wheels, GE's mobile water systems provide a fast and reliable means of offering high-purity water in emergency, interval and long-term situations.

More information about advanced membrane technology

GE is one of the world's largest manufacturers of integrated membrane-based water treatment systems for industry and is a global leader in the use of membrane filtration for waste prevention.

GE's membranes are used in a wide range of applications, from purifying water for soft drinks to removing harmful chemicals from wastewater.

GE is the world's leader in reverse osmosis, nanofiltration and ultrafiltration technologies, with membranes that can operate at high temperatures and throughout wide pH ranges.

GE membrane systems enable a typical mining company to recover as much as 80 percent of the valuable minerals and metals in its waste streams, while treating 250 million gallons of wastewater annually and reducing the impact on rivers, streams and groundwater.

GE filtration systems enable textile manufacturers to reuse water, reducing wastewater by as much as 1.2 billion gallons a year.

GE membranes are used by airlines to recycle de-icing fluid back into new antifreeze. If all U.S. airlines used GE membranes to recycle de-icing fluid, they could save nearly 10 million gallons of antifreeze per year.

The use of GE process membranes by GE's major customers has eliminated more than 16 billion gallons of industrial wastewater per year, reducing the burden on treatment plants and conserving clean water for domestic and agricultural needs.

Tsunami relief

Thanks to GE's innovations in water purification, tens of thousands of Indonesian victims of the recent Asian tsunami have been given access to clean, safe water.

Within days of the disaster, GE mobilized a fleet of GE Water and Process Technologies membrane-based mobile water treatment units and GE Energy mobile generator sets, and assigned more than 50 GE engineers, scientists and project managers to aid in the relief effort.

Additionally, GE donated three water purification systems to the Thai Red Cross. These units helped deliver 66,000 gallons of potable water per day to aid an estimated 5,000 people in the three largest shelter centers.