Zero Liquid Discharge and Minimal Liquid Discharge

Reduce disposal costs and maximize freshwater recovery with optimized membrane and thermal systems

Our innovative brine management solutions maximize freshwater recovery and minimize waste products, reducing disposal costs. We can help you optimize your costs with the correct blend of membrane and evaporator crystallizer solutions to achieve zero liquid discharge.

Start With Analysis

Before investing in equipment, let us provide an engineering study to help you reduce total costs and improve reliability.

We offer solutions that can lower your cost through selective ion removal:

  • Avoiding the need for brine management,
  • Maximizing upstream membrane recovery, resulting in less brine waste, or
  • Using alternative energy sources—such as waste heat—to improve economics.

A rapid upfront analysis can inform your decision pathway, such that you invest your valuable time in the most viable options.

Process flow diagram showing a minimal or zero liquid discharge treatment chain
Process flow diagram showing a cost-optimized MLD or ZLD treatment
Photo of a periodic table representing the selective removal of specific ions in wastewater management

Ion Selective Removal

The most cost-effective way to achieve MLD or ZLD is to avoid it altogether. If your wastewater challenge is limited to one or two constituents of concern, we may be able to target and remove them.

 

Using a variety of treatment methods, robust real-time sensors, and our expertise, we can avoid the need for more complex and expensive treatment.

Increase RO System Recovery

The second most cost-effective pathway to MLD or ZLD is through minimizing brine volumes with optimized membrane systems.

We safely push reverse osmosis (RO) assets to their osmotic potential by measuring and removing scaling ions in real-time. Improve the performance of existing or added RO assets by:

  • Maximizing recovery with ScaleSense, our real-time ion-selective scaling ion sensor
  • Removing scaling ions with BrineRefine—our automated chemical softening system
  • Removing heavy organics and particulates with our XtremeUF ceramic ultrafiltration system
  • Implementing intelligent self-cleaning, as in our XtremeRO systems.

Our XtremeRO product can reach concentrations as high as 130,000 mg/L TDS, as much as twice the concentration achieved by conventional RO systems.

Render of the vessel of a Saltworks XtremeRO reverse osmosis brine concentrator
Photo of zero liquid discharge solids produced by a SaltMaker

Achieve Zero Liquid Discharge

Concentrate your brine down to minimal liquid or even solid waste with our SaltMaker family.

All are engineered as a complete MLD/ZLD package for corrosion and scale-free operation, automated self-cleaning, low-cost site installation, and ease of service.

We offer evaporators and crystallizers in several classes:

  • SaltMaker MultiEffect is a four-effect thermal evaporative crystallizer, with built-in heat recycling.
  • SaltMaker AirBreather is a single effect thermal evaporator, with both open or closed to atmosphere options, suited for waste heat or low-cost heat sources (<$5/GJ).
  • SaltMaker MVR is a forced-circulated mechanical vapour compression (MVR), suited for all-electric operation.
  • SaltMaker ChilledCrys is a eutectic chilled crystallizer suited for specific ions pairs with a steep temperature-solubility curve such as sodium sulfate.

Comprehensive Solutions

We provide comprehensive solutions so you can treat the toughest wastewaters to minimal or zero liquid discharge. We can target ions, treat oily and organic wastewater, and help you achieve economic ZLD.

 

Contact our experts to determine which solutions work best for your wastewater treatment needs.

Photo of a large, full-scale, SaltMaker zero liquid discharge crystallizer at a customer site
A SaltMaker Multieffect operating at a client's site

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