Saltworks Technologies achieved economic zero liquid discharge (ZLD) at a US chemical plant, treating challenging saline wastewater to 99.9% recovery. The chemicals facility engaged Saltworks to rapidly deliver a pilot program that would remove salt from their effluent, helping to meet a discharge cap on total dissolved solids.
The team targeted the highest salinity stream in the plant for salt removal. This concentrated stream, which also contained high organics and biological growth potential, was poorly suited for reverse osmosis (RO). Project leader Derek Mandel commented, “RO is the workhorse of desalination and we use it widely, however, the RO membrane fouling risk was too high with this wastewater. Extensive and uneconomic pre-treatment would have been required. This is why we worked with the client to test the second most popular membrane desalter—EDR.” EDR, or electrodialysis reversal, is an established water technology with more than half a century of industrial applications.
Saltworks’ FlexEDR introduces three essential innovations for EDR end users:
FlexEDR successfully extracted 89% of the salt load, surpassing the 75% goal. This de-risks the plant’s water balance and permit obligations. Downstream of FlexEDR, the concentrated brine was treated with the SaltMaker Evaporator Crystallizer to achieve 99.9% net water recovery in a modular package that produced solid byproduct. The solids were sent to non-hazardous landfills for safe, low-cost disposal.
This pilot demonstrated the economic and process advantages of targeting concentrated streams for salt removal. Today, Saltworks Technologies launches its FlexEDR product line—the next generation electrodialysis reversal technology for challenging waters:
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.
Saltworks’ FlexEDR electrodialysis reversal technology has been selected by a heavy industry client located in Chile to recycle their wastewater. The FlexEDR system, provided in partnership with Chile’s VIGAflow, will use Saltworks’ proprietary IonFlux ion exchange membranes.
Saltworks is honoured to receive POWER Magazine’s 2020 Water Award for our ground-breaking ‘chloride kidney’ industrial desalination solution.
Electrodialysis (ED) technology is the second most widely used membrane desalination technology and has been developed since the 1960s for a wide range of industrial applications.
As regulations on FGD wastewater tighten, additional treatment is required. Often, this is chemically intense, and high cost. The best means to lower treatment costs is to reduce the volume of wastewater generated, usually by increasing internal recycle.