Waterwhelm Novel Desalination Trial

The Mining Remediation (MRA) Salinity Department are developing a Programme of short trails to research novel and emerging technologies which may be of use when seeking solutions to the problems posed by rising saline mine water. Waterwhelm is an award winning start up company based in the UK.

Waterwhelm have designed and developed an efficient "Forward Osmosis" technology which has the potential to deliver large savings when compared against existing "Reverse Osmosis" technology. The prototype they have developed is highly mobile and can be deployed from shipping containers.

Following a site visit in June this year, the Salinity Department believe this technology is worthy of inclusion in the trials programme. Salinity Department have identified the Lynemouth mine water treatment scheme as the site most suitable to run a Waterwhelm-operated pilot project.

Waterwhelm's pilot plant deployed at Lynemouth will consist of two 20ft stacked shipping containers. These items of plant had previously operated at a capacity of 5m3/day, equivalent to reusing and processing 5,000 litres of wastewater or brackish water per day.

When deployed at Lynemouth, the plant will operate at a capacity of ~2m3/day, powered by an electrical heater. The purpose of the plant will be to process water that has entered the mine and absorbed naturally occurring minerals from the rocks within the mine, such as iron.

The pilot project will consist of five key stages (in order of occurrence): mobilisation; installation; commissioning; operation; and decommissioning/demobilisation. Subsequently, research and analysis of pilot test results will be gathered and evaluated before providing a detailed write-up of findings, along with a feasibility study and development of the business case. It is expected the project will run from September until December