In response to environmental stipulations and limited fresh water resources, the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. Panipat and Essar Oil Ltd. Vadinar had to build water reclamation plants. The plants, which mainly treat refinery effluents, were commissioned in 2006 and 2012, respectively. Advanced multi-barrier systems (including Ultrafiltraion (UF) and Reverse Osmosis (RO)) were employed in order to meet the stringent quality requirements for the recycling of boiler make-up and good results with regard to all the requested standards have been achieved. The Panipat UF membranes have a lifetime of 6 years and rather than integrity, which remains quite good (fibre breakages <0.1‰/year), the main reason for replacement is relatively low permeability (50–60 L/m2*h*bar). The operating cost (including membrane replacement) has been calculated as 0.37 EUR/m3 of recycled boiler make-up.

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