QT participate in an ecological desalination sea sands scientific project in Sanya, China
As we all know, alluvial sand is the main component of concrete, thus plays an important role in the construction sector. Given the rapid development of urbanization in China as well as the fact that the river ecosystem has been greatly altered by an overexploitation of available resources, the demand for alluvial sand has increased considerably.
To this end, the Chinese government had to intervene in order to put an end to this overexploitation, which constituted a significant obstacle to the progress of works in the various construction sites throughout the country. Following this government intervention, the eyes of industrialists turned to sea sands as a substitute for sand from rivers, despite the fact that the end use could only be possible after a series of "specific treatments".
Indeed, sea sands are characterized by a tiny mud capacity, a uniform fineness and a shape of grain suitable for use in the construction sector. However, the presence of large amounts of chloride and chemical elements such as sodium and magnesium will damage the passivation film of the steel bars in the concrete and accelerate the corrosion of these bars. The use of untreated sea sand for the manufacture of concrete will greatly shorten the life and structural strength of the construction and may even create the risk of collapse.
Construction professionals therefore turned to desalination technology to treat sea sands, the aim of which is to destroy the chloride stripped and attached to the surface of sea sand. After pickling, the specific gravity of the ions of chlorides is lighter and floats on the surface of the wash water. The cleaned overflows are then evacuated to obtain qualified construction sand.
The Research Base for the Protection of the Environment and the Efficient Use of Dredged Materials in Sanya city, Hainan island, is a project initiated by the Provincial Development and Reform Commission. The project was completed and operational in March 2019. The objective being to use sands from the seabed in the outskirts of the town of Sanya without altering the sands near the coast. All the freshwater resources used in this base come from two fastRO® desalination containers developed by the QT group.
As stated by Mr. Hao Zhongshi, Director of the research base: "In order to test the real conditions of water scarcity, our base was built far from the public water supply network. The fastRO® containerized series of reverse osmosis system by QT group allowed us to reduce the cost of washing sand. The use of desalination solution including QT containers for the supply of washing water is also dependent on the need to move the base in the near future, to carry out experiments which would concern other types of sea sands. The mobility of the containers is therefore a major asset. "
Finally, Mr. Hao expressed with emotion the quality and professionalism of the group's technical teams with regard to the service provided, saying: "We thank the QT group very much for their support and their high-quality product fastRO®. This solution resolved our problem related to the shortage of sand wash water and helped us to overcome several technical difficulties. In the future, we intend to extend our collaboration with the group in order to solve the problem of the reuse of wash water, to cut costs even more, save energy and increase efficiency. "