Saltworks Technologies Inc.’s (“Saltworks”) expansion of products in desalination and brine treatment continues to gain momentum. With its patent portfolio growing, Saltworks offers a variety of novel solutions from increasing freshwater recovery to concentrating wastewater for existing inland plant operators.
The Saltworks team is currently constructing a containerized hybrid system for the Canadian oil sands. It incorporates reverse osmosis and the company’s thermo-ionic technology. Thermo-ionic desalinates the reverse osmosis reject to allow recovery of additional fresh water while reducing the reject volume for economic disposal. Thermo-ionic uses Saltworks’ ion exchange stack—a flexible device that can also be used for other membrane processes such as electrodialysis reversal. Discharge volume is further reduced by the company’s newly developed Saltmaker which produces solid salt. This end-to-end solution is particularly relevant to inland desalination operators with wastewater management issues.
A story on the project and Saltworks’ scale-up was recently featured in Desalination & Water Reuse, a premier trade magazine. Following the DWR article, Saltworks executives presented the company’s hybrid brine management technology at both the 2011 International Desalination World Congress in Perth and at the 26th Annual WateReuse Symposium in Phoenix, Arizona.
“The greatest concerns facing customers are economical solutions to brine management and providing a robust technology for produced water treatment. Saltworks has developed solutions for both,” said Saltworks’ Vice President, Malcolm Man.
At the International Desalination World Congress in Perth, in addition to presenting a technical paper on Saltworks’ brine treatment solutions, Saltworks’ CEO Ben Sparrow and president Joshua Zoshi showcased the company’s commercial-scale ion exchange desalination stack.
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.
New ultra-high pressure reverse osmosis technology for minimal liquid discharge (MLD) can reduce brine management costs by three times relative to evaporators. Modernized chemical softening technology is available to prevent scaling and enable recovery up to the osmotic pressure limit at 1,200 or 1,740 psi.
Treating RO brine optimally begins with utilizing lower-cost membrane systems to minimize volume for downstream processing. Clients must then decide between the available thermal treatment options that allow for brine concentration or treating down to solids for disposal.
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).