01 Water Treatment: Membrane Demineralizer / Desalination / (RO) Reverse Osmosis / Seawater Treatment (Municipal and Industrial)

Water Treatment: Membrane Demineralizer / Desalination / Reverse Osmosis / Seawater Treatment (Municipal and Industrial)

In 1949, Gerald Hassler of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and others first started the study of membrane desalination. In 1950, Hasler described the concept of “salt repelling osmotic membrane” in an internal report of UCLA, but his follow-up research was a bit biased. In August 1956, Hasler first coined the word “reverse osmosis” in another UCLA internal report. (external link)


1950s Ionics Inc (Cambridge, MA) offering Membrane Demineralizers.
April 1954 Polytechnic Institute (Brooklyn) and Ionics Inc (Cambridge, MA) both received research monies for developing a
Membrane Demineralizer for treatment of brackish water (seawater).
[ Link required subscription https://www.newspapers.com/image/701677358/?match=1&terms=Demineralizer ]


1952 – 1953: Department of the Interior:  Saline Water Conversion Program was established.


1953-1955: Saline Water Conversion Program, Assistant Secretary–Water and Power Development was established.


1955 to 1974 The Office of Saline Waters (by the Department of the Interior) was established.
https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/380.html

1956 Ionics received a patent for Electrodialysis.

A July 12, 1956 Ventura County Star has a story of a new designed called a
Membrane Demineralizer that included “sheets of specially treated cloth.”  The machine
can recovery 50 percent of the brackish water (sea water) to produce fresh water.
[ Link required subscription https://www.newspapers.com/image/625020976/?match=1&terms=Demineralizer ]


1956 Congressional report: Ionics (PDF pages 147-148 of 428: external link)

1957 Congressional Record: (PDF Pages 27-28 of 70: external link)


June 1958 San Francisco Examiner newspaper has a story about electrical current
through special plastic membranes.  A different form of Demineralizer: by Ionics Inc. Cambridge, MA
[ Link required subscription https://www.newspapers.com/image/458449908/?match=1&terms=Demineralizer ]


1961: President John F. Kennedy inaugurated one of the first demonstration desalination plants in the U.S.–built in Freeport, Texas.

1960s: The first desalination plant in California was constructed at the tip of Point Loma in the 1960s.

Desalination projects in California
https://lynceans.org/all-posts/status-of-desalination-plants-in-california-2/

https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/6005c5d151b7b5a4ed9957c9/6414dea0a0f70413d913e19c_14.%20Warren%20Teitz%20-%20Session%206%20.pdf

1961 military paper: (external link)

1962 General Atomics (General Dynamics) research on reverse osmosis and assisted in creating an industry for saline water conversion.
https://www.ga.com/about/history
https://www.sdcwa.org/your-water/local-water-supplies/seawater-desalination/


1964: Nylon-6 Fiber Research: DuPont’s foray into RO membranes started with research on nylon-6 fiber in 1964.
1967 Rohm & Haas: nylon 6 fiber product: [ Link required subscription
https://www.newspapers.com/image/1192869058/?match=1&terms=Nylon-6%20Fiber%20water%20treatment%20DuPont ]

1967 Dupont offers its Permasep product [ Link required subscription
https://www.newspapers.com/image/163593694/?match=1&terms=Dupont%20Permasep ]


1970s: Orange County Water District (OCWD) utilizing reverse osmosis (RO) has been successfully used since the mid-1970s to purify highly-treated wastewater for its seawater intrusion barrier (Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS)).

1960 or 1970s there was a membrane manufacturing plant in the Los Angeles area.

Reverse Osmosis Membranes (Municipal and Industrial): manufacturers: Past and Present:
Applied Membranes
Desal
Dow
Dupont (1960s/1970s models: Permasep)
Filmtec: Dow / Dupont
Former: Gulf General Atomic (GGA) (1960s)
Hydranautics
Koch / Kovalus Separation Solutions
LG Chem
Membrion (ceramic)
Toray: CSM
UltraClean Membrane Co. (China / USA)
Unisol


Housing for membranes:
Applied Membranes, Piedmont, Tonka, and others.

Equipment manufacturers (Municipal and Industrial): Past and Present:

AA Tech / Industrial Water Treatment
Ajax Intl.
Alfa Laval
Aqua General (commercial)
Aquatech
Centec (international)
Cochrane: Newterra
Compass Water Solutions (California): Aqua-Sep: CECO
Continental
Culligan
Degremont
Dorr-Oliver
EBD Paragon
Ecodyne (Marmon)
Ecolab
ESLI – Pollet Water Group (international)
Filtra Systems
Fairbanks Morse Defense
G Water Treatment
Gaco-Sternson
Glegg (GE)
GE: Veolia
Graver
Gulf Environmental
H2O Innovations (Darv-Eau, Membrane Systems, Itasca)
Hidro Water (Spain)
Hungerford & Terry
Hydro-Chem
IDE Technologies
Industrial Water Technologies
Ionics
Former: L*A Water Treatment (PWT Americas)
Lakeside Water Treatment
Marlo
Maxim
Meco
Miura
Mueller
NEWater
Newterra
Osmonics
Ovivo
Parker
Peerless (Ceco)
Permutit (Permutit USA begun in the 1910s; became part of US Filter in 1993)
Pro Minent
Pure Aqua
Purtec
Robert B Hill Co.: ECI Water
Samco
Suez
Tonka: Kurita
TonkaFlo (Veolia)
US Filter
Veolia: Elga
Water Equipment Technologies (WET)
Water King
WesTech Engineering
Wigen
Xylem
Yardney / Applied Systems
YWCT (international)
Zenon


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