UltraPro Ultrafilters

Urbans Aqua stocks WQA Gold Seal Certified Chemical Free Ultrapro ultrafilters for quick shipment to our dealers.

Ultrafiltration

Technical Overview

Ultrafiltration (UF) is a variety of membrane filtration in which forces like pressure or concentration gradients lead to a separation through a semipermeable membrane. (Wikipedia) It is used to separate out suspended matter, bacteria, viruses, cysts and tannins from water. Ultrafiltration removes contaminants in the size range of 0.05 – 0.01 microns.  A human red blood cell is 7 microns and human hair is 40 microns.

Listen to the Ultrafilter Podcast

Urbans Aqua Ultrafilters

Urbans Aqua is an authorized distributor of Master Water Conditioning’s UltraPro with proprietary UF technology.  This system achieves a 6-Log (99.9999%) reduction of bacteria and a 4 log cyst reduction.

When combined with a UV, ultrafiltration is perfect for installation where well water has questionable bacterial quality.  It is also ideal for filtering lake water and cottage systems because it removes all the cysts, parasites and viruses.   

Aids in the reduction of:

• Natural Organic Matter
  • Tannin
  • Organic Iron
• Colloids
  • Clay
  • Iron complexes
• Microbiological Impurities
  • Cysts
  • Bacteria
  • Viruses

UltraPro Benefits

• No chemicals
• Suitable as a component in a multi-bar system or as a microbial toolbox item.
• Minimized risk of clogging for outside/in flow; membrane surface can be easily cleaned with water.
• Uses existing water pressure to operate.
• No additional pump or motor needed.

UltraPro Ultrafilters - Specifications

UtlraPro Features

• Flow rate – up to 10.5 gpm with a wide range of flow rates available
• Backwash to clean once per day for 5 minutes
• Full automatic and adjustable cleaning cycles
• Autoflush
• Environmentally friendly
  • Low waste-water discharge of 1-2% during clean cycle
  • Chemical free operation
• Modular design
• Membrane filters are certified to WQA Gold Seal ANSI 53 and 61.
• Filters to a rate of 0.2 micron absolute.
• Works well with colloidal clay or tannin applications.
  • Sometimes you will require carbon or organic scavenger resin in addition to ultrafiltration.

UltraPro Ultrafilter Application Guie

Ultrapro ultrafilters are unique.  It uses a Clack valve wetted end with custom circuitry.  This can drive 4 drive motors with a single circuit board. As a result, every UltraPro has an automatic flushing mechanism to prevent the bottom of the membrane from fouling.

Use a pilot stick to test whether UltraPro ultrafilters work for the application.

Brochures

• Ultrpro Application Guide
• Ultrapro Brochure

Owner’s Manuals

• Manual Master UltraPro10
• Manual-Ultrapro10 with Autoflush & Treated Water Regen BladderTank
• Manual-Ultrapro with Autoflush MCA Valve Programming

More About Ultrafiltration

• Ultrafiltration does not remove dissolved substances such as sodium chloride, calcium chloride, etc. Cations and anions are removed or exchanged by reverse osmosis or ion exchange resins.
• Even though we can’t see them bacteria, viruses and cysts are suspended solids. UF can remove legionella and cysts which can be chlorine and UV resistant.
• Ultrafiltration can protect municipal water consumers if there is a boil water order.

UltraPros are commonly used to remove colloidal contaminants such as clay, silt and some organics.  Water with colloidal contaminants isn’t clear- they don’t settle out to the bottom.  A less convenient solution for these contaminants is chemical precipitation.  A chemical is injected into the water to bind up the colloid, it settles out and can be filtered.  This can be replaced by an UltraPro ultrafilter.

Ultrafiltration for lake water. Redundancy and or multiple technologies are recommended:

• Additional Technology – Blue-green algae – under extreme pressure these cells burst and release dissolved contaminants which can’t be removed.
• Twin UF – Bacteria, viruses, cysts; should not regenerate (backwash) an ultrafilter system with untreated water.
• All systems should be followed by UV.

In extreme water or high flow situations multiple Ultrapro tanks can be operated in parallel.

Potential sources of membrane fouling:

• Lack of proper backwashing.
• Lack of proper pre-treatment.
  • Minimum pre-treatment is a 10-micron filter.
• Fats – greases and oils can rapidly foul the membranes. Pre-treat to remove prior to UF.
  • Fat/oil separator should be installed before an ultrafilter.
• Ferric hydroxide – UF will remove but using a Turbidex or Filterag Plus filter would be more cost effective.
• Place the ultrafilter as far down the line as possible, right in front of the UV.
• Overuse of disinfectant/oxidizer such as chlorine. Continuous chlorine feed level of chlorine should be less than 1 mg/l.  Use the same rules for hydrogen peroxide.

Using the pilot stick.

• After using the pilot stick it can be backwashed simply by flipping it around and having the water flow backwards. This can usually be done with clean tap water.  If you can’t clean it after testing the water, then you may need to rethink the treatment method as the same problem will occur on the larger unit.
• Don’t refrigerate the test stick. If it gets infrequent use, store it in glycerin, which is a baking product and available at grocery stores.
• If used every couple of weeks it’s ok to put a dilute chlorine solution in it, half a ppm, to help inhibit microbial growth. Just don’t let it sit in there for months on end.
• If used regularly, just flow water through it with half a ppm of chlorine and don’t let it sit in the sun and heat up.