Clean TeQ water installed a 0.5 MLD demonstration plant in 2013 to treat associated water from the coal seam gas industry in Australia. The plant’s goal was to reduce the TDS of the water from the expected value of 4,500 mg/L to below 2,000 mg/L, providing fit for purpose water for livestock and agricultural purposes. The plant consisted of two CIF^® modules in series, to first remove cations and then anions. The first CIF® stage was containerised, and the second stage seen in photos has a 1MLD capacity. The plant consistently achieved > 90% water recovery despite the second CIF^® stage not being configured to recycle wash water.

Feed water was first pumped through disc filters to reduce the TSS, before proceeding to the first CIF^® module. The first module consisted of a 0.5 MLD containerised CIF^® system to remove cations such as magnesium, calcium and sodium. In this first stage the ion exchange chemistry also assists in reducing the temporary hardness as bicarbonate. In the second CIF^® stage, anions such as sulphate and chloride are removed to further reduce the TDS. The waste product generated by the system is a gypsum-based brine, which was partially used to perform post-treatment SAR adjustment, providing fit for purpose water for irrigation and livestock.