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These days, when mankind
finds a way to run a natural resource
dry, it seems to find an
answer to its replenishment.
Gasoline prices in the U.S. are
soaring, but alternatives abound
in the form of ethanol, bio diesel,
and even recycled kitchen
grease.
ERI's CTO, Dr. Richard Stover with the Titan Pressure Exchange device.
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In the past, when draught has
reared its parched head, people
turned to a multitude of things –
water rationing, trading front
lawns for yards full of quartz,
even infrequent flushing. Thankfully,
there is a highly effective
and more practical answer to the
world water crisis, in the form of
water desalination.
San Leandro based Energy
Recovery Inc. (ERI), founded in
1992, has developed a method to
make water desalination simpler
and far more affordable – in
some cases, less than $2 for every
1,000 gallons. They use a
method called reverse osmosis
desalination coupled with their
patented Pressure Exchanger energy
recovery device. The device
shoots a highly pressurized
stream of water through a membrane
which separates the salt
from the fresh water. Then, the
energy from the concentrated
runoff water is actually recovered
and used to process more
fresh water before it is returned
to the sea at the end of the cycle.
Thermal water desalination –
via evaporation, has been used
extensively in the middle east
since the 40's. The U.S. and other
parts of the world have been
slower to adapt to this method of
finding fresh water because it has
long been expensive and criticized
as wasteful.
A most recent and celebrated
example of ERI's efficient technology
in action is at the Perth
Saltwater Reverse Osmosis Plant
in Australia.
The plant supplies 17-percent
of the city's water needs per
day, is 97-percent efficient and
has cut energy costs in half.
ERI's Pressure Exchanger
technology is allowing for the
spread of more affordable and
less wasteful water desalination.
The San Leandro company operates
globally and establishes itself
in parts of the world with a
growing need for sensible water
conservation – for example Algeria,
Dubai, and Spain.
A diagram of how the water is filtered in the pressure
exchange device.
Despite the worldwide
implementation of the device –
which is fabricated from ceramic
and has only one moving part –
ERI has kept all of its assembly,
research and development in San
Leandro, according to ERI's
Chief Technology Officer Richard
Stover.
"Everything is assembled
here," says Stover.
Stover also stated that sea
water reverse osmosis desalination
with ERI's technology or the
similar technology of their competitors,
has found its way into
more Middle Eastern markets
that traditionally use thermal desalination.
In order to ensure maximum
efficiency of the Pressure Exchanger,
ERI exhausts a multitude
of tests on each product before
placing it in the field, according
to the company's Vice
President of Manufacturing,
Terry Sandlin.
"We can't send something
half a world away and have it
malfunction," says Sandlin.
To find out more about Energy
Recovery's products or projects
visit www.energyrecovery.com.
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