Process & production yield
Process water treatment is the conditioning of raw water — municipal, borehole, river or rain — into the quality a production process needs, and holding it there: softening, filtration, reverse osmosis and disinfection, run as one programme. Prosep engineers and runs it for industry across South Africa.
What is process water treatment? Everything that happens between the raw water a site can get — municipal, borehole, river or rain — and the water its process actually needs: softening, filtration, reverse osmosis, disinfection, and the chemistry that keeps each stage working. In South Africa it has become a production issue rather than a utility one. Municipal water is getting more expensive and less dependable at the same time, and process water treatment is how a plant takes control of both, at a cost the business can defend.
Prosep designs, installs and runs process water programmes across South Africa: reverse osmosis plants and the treatment chemicals that keep them alive, softening, filtration, and alternative supply schemes that reduce dependence on the municipal connection. We currently treat more than 132 million litres a day across the sites under our care.
The programme
Plant, chemicals, dosing and commissioning from one accountable supplier — then monitoring and optimisation. Three methods, usually combined.
Method 1
Design, installation and commissioning of reverse osmosis plants sized to the duty, from skid-mounted plants of a few kilolitres an hour to larger industrial trains, with the pretreatment the feedwater demands. An RO plant without correct pretreatment is a membrane-replacement subscription.
The chemistry keeps it alive: antiscalant matched to the feedwater analysis, CIP cleaning chemicals, and biocide regimes where biofouling is the risk. Membrane performance is monitored, normalised and reported, so a fouling trend is caught as chemistry before it becomes capital.
On site: a 4.5 m³/h RO plant on borehole feed for a Cosmo City food producer, running since October 2020. In a reference month it made around 1,140 kl of treated water against 239 kl of municipal top-up. Read the case study.
Method 2
Ion-exchange softeners, media filtration and ultrafiltration where the duty calls for them, supplied and maintained as part of the programme. Softening takes out the hardness that scales boilers and heat exchangers; filtration removes the solids that would otherwise foul membranes and dosing points downstream.
Softened water is the usual feed for smaller boilers, and filtration is the pretreatment in front of most RO plants. Which one a duty needs comes out of the water analysis. Our guide compares reverse osmosis, softening and filtration.
Method 3
Rainwater harvesting, borehole treatment and effluent reuse that cut the municipal draw, designed as one water balance with your discharge side. The aim is to make the municipal connection a backup, not the main supply.
On site: rainwater storage for a Heidelberg beverage producer, commissioned December 2023 and designed to capture around 2,600 m³ a year from roughly 3,000 m² of roof. At a Randvaal food producer, around 907 kl of treated effluent a month is recycled for reuse on site. See water reuse and recovery.
The train
Every kilolitre accounted for. We start with a full water analysis and a water balance, then design the train to the quality each duty needs — costed against the municipal alternative before you commit.
Proof
Two ways we cut the municipal draw for food and beverage clients — both still running.
Process water — reverse osmosis
Alternative supply — rainwater harvesting
Who this is for
Sharpest in food and beverage, where water is an ingredient, and across water-intensive process industries.
Design, supply and commissioning — skid, containerised or in-building.
Related serviceWhere water is an ingredient and the municipal bill is a board-level number.
Sector pageRO permeate as boiler feedwater — the most defensible process-water investment.
Related serviceTreating your own effluent back to a usable standard, as one water balance.
Related serviceHigh-purity and utility water, with proof of purity.
Sector pageProcess water to a specification, run to stated targets.
Sector pagePaint-quality water in, oily wastewater out.
Sector pageDrinking-grade water to SANS 241, with proof.
Related serviceTreat your own water back to a usable standard.
Related serviceStandards we work to
Where treated water must be potable, programmes are designed against SANS 241. Where the source or the reject stream touches a discharge point, DWS requirements apply and are engineered in from the start — designed as one water balance with our effluent treatment team. Upfront coagulation and clarification removes solids before they reach the membranes, dosing and monitoring equipment holds each setpoint, and the same treated water feeds hygienic Clean-in-Place systems downstream.
The original Prosep brochure on filtration and turnkey water plants is free to download from our brochures and downloads page.
Not sure which stage you need? Our guide compares reverse osmosis, softening and filtration.
FAQ
Often, but it must be proven per site. The honest comparison includes capital, membranes, chemicals, power and reject water against the avoided municipal cost at realistic tariff escalation. Prosep states this comparison in the programme design before you commit, and has installed RO systems for exactly this reason, including a 4.5 m³/h plant for a Cosmo City food producer running since October 2020.
Antiscalant dosed against the feedwater analysis to stop sparingly soluble salts fouling the membranes, periodic cleaning chemicals for CIP, and in some systems a biocide regime against biofouling. The selection and dose rate follow the water, not a price list.
It depends almost entirely on pretreatment and chemical care. With correct pretreatment, a matched antiscalant programme and monitored, normalised performance data, membranes reach their design life. Without those, replacement becomes a recurring cost. Prosep's programmes exist to keep sites on the first path.
Frequently. Rainwater harvesting, borehole treatment and effluent reuse all reduce the municipal draw, and we have implemented these as standalone schemes, including rainwater harvesting storage for a Heidelberg beverage producer designed to capture around 2,600 m³ a year and since extended by the client. The right answer comes out of the site water balance.
Yes. We assess the existing plant, put a chemical and monitoring programme around it, and take accountability for its performance going forward.
Tell us your sources, your process-water targets and your municipal bill. We will map where every kilolitre goes and state the capital and operating cost against the municipal alternative.