Data Center Cooling Water Recovery and Treatment

Increase Cooling Cycles, Reduce Water Draw, and Recover Blowdown Water

Saltworks solutions reduce water consumption in evaporative cooling systems while protecting uptime and controlling operating costs. Our modular systems improve make up water quality, increase cooling tower cycles, and recover both inlet and blowdown water for reuse.

Data Center’s Water-Energy Trade-Off

Data centers need reliable cooling to maintain uptime, and rising power densities are increasing thermal loads. Evaporative cooling remains the most energy‑efficient option for large facilities, but it consumes water and concentrates dissolved solids. As these concentrations rise, scaling, corrosion, and limited cycles increase make‑up demand and reduce cooling efficiency.

Saltworks helps operators reduce water consumption without sacrificing energy performance. By treating and recycling cooling tower blowdown, data centers can lower make up water demand by roughly 40 percent while maintaining efficient evaporative cooling.

Our engineered systems stabilize water chemistry, increase cooling tower cycles, and return recovered water to the process, improving both performance and operating economics.

Photo of cooling fans in a data centre

Saltworks uses a staged water treatment and recovery approach tailored to site economics and recovery targets:

Water is first pre‑conditioned to remove suspended solids and organics, including azole‑based corrosion inhibitors that would otherwise foul downstream membranes. Saltworks delivers this step using filtration solutions and Xtract absorption vessels. Once conditioned, lower pressure XtremeRO recovers most of the freshwater until silica or sulfate scaling limits are reached, typically achieving about 80 percent recovery.

If silica or calcium sulfate begin to constrain recovery, BrineRefine and XtremeUF remove these ions to unlock further concentration. High‑pressure XtremeRO then pushes recovery toward approximately 98 percent. The remaining 2% becomes a small brine volume that can be discharged where allowed or hauled off‑site if disposal is restricted.

For sites without brine disposal options, SaltMaker Crystallizers convert the final concentrated brine into solid salts, eliminating liquid waste entirely. This step maximizes water reuse and ensures complete control over cooling system discharge.

This approach has been validated on large data center cooling systems and supports up to approximately 40 percent reduction in make up demand when recycling blowdown.

Why Data Centers Choose Saltworks 

Saltworks solutions are designed for data center reliability, scale, and chemistry. We provide:

  • Modular, high‑recovery water treatment systems
  • Proven performance on high‑capacity cooling tower blowdown
  • Detailed water balance modelling and economic analysis
  • Pilot testing for de‑risking full‑scale deployment
  • Complete plant design, fabrication, and lifecycle support

Our treatment systems help operators reduce water draw, maintain efficient cooling, and improve overall system performance.

APM-01 XUF Modules 2

Optimize Your Cooling Water Strategy

Saltworks’ engineers work with global data center operators to evaluate site chemistry, recovery potential, and economic trade‑offs. We help you reduce water consumption while keeping evaporative cooling efficient and reliable.

Contact us to discuss how your facility can reduce make up water demand and improve evaporative cooling system performance through blowdown recycling and optimized water chemistry.

Shedia

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