Saltworks Technologies announced that they have received CDN$2.5 million in funding from Cenovus Energy Inc. (“Cenovus”, TSX, NYSE: CVE) through its Environmental Opportunity Fund. The fund assists companies to develop technologies that focus on water and energy efficiencies such as Saltworks’ breakthrough desalination process.
Saltworks also received an investment from Teck Resources Limited (“Teck”, TSX: TCK.A and TCK.B, NYSE: TCK). Teck is Canada’s largest diversified resource company, committed to responsible mining and mineral development with major business units focused on copper, steelmaking, coal, zinc, and energy.
“Investment from two premier Canadian firms in the energy and mining space demonstrates their commitment to energy efficiency as well as the potential that Saltworks’ innovative technology offers,” said Ben Sparrow, Chief Executive Officer at Saltworks.
Cenovus Energy is a Canadian, integrated oil company. Judy Fairburn, Executive Vice-President of Environment and Strategic Planning at Cenovus said, “Water is a precious resource and its availability is a critical issue around the world. The ability to convert saline water into usable fresh water could change how we use water in the oil sands and provide communities with sustainable, safe sources of water.”
Saltworks’ energy-efficient desalination and saltwater treatment process uses its patented Thermo-Ionic™ technology. Thermo-Ionic removes salt from seawater and brackish water by harnessing low-temperature waste heat or solar energy to help drive the process. The technology greatly reduces the amount of energy required for desalination, providing significant cost savings to customers and a much lower impact on the environment. Saltworks has also co-developed a solid salt maker, which accepts Thermo-Ionic’s highly concentrated discharge and produces solid salt.
Saltworks’ scalable, robust desalination plants can provide benefits in coastal or inland operations. Saltworks’ product is specifically well-suited for inland operations as it desalinates industrial reject and brackish water with higher freshwater recovery and reduced environmental footprint.
The company’s facilities, located in Vancouver, encompass proprietary membrane and desalting device manufacturing, desalination system production, and Canada’s first fully permitted seawater desalination plant with zero liquid discharge capability. The Saltworks team recently cut the ribbon on their factory and membrane manufacturing facility.
Saltworks Technologies is a leader in the development and delivery of solutions for industrial wastewater treatment and lithium refining. By working with customers to understand their unique challenges and focusing on continuous innovation, Saltworks’ solutions provide best-in-class performance and reliability. From its headquarters in Richmond, BC, Canada, Saltworks’ team designs, builds, and operates full-scale plants, and offers comprehensive onsite and offsite testing services with its fleet of mobile pilots.
Water plays a critical role in ESG performance for many companies. With growing concerns around pollution ands consumption of water and energy, investing in responsible water management technology can improve your ESG profile and reduce operational risks.
Saltworks has shipped two SaltMaker MVR crystallizers and a SaltMaker ChilledCrys to the electric vehicle (EV) battery industry. These full-scale systems will play an essential role in the production of lithium and nickel—two critical elements in EV batteries.
The many options for managing brine, a term for saline wastewater from industrial processes, fall under two categories: brine treatment and brine disposal. Brine treatment involves desalinating the brine for reuse and producing a concentrated brine (lower liquid waste volume), or residual solids (zero liquid discharge).
Zero liquid discharge (ZLD) is an engineering approach to water treatment where all water is recovered and contaminants are reduced to solid waste.