The technology
Purus uses a dynamic-membrane platform. Rather than discarding a spent cartridge, the membrane layer is restored by backwash. One vessel runs a configurable stack of five filter elements so you can dial flow, removal target and operating economics without changing the rest of the plant. Concept-level customer-engineer view, not a full technical specification.
For decades, industrial water filtration sat on a single trade-off. Coarse cartridge or sand filtration delivered high throughput at low cost — but removed only large particulates. Membrane filtration delivered virus-grade water quality at any scale — but at the capital, energy and consumables cost that membranes traditionally bring.
Pick one and you compromised on the other. There was no platform that gave you both at meaningful scale.
Purus uses a dynamic-membrane filtration platform. Rather than the passive, mechanical removal of traditional cartridges, the membrane layer in a Purus vessel is formed on a support inside the vessel and restored through controlled backwash and gel re-injection, rather than discarded and replaced as a whole element. The gel itself is a low-cost consumable.
That changes the operating economics. Consumables become a smaller share of cost and pumping energy a larger one. And because the membrane layer is restored rather than left to foul, the throughput curve is designed to stay flatter than a cartridge stack, which steadily declines as it fouls.
The chemistry behind the dynamic membrane was invented at one of Queensland’s leading universities, published in Scientific Reports, and is now exclusively licensed to Blue Quest Group. The vessel platform around it is patent-pending.
Each Purus vessel houses up to 30 filter elements arranged for consistent flow distribution — manifolds in, element array, manifolds out. The assembly stays constant across the model range. The elements you pick change; the vessel does not.
Each Purus vessel runs the same operating cycle, regardless of model size. Raw water in at one end, filtered water out the other, with periodic backwash regeneration in between.
The clearest way to explain a dynamic membrane is to watch it regenerate. Step 5 of the flow above — the backwash cycle — is what this footage shows for the gel element.
Early prototype footage. Recorded during R&D development and shown here for clarity on the backwash mechanic. The operating principle is unchanged in production; vessel hardware, controls and finish have been refined since this recording.
Gel-element backwash sequence — early prototype
Side-by-side samples drawn from the same feed before and after Purus filtration. Raw river water on the left; clarified output on the right — same vessel, same operating day.
Every Purus vessel takes any of five filter elements. Coarser elements push more volume with less removal; the gel-membrane configuration targets suspended particles and microorganisms down to roughly 10 nm. Dissolved salts and small molecules pass through. The right choice depends on your site water and your operating goal.
Highest throughput, lowest pressure drop. Pre-filtration and high-volume duties.
Strong flow with broader particulate removal. General process water.
Clarification-grade. Common for drinking-water pre-treatment.
Finer removal — most bacteria and cysts at solid throughput.
~10 nm size exclusion; up to 7-log MS2 phage removal in university lab tests. Regenerable, low long-term OPEX.
Want to model the trade-off for your site? Run your inputs through the Filter Builder — pick an element, set duty cycle and economics, and see flow, daily output, water quality and the annual return live.
Headline anchors for the platform. Detailed trial data and site-specific performance figures are available on request through contact.
The technology only matters if it works for your site water and your operating context. The Filter Builder lets you plug in your numbers and see the platform on your terms.