Case Study Detail

Big Breakthrough Technolgy Reducing Energy and Overall Costs

The Industry Standard Solution
The efficiency and lifecycle costs of a plant’s energy recovery technology is critical to both winning SWRO projects and achieving maximum plant profitably through the lowest operating costs. Leading international OEM’s such as Acciona Agua, Aqua Engineering, Befesa, CH2MHill, Cobra Tedagua, Doosan Hydro Technology, Fisia Italimpianti, GE Water Process and Technologies, GEIDA, IASUR, INIMA, Metito, Siemens and Suez Degrémont have selected the ERI® PX modular technology for their recent projects because it consistently achieves real energy transfer efficiencies—up to 98%, making it the most efficient energy recovery device available today. At the core of the PX device is a single moving rotor made of tough engineered ceramic that is unaffected by chemicals, will not corrode, and requires no periodic maintenance. Over 80 OEMs are standardizing on PX technology with installations around the world, including plants such as Al Shuaibah III, Barcelona, Chennai, Hamma, Perth, Skikda, Torrevieja and Yuhuan.

Mazarron Project Facts

• CAPACITY: 34,000 m3/day
• 12 PX-120 per SWRO Train for Retrofit Phase I
• 6 PX-220 per SWRO Train for Retrofit Phase II
• Over 95% Energy Recovery Efficiency
• Replacement of Pelton Wheel and Turbo Charger ERDs

Regents de Mazarron Desalination Plant
In 2001, the Comunidad de Regantes de Mazarron Desaladora "Virgen del Milagro" Plant decided to reduce their power consumption by retrofitting their installed energy recovery device with the more efficient PX Pressure Exchanger ® Technology (PX®). The first stage retrofit design replaced two trains operating with Calder Pelton wheels by combining them into one train utilizing one of the existing HP pumps and an array of 12 PX-120 units, resulting in a total energy cost reduction of 0.73 kWh/m3, or more than 27% savings.

The Regents de Mazarron Plant, located in southeast Spain was retrofitted by Tedagua, as one of the earliest adopters utilizing PX Technology. Twelve (12) PX-120 units were used in parallel, manifolding two of the plant’s existing 3,000 m3/day trains into a single 6,000 m3/day train. The PX units are arrayed in manifolds for modular installed redundancy to minimize the risk of productivity loss. Therefore, should one PX device develop any type of problem, rendering it temporarily non-functioning, the entire system can continue operating with the remaining independent units. Like membrane racks, this modular design toward performance and reliability of PX arrays has been proven in SWRO plants world-wide.

In August 2005, Regents de Mazarron Desalination Plant, once again decided to continue to reduce operating costs by employing the proven PX Technology. This time, the plant combined two more trains utilizing existing PEI Turbo Chargers into a single train with six (6) PX-220’s and one of the two operating pumps. This second stage retrofit design reduced the plant’s total operating energy costs by a minimum of 0.6 kWh/ m3 (compared with the less efficient Turbo Charger devices at their peak operating condition). In addition, the plant is able to realize the payback investment in PX devices within a very short payback period for the entire retrofit cost. ERI was able to offer Mazarron a creative, affordable and reliable water solution to meet their unique needs–while saving them money. Mazarron plans to continue to retrofit the existing trains.

Regents de Mazarron SWRO Desalination Project
Energy Recovery, Inc. (ERI®) is a leading manufacturer of energy recovery devices, which help make desalination affordable. ERI’s PX Pressure Exchanger® technology (PX®) is a rotary positive displacement pump that recovers energy from the high-pressure waste stream of sea water reverse osmosis (SWRO) systems at up to 98% efficiency with no downtime or scheduled maintenance.

ERI has research, development and manufacturing facilities in the San Francisco technology corridor as well as direct sales offices and technical support centers in key desalination hubs such as Madrid, Dubai, Shanghai and Florida. ERI service representatives are based in Algeria, Australia, China, India, Korea, Mexico, Taiwan and the Caribbean.

The world’s largest energy recovery device manufacturer* delivers:

• Proven SWRO Power Consumption as Low as 1.7 kWh/m†
• No Scheduled Maintenance Shutdown
• No Pulsations, or Complicated Controls
• The Simplest Solution to Lowest Lifecycle Costs
• Flexibility, Proven Reliability and Real Savings

Guaranteed.
Contact us today to find out how you can start saving, or to learn more about ERI and the PX solution, visit us at: www.energyrecovery.com