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Starch Sugar Desalination Plant Cost vs Return on Investment

Laxminarayan Technologies — Tue, 15 Sep 2026 08:15:44 +0000

TL;DR: Your starch sugar desalination plant cost is only half the story. The other half is payback: ash removed, yield saved, chemicals recovered, effluent avoided. At Laxminarayan Technologies we size electrodialysis around your syrup, so the return often lands in two to four years, not a decade of hoping.

Ask the wrong question and you buy the wrong plant. Most buyers ask what a starch sugar desalination plant cost looks like on the quote. Better question: what does it earn back? Because a cheap stack that loses sugar and eats energy is the expensive one. At Laxminarayan Technologies, we've commissioned electrodialysis lines for glucose, xylose, and xylitol streams, and the winners always run the numbers past capex. They count recovered product, lower reagent bills, and smaller waste charges. This article puts cost and return side by side, so you can defend the investment to finance and still sleep at night.

What Is Starch Sugar Desalination?

Starch sugar desalination is the removal of salts and ionic ash from sugar liquors, glucose, xylose, and xylitol streams, using ion-exchange membranes under a direct-current field. Electrodialysis pulls cations through cation membranes and anions through anion membranes, moving ions from the diluate into the concentrate. Clean, low-ash sugar stays behind.

Starch Sugar Desalination Plant Cost: What You Pay For

Capex is easy to see. Opex sneaks up later. Both belong in the same spreadsheet.
Membranes and stack. Cation, anion, and, for EDBM, bipolar membranes. The biggest single line item.
Automation and controls. Touch-operated, fully automated logic adds upfront cost, saves labor for years.
Pretreatment and CIP. Filtration and cleaning loops that protect membrane life.
Energy. Typically 0.5 to 2 kWh per kg of salt removed, feed-dependent.
Membrane replacement. The quiet opex that decides your true cost of ownership.
Truth is, the sticker price and the running cost are joined at the hip. Skimp on one, pay on the other.

Where the Return Actually Comes From

Here's the part quotes never show. ED pays you back in four currencies.
Recovered sugar yield. Higher recovery, less product lost to the concentrate. Aim for 85 to 95%.
Lower reagent spend. ED demineralizes without the acid and caustic that ion-exchange regeneration burns through.
Recovered chemicals. With EDBM you split salt into reusable acid and base.
Smaller effluent bill. Less brine, fewer neutralization costs, easier path toward ZLD.
According to Strathmann's electrodialysis work, energy demand and current efficiency track feed ionic strength, so a well-sized stack keeps operating cost low while recovery stays high. That combination is what shrinks payback.

How to Estimate Your Payback in Five Steps

Measure feed conductivity and ash load from a real sample.
Set your target ash and recovery percentage.
Add annual savings: sugar saved, reagents avoided, effluent reduced.
For EDBM, add the value of recovered acid and base.
Divide total installed cost by yearly savings for a rough payback in years.
Do that honestly and most sugar demineralization lines land in a two to four year window. Your feed decides the exact number.

ED or EDBM: Which Return Fits You

Same family, different economics. The choice bends your ROI curve.
Conventional ED: lower capital, cation and anion membranes only, best when you just need clean, low-ash sugar. Fastest payback on a straight demineralization job.
EDBM: higher stack cost from bipolar membranes, but it recovers acid and alkali on-site. When the removed salt has reuse value, the extra spend pays for itself.
For a plain ash spec, ED gets you there cheaper. If your salt stream carries hidden value, EDBM captures it. We size both and let your economics pick.

How an EDBM Stack Splits Salt Into Acid and Base

Brine enters the salt compartment between membrane pairs.
The DC field drives cations toward the cathode, anions toward the anode.
The bipolar membrane splits water into H⁺ and OH⁺.
H⁺ joins the anions to form acid.
OH⁺ joins the cations to form base.
You draw off separate, reusable acid and alkali streams.
Cell-pair voltage stays in the low single volts. Push current density too hard and voltage creeps like a stressed pump, which quietly taxes your return.

Use Cases That Prove the ROI

One platform, many payback stories. A few real ones:
Sugar and saccharide demineralization. Our starch sugar, soybean saccharide, xylose, and xylitol desalination systems cut ash while protecting sugar, easing load on evaporation and chromatography downstream.
Acid and alkali recovery. With EDBM we turn salt in inorganic waste streams into usable acid and alkali, so a cost center becomes a supply source.
Spent acid recovery. We recover acid from aluminum foil pickling lines, turning disposal into reuse.
Food and beverage refinement. From fruit-juice desalination and tartaric acid removal in wine to deacidification, ED protects flavor while trimming reagent use.
Specialty chemistry. In colloidal silica manufacture, controlled ion removal holds particle spec without wasted reagent.
The application sets the stack. The stack sets both cost and return.

Challenges That Can Dent Your Return

No gloss. ED has real limits, and ignoring them wrecks the ROI math.
Membrane fouling. Sugar syrups carry colloids and organics that coat membranes like grime on a clogged filter, raising resistance and energy. We build in prefiltration and automated clean-in-place cycles, and we pick anti-fouling grades matched to your load. Fouling still happens. Good design just keeps recovery routine, not a crisis.
Scaling from divalent ions. Calcium and sulfate love to precipitate near the concentrate. We manage flow ratios and periodic acid CIP to protect the membrane face, which stretches life and steadies your operating cost.
Current efficiency drift. As selectivity slips, energy per kg climbs and payback stretches. Our touch-operated controls trend conductivity and voltage live, so operators catch drift early. According to membrane-science literature, holding current density below the limiting value is the single biggest lever for stable, profitable operation.
Every Laxminarayan Technologies system ships modular, fully automated, and application-tailored, in both pilot and commercial scale, so you validate the return small before you scale it.

Cost and Return, Weighed Together

A low starch sugar desalination plant cost means little if the plant loses sugar and burns energy. Weigh capex against recovered yield, lower reagents, reclaimed chemicals, and smaller effluent bills, and the picture flips fast. Most well-sized ED and EDBM lines pay back inside a few years. Send us your feed sample and target ash, and Laxminarayan Technologies will size a modular system around your stream, then hand you the honest payback math. No inflated promises. Just numbers you can defend.

FAQs

*How do I compare starch sugar desalination plant cost with ROI?
*
Add installed cost, then estimate yearly savings from recovered sugar, avoided reagents, reclaimed acid and base, and lower effluent charges. Divide cost by annual savings for a payback in years. Well-sized electrodialysis lines often return within two to four years, feed-dependent.

*What is a typical payback period for an electrodialysis plant? *

It usually falls in a two to four year range for sugar demineralization, though feed salinity, throughput, and reuse value shift it. High recovery near 85 to 95% and low reagent use are the main drivers that shorten payback.

*Does EDBM improve return on investment over standard ED? *

It can, when the removed salt has reuse value. EDBM splits salt into acid and base you can use again, offsetting chemical purchases and disposal costs. For plain low-ash sugar with no reuse value, conventional ED usually returns faster.

*What hurts the return on an electrodialysis investment? *

Fouling, scaling, and running above the limiting current density all raise energy and shorten membrane life. Good pretreatment, regular clean-in-place cycles, and live current-efficiency control protect both recovery and payback.

Turning Inorganic Salt Waste into Acid and Alkali

Laxminarayan Technologies — Sun, 06 Sep 2026 08:50:59 +0000

Quick Answer (TL;DR): Turning inorganic salt waste into acid and alkali means splitting spent salts like sodium sulfate or sodium chloride back into usable acid and base. Bipolar membrane electrodialysis (EDBM) does this with water and electricity, no fresh reagents, cutting effluent volume and reagent spend at the same time.

Ask any plant manager what their salt waste costs, and watch the flinch. Turning inorganic salt waste into acid and alkali is the fix most sites overlook, and at Laxminarayan Technologies it's what we build plants to do. Your reject brine isn't garbage. It's diluted acid and base you already paid for once. The problem this article solves is simple to state and hard to ignore: you keep buying HCl and caustic while paying again to haul away the salt those reagents became. Bipolar membrane electrodialysis closes that loop. Here's how it works, where it fits, and what it can't do.

What is bipolar membrane electrodialysis?

Bipolar membrane electrodialysis (EDBM) is an electrically driven process that converts a neutral salt solution into separate acid and alkali streams. It arranges bipolar, cation, and anion exchange membranes in a stack between two electrodes, then uses a DC field to move ions and split water into H⁺ and OH⁻.
That definition matters before anything else. Because people confuse EDBM with plain desalting, and the two do very different jobs.

How an EDBM stack splits salt into acid and base

Think of the stack as a set of lanes. Electricity sets the traffic moving. The bipolar membrane is the clever bit, splitting water right at its inner junction.
Step by step, here's the flow:
Pump your salt feed, say sodium sulfate, into the salt (diluate) chambers.
The DC field pulls Na⁺ toward the cathode across cation membranes, and SO₄²⁻ toward the anode across anion membranes.
At each bipolar membrane, water dissociates into H⁺ and OH⁻. This water-splitting alone needs about 0.8 volts per cell pair.
H⁺ meets the migrating anion and forms acid. OH⁻ meets the cation and forms base.
You collect three products: depleted salt, concentrated acid, and concentrated alkali.
Nothing added but water and current. First-timers usually watch the pH probes climb and drop and assume something's dosing. Nothing is.

Conventional ED versus EDBM: don't confuse them

Both use ion-exchange membranes. Both build a stack. But they answer different questions, and buying the wrong one is an expensive mistake.
Conventional electrodialysis shifts ions from a diluate stream into a concentrate stream. It demineralizes water. It concentrates brine. It will never make you an acid or a base. Picture it as an ion shuttle, moving salt from one tank to another.
EDBM takes that same ion movement and adds bipolar membranes, so the salt regenerates into its parent acid and alkali. Same physics of transport, extra chemistry of splitting.
The practical differences you should hold onto:
What comes out: conventional ED gives diluate and concentrate. EDBM gives diluate, acid, and alkali.
Membrane set: ED runs cation and anion membranes only. EDBM adds the bipolar membrane, the costliest and most sensitive layer in the pack.
Energy: ED sits around 0.7 to 2.5 kWh per m³ for desalting. EDBM runs roughly 1 to 4 kWh per kg of acid or base made, since splitting water costs voltage.
Right fit: ED for demineralization and brine concentration. EDBM for salt splitting and acid/alkali recovery.
If a vendor pitches you conventional ED when you asked to recover acid, that's a red flag. We walk through vetting suppliers in our guide on how to choose the right electrodialysis plant manufacturer

Where does this actually pay off?

Not every stream deserves a stack. Some do, clearly. Here are the ones worth the capital.
Zero-liquid-discharge sites. ZLD plants choke on mixed salts. Recover the acid and caustic first and your evaporator sees a lighter load, less scaling, lower steam. We break the economics down in our note on acid and alkali recovery by electrodialysis for ZLD plants.
Spent pickling and etching liquor. Metal-finishing streams carry recoverable sulfuric or hydrochloric acid. Pull it back, reuse it, stop reordering drums every fortnight.
Organic acid manufacture. EDBM converts sodium citrate, lactate, or gluconate back to the free organic acid without gypsum-heavy acidulation. Cleaner product, far less solid cake.
Specialty chemicals and catalysts. Phase-transfer catalyst and quaternary salt streams split well under controlled conditions. Full detail lives on our acid and alkali from inorganic salt waste streams application page.
Silica routes. Sodium sulfate from precipitated and colloidal silica is a textbook EDBM feed, covered in our colloidal silica manufacture application.
On clean, well-conditioned feed, a single EDBM line can convert 85 to 95 percent of the incoming salt. Feed it junk, and that figure falls apart. Which is the honest part most brochures skip.

Challenges, and how we handle them

Anyone claiming EDBM is trouble-free hasn't stood over a fouled stack at midnight watching voltage creep like a stressed pump. Here's what bites, and what we do.
Membrane fouling. Organics, colloids, and multivalent ions film over the membrane like grease on a clogged filter. Flux sags, resistance rises. We answer with proper pretreatment, ultrafiltration or activated carbon ahead of the stack, plus automated clean-in-place (CIP) cycles baked into the dedicated acid and alkali recovery system. Our plants are touch-operated, so CIP runs on a schedule without an operator chasing valves.
Scaling on the base side. Calcium and magnesium precipitate as hydroxides where the alkali forms. Feed softening plus disciplined current-density control keeps that quiet. We run current density in a safe band, often 300 to 800 A/m², well under the limiting value.
Current efficiency drift. As acid and base concentrate, H⁺ and OH⁻ leak back through the membranes. Efficiency can slide toward 70 percent at high strength. According to published membrane-science studies on bipolar membranes, this back-migration sets the ceiling on how concentrated your products get. So we stop before efficiency collapses and trade a little purity for a lot of saved kWh. Straight tradeoff, stated plainly. More on the acid side sits in our page on bipolar membrane electrodialysis for acid recovery.
Every Laxminarayan Technologies stack is modular. Foul one block, swap that block, keep producing. That single choice has spared clients days of lost output.

Wrapping up

Your salt waste is a reagent bill you already settled once. EDBM lets you collect on it, trimming disposal, easing ZLD evaporators, and replacing fresh chemical purchases with water and current. It won't fix a dirty feed and it isn't right for every stream, so honest sizing beats any spec-sheet promise. If you're weighing turning inorganic salt waste into acid and alkali, talk to Laxminarayan Technologies. We design modular, fully automated, touch-operated ED and EDBM plants at pilot and commercial scale, tuned to your feed.

FAQs

How is inorganic salt waste turned into acid and alkali?

A bipolar membrane electrodialysis stack does it. Under a DC field, salt ions migrate across cation and anion membranes while bipolar membranes split water into H⁺ and OH⁻. Those ions recombine into concentrated acid and alkali, using only water and electricity, no added reagents.

How concentrated can the recovered acid and alkali be?

Usually 1 to 3 molar. Push higher and H⁺ and OH⁻ back-migrate through the membranes, dropping current efficiency and raising energy cost. Most plants target moderate strength, then polish
downstream only if a specific process needs it.

Which salts are best for salt splitting?

Sodium sulfate, sodium chloride, sodium nitrate, and sodium salts of organic acids split cleanly. Streams heavy in calcium, magnesium, silica, or organics need pretreatment first, or the stack fouls and scales quickly and efficiency suffers.

Is EDBM worth it for a ZLD plant?

Often yes. Recovering acid and caustic before evaporation cuts salt load, reduces reagent buying, and lowers evaporator energy. For a strained zero-liquid-discharge system, it's one of the more practical and fast-paying retrofits available.

The Complete Guide to Production of Amino Acids using Electrodialysis

Laxminarayan Technologies — Sun, 02 Aug 2026 19:27:20 +0000

Quick Answer Resins get fouled. Evaporators consume massive energy. There is a smarter route. Leveraging electrodialysis for amino acids protects your yield from thermal ruin. Our engineers at Laxminarayan Technologies know how frustrating downstream recovery gets. You are dealing with complex fermentation broths. Converting amino acid salts to amino acids should not require endless chemical dosing. This article outlines the mechanics of modern membrane isolation. Here is how you ditch the old bottlenecks and secure high purity.
Your fermentation broth is loaded with salts. Traditional downstream processing is a nightmare of chemicals and thermal stress. But you need high purity. We know the drill. Using electrodialysis for amino acids solves this bottleneck entirely. At Laxminarayan Technologies, we see facilities struggle with massive chemical costs just to isolate molecules. Truth is, relying solely on chromatography limits your yield. Converting amino acid salts to amino acids shouldn't require degrading your product. This guide breaks down exactly how membrane separation modernizes downstream recovery, cutting costs while preserving product integrity.

What is the Electrodialysis Process for Amino Acids?

The electrodialysis process for amino acids is an electrically driven separation method utilizing alternating cation and anion-exchange membranes. This transports inorganic salts out of the feed, leaving a purified amino acid diluate behind.

How to Produce Amino Acids from Amino Acid Salts

According to the Journal of Membrane Science, electrical potential drives the desalting of amino acids using electrodialysis far more efficiently than thermal methods. Here is how our stack works:
Feed Preparation: Clarified fermentation broth enters the diluate compartments of the stack.
Electric Field Application: A DC voltage—typically 1.0 to 1.5 V per cell pair—pulls dissolved ions toward opposite electrodes.
Ion Migration: Inorganic sodium or chloride ions freely pass through the ion-exchange membranes.
Donnan Exclusion: The target amino acids, operating near their isoelectric point, remain uncharged. They are blocked from passing through the membranes and concentrate safely in the diluate.
Recovery: The purified amino acid stream is collected. Meanwhile, the concentrated brine is routed for deacidification, treatment, or ZLD (Zero Liquid Discharge).
The hardware choice matters immensely. Conventional ED uses standard cation and anion membranes primarily for the desalting of amino acids using electrodialysis, yielding a purified product and a waste brine stream. It is your go-to for standard demineralization. EDBM, however, adds a bipolar membrane to the mix. Instead of just moving salt, it splits those salts into their corresponding acids and bases. The output becomes your purified product alongside usable HCl or NaOH. It is perfect for acid and alkali recovery directly at the source. If you want to see the hardware behind this, check out our fully automated electrodialysis machines.

Application of Electrodialysis in Biotechnology / Chemical Industry

Industrial production of amino acids using electrodialysis adapts perfectly to complex streams.
Amino Acid Purification Process: Directly desalting complex fermentation broths. You recover glutamic acid, lysine, or phenylalanine without harsh evaporation.
Organic Acid Concentration: Recovering valuable organic acids from dilute wastewater streams.
Acid/Alkali Recovery: Using EDBM to regenerate spent acids and bases directly from the plant's own effluent, closing the loop on chemical consumption.
Food & Pharma Demineralization: Safely purifying heat-sensitive functional foods, phase-transfer catalysts, and specialty chemicals.
For a deep dive into specific modular configurations, review our dedicated systems for the production of amino acids from amino acid salts. We design these electrodialysis machines specifically to handle the varying viscosities and ionic loads of biotech streams.
Electrodialysis for Amino Acids: Challenges and Solutions
Membranes fouling is like a clogged filter on a Monday morning. You watch stack voltage creeping up like a stressed pump. We have been there. Here is how Laxminarayan Technologies engineers around the harsh reality of industrial feeds.
Organic Fouling: Proteins and large organic molecules often blind ion-exchange membranes. Our modular electrodialysis machines feature customizable CIP (Clean-in-Place) protocols. We also utilize flow-reversal techniques to keep membrane surfaces highly active.
Scaling in the Concentrate: Calcium and magnesium precipitate rapidly at high recovery rates. We maintain optimal hydrodynamic conditions and tightly control current density. This keeps scaling well below critical thresholds.
Dropping Current Efficiency: Leakage currents hurt your overall energy metrics. Our touch-operated, commercial-scale and pilot electrodialysis machines strictly monitor voltage limits. This ensures specific energy consumption stays low—typically around 0.5–1.5 kWh/m³, depending on your exact salt load.
Electrodialysis for amino acid production offers a clean alternative to chemical-heavy separations. You get consistently higher product purity, lower waste volumes, and a highly scalable footprint. If your plant is still burning through chemicals for resin regeneration, it is time to upgrade. Talk to us at Laxminarayan Technologies about integrating commercial-scale electrodialysis machines tailored exactly to your process stream.

FAQs about Electrodialysis Technology for Amino Acid Purification

What is the energy consumption for desalting amino acids?
Energy consumption depends on initial salt concentration and desired purity. Modern plants operate between 0.5 and 2.0 kWh per kilogram of salt removed, making it highly economical compared to evaporation.
Can electrodialysis separate different amino acids from each other?
Yes, by strictly controlling the pH of your feed stream. Because amino acids carry different charges at different pH levels, adjusting the pH allows specific target amino acids to migrate through the membranes while others are retained.
How long do ion-exchange membranes last in amino acid production?
With proper pre-treatment and automated CIP routines, industrial cation and anion membranes generally last 3 to 5 years. Severe organic fouling or chlorine exposure can shorten this lifespan, which is why proper feed clarification remains absolutely essential.

Phase Transfer Catalyst Manufacturing Plant on Turnkey Basis: Electrodialysis Technology Solutions

Laxminarayan Technologies — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 20:30:30 +0000

A phase transfer catalyst manufacturing plant on turnkey basis powered by electrodialysis (ED) and bipolar electrodialysis (EDBM) technology enables efficient production of high-purity hydroxides from quaternary ammonium and phosphonium salts. Laxminarayan Technologies provides complete membrane-based plant solutions with automated systems, flexible designs, and scalable capacity for specialty chemical manufacturing.

Advanced manufacturing solutions are essential for producing phase transfer catalysts with consistent purity, efficiency, and process reliability. A phase transfer catalyst manufacturing plant on turnkey basis using ED and EDBM technology offers a modern approach for converting quaternary ammonium and phosphonium salts into high-purity hydroxide products such as TMAH and TEAH. Laxminarayan Technologies specializes in designing modular and automated electrodialysis systems that support smooth operation, reduced chemical dependency, and scalable production for industrial applications.

What is electrodialysis for phase transfer catalyst manufacturing?

Electrodialysis is a membrane process that pulls ions through alternating cation and anion exchange membranes under a DC field. For catalyst work, EDBM adds bipolar membranes that split water into H⁺ and OH⁻, turning a quaternary ammonium salt straight into its hydroxide. No extra reagents needed.

How an EDBM stack turns salt into a catalyst hydroxide

Here's the thing. The chemistry is elegant once you see the steps:

Feed it. The filtered quaternary salt solution enters the diluate loop.
Apply the field. A few volts per cell pair drive ions toward their electrodes.
Split the water. Bipolar membranes generate H⁺ and OH⁻ at their interface.
Form the base. OH⁻ pairs with the quaternary cation to build TMAH, TEAH, or your target hydroxide; the freed halide leaves as acid.
Collect and polish. Draw product from the base compartment, recover the acid, recycle the rest.

Where turnkey ED/EDBM plants earn their keep

Our systems run across the specialty chemical map. A few concrete cases:

• Onium hydroxide production: TMAH, TEAH, and phosphonium hydroxides for semiconductors and zeolite synthesis. See our phase transfer catalysts application page.
• Acid and alkali recovery: split spent salts back into usable acid and base, trimming reagent bills and ZLD load.
• Organic acid concentration and deacidification: citric, lactic, and similar streams.
• Food, dairy, wine, and pharma demineralization: gentle ion removal, no chemical dumping.
• Wastewater and brine recovery: pull value out of concentrate before disposal.

Conventional ED vs EDBM: Which Do You Need?

Conventional ED
• Main job: Desalts or concentrates ions.
• Reagents: Often requires acid or alkali dosing.
• Output for PTC: Produces a purified salt stream.
• Typical current density: 300–500 A/m².
• Best for: Demineralization and brine concentration.
EDBM (Bipolar)
• Main job: Splits salt into acid and base.
• Reagents: Uses water splitting with minimal chemical reagents.
• Output for PTC: Directly produces hydroxides such as TMAH and TEAH.
• Typical current density: 400–1000 A/m².
• Best for: Acid and alkali recovery, and production of catalyst hydroxides.

Challenges, and how we handle them

Membrane fouling. Organics and multivalent ions coat membranes like grease on a filter screen. We spec pre-filtration, scheduled CIP cycles, and membranes matched to your actual feed.

Current efficiency drift. As product concentration climbs, back-diffusion and water transport nibble at efficiency. We size cell pairs and voltage windows so you're not pushing a stressed pump uphill.

Stack maintenance. Our modular, touch-operated design makes gasket and membrane swaps quick. Automated logging flags voltage creep before it bites.

Wrapping up

Getting a phase transfer catalyst plant right comes down to purity, uptime, and honest engineering around your feed stream. ED and EDBM give you direct hydroxide production without a reagent mountain, and a turnkey build means one team owns it from design through commissioning. At Laxminarayan Technologies, we've delivered modular, fully automated ED/EDBM systems at both pilot and commercial scale. Tell us your salt, your purity target, and your throughput, and we'll size a stack that fits. Prove it on a pilot first if you'd rather.

FAQs

What is a phase transfer catalyst manufacturing plant on turnkey basis?
It's a fully engineered production system, delivered design-to-commissioning by one supplier, that makes catalysts such as quaternary ammonium hydroxides. Modern plants use electrodialysis or EDBM to convert salts into high-purity hydroxides without heavy reagent dosing.

How does EDBM make TMAH or TEAH?
EDBM uses bipolar membranes to split water into H⁺ and OH⁻. The OH⁻ combines with the tetramethyl- or tetraethylammonium cation to form the hydroxide, while the halide exits as acid. You get high purity with low residual salt.

Can you supply a pilot plant before a commercial one?
Yes. We build pilot-scale ED/EDBM systems so you can validate purity, current efficiency, and recovery on your real feed before committing to a full line. Same modular, touch-operated design, smaller footprint.

What purity can electrodialysis reach for catalyst hydroxides?
With proper membrane selection and CIP, ED/EDBM routes routinely hit low-halide, low-alkali-metal hydroxides fit for semiconductor and zeolite use. Exact figures depend on feed quality, membrane type, and number of passes.