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 your freshwater recovery and minimize waste products, reducing your disposal costs. We can help you to optimize your costs with the correct blend of membrane and evaporator crystallizer solutions to achieve zero liquid discharge.
INDUSTRIAL
CRYSTALLIZERS
INDUSTRIAL
EVAPORATORS
REVERSE OSMOSIS CONCENTRATORS
FRESH WATER
SAFE FOR DISCHARGE
Start With Analysis
- Before you invest in equipment, let us provide you with an engineering study—we want to help you reduce total costs and improve reliability.
- We have 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.
Ion Selective Removal
The most cost-effective way to achieve MLD or ZLD is to avoid it all together. If your wastewater challenge is limited to one or two constituents-of-concern, we may be able to target and remove it/them via our IonSelect solutions.
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 minimize brine volumes with optimized membrane systems. We can help to 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
- Remove scaling ions with BrineRefine—our automated chemical softening system
- Removing heavy organics and particulate 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.
Achieve Zero Liquid Discharge
Concentrate your brine down to minimal liquid or even solid waste with our SaltMaker family of evaporative crystallizers. 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 four classes of evaporative crystallizers:
- SaltMaker MultiEffect is a four-effect thermal evaporative crystallizer, with built-in heat recycle.
- 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 VapComp is a forced circulated mechanical vapor compression (MVR), suited for all-electric operation and delivered alongside our premier MVR partner
- 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 MLD or ZLD. We can target ions & treat oily and organic wastewater—and help you to achieve economic ZLD.
MLD & ZLD Applications
- Agriculture
- Automotive
- Brine Management
- Chemical Extraction
- Chemical Softening
- Cooling Tower Blowdown
- Factory Wastewater
- Flue Gas Desulfurization
- Food & Beverage
- Landfills
- Lithium Extraction & Refining
- Microelectronics
- Mining & Metals
- Municipal & Wastewater Reuse
- Oil & Gas
- Petrochemical & Refining
- Pharmaceutical
- Power Generation
- Pulp & Paper
- Remediation
MLD & ZLD Related Resources
99% Membrane System Recovery on Scaling Cooling Tower Blowdown
99% Membrane System Recovery on Scaling Cooling Tower Blowdown Removing the Need for an Evaporation Pond, Saving Water, and Reducing-GHG Emissions November 16th 2020 Request More Information Sign up for Updates
ZLD Without Evaporation: Saltworks Achieves First ZLD With a Membrane Crystallizer
Convention teaches that ZLD requires energy-intensive boiling to produce solids. Our engineers recently broke that convention and helped a mining client achieve solid salt production in a novel membrane-chiller hybrid plant using UHP-RO.
Introducing the AirBreather: Lower Cost Evaporator Crystallizer
A lower cost evaporator crystallizer has emerged – the SaltMaker AirBreather. It is based on the robust backbone of its closest relative – the SaltMaker MultiEffect.
Treating SAGD Blowdown with the SaltMaker MultiEffect Evaporator Crystallizer
Steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) blowdown water from three operating sites was treated using Saltworks’ SaltMaker MultiEffect Evaporator Crystallizer. The energy efficient treatment system reduces the cost of blowdown transport and disposal.
MLD & ZLD Related Products
SaltMaker
AirBreather
The first evaporator-crystallizer with no atmospheric contact, important for water with volatile organics. Choose between no liquid water return or clean water that is safe for discharge.
SaltMaker
ChilledCrys
ChilledCrys concentrates water, extracts solid salt, and repeats the cycle using a novel UHP-RO system. By avoiding the use of evaporation, it achieves zero liquid discharge with considerable energy efficiency savings.
SaltMaker
MultiEffect
Modern, modular, and intelligently automated evaporator-crystallizer that concentrates brine or produces low volume solids for zero liquid discharge.
SaltMaker
VapComp
Compact and only requires power to operate. Combines Mechanical Vapor Recompression (MVR) technology with robust system design, solids management, and self-cleaning automation.