The year was 2007,  and the founder of Kembrane received a call from a plumbing contractor situated on a mine site 4 hours north of Perth, WA. The RO plant supplying water for the remote mine,  treating bore water, had suddenly dropped production rate. Everything was apparently normal. Source water hadn’t changed from design. All maintenance logs were up to date. What could it be? 

Fast forward a few weeks, and the cause had become apparent. With multiple bores, some being over 7KM from the treatment plant, a number of HDPE pipe runs had been left unburied, and exposed under the harsh Western Australian sun. This had led to a rapid biofilm growth within the pipelines and slugs of biofilm dislodging and making its way downstream and straight into the RO plant. 

Meanwhile an emergency rental RO unit that been set up in short order, had also met a similar fate – fouling that the regular CIP protocol was not reversing. All told, the mine company estimated its costs at over $800,000 for temporary fixes, membrane replacements & downtime. 

The inability of multiple companies to identify the root-cause, correct the problem and instigate a new cleaning regime stood out. 

Now, 18 years later and 100’s of membrane plant experiences further on, Kembrane has been created to solve a complex puzzle in the most simple way possible, thanks to advent of AI and smart programming, along with vertical integration of a specialty range of dedicated membrane cleaning agents, multiple issues facing operators, OEM’s & service companies has been solved within one easy to use system.  That’s Kembrane.