How it Works

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	Many engineers in the desalination industry have struggled with predicting specific power consumption when using various pumps, turbines and membrane recovery rates. The ERI Power Model^© makes the job easy by automatically calculating all the pressures and flows and estimating the power consumption of each pump associated with the RO process portion of a seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) system. The Power Model can estimate pump and motor efficiencies for most systems or this information can be entered manually. It also automatically calculates the specific energy consumption of SWRO systems equipped with typical turbo and Pelton systems and provides a comparison to performance with PX technology. Below is a link to the ERI Power Model, which comes with simple step-by-step directions to follow. ERI Power Model

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HOW IT WORKS

Energy Recovery, Inc. invented, patented, and commercialized the most efficient, energy saving, energy recovery solution available today: the PX Pressure Exchanger® (PX). The PX energy recovery device uses the principle of positive displacement and isobaric chambers to achieve extremely efficient transfer of energy from a high-pressure waste stream, such as the brine stream from a reverse osmosis desalination unit, to a low-pressure incoming feed stream. Because the PX is highly efficient — up to 98% virtually no energy is lost in the transfer.

The PX device contains a cylindrical rotor with long narrow ducts. The rotor spins inside a sleeve between two end covers with port openings for both streams. Pressure energy is transferred directly from the high-pressure concentrate/reject stream to the low-pressure feed/seawater stream. The self-adjusting speed of the rotor keeps the interface between the streams within the rotor and limits mixing. The low-pressure side of the rotor fills with seawater while the high-pressure side discharges seawater. The motion of the rotor is similar to that of a Gatling machine gun firing high-pressure bullets from a supply of low-pressure seawater. For a more graphic explanation and animations of how PX technology works, see the links below.

PX DEVICE SIMULATION TOOLS:

PX Device Animation

Click Here to see "How the PX® Works"

PX Device Simulator

This Material Flow Animation illustrates how a PX device is utilized in a typical RO system.

This animation uses Macromedia Flash. If this software is not available on your computer it will be automatically downloaded.

Click Here to run the PX® Simulator ('Material Flow Animation')

PX SYSTEM STARTUP ANIMATION

This PX with Reverse Osmosis (RO) System Startup Animation allows the user to interact with an RO system equipped with PX technology. Typical pressure and flow data are given.

The animation uses Microsoft PowerPoint 2000. If this software is not available on your computer Click Here to download a free Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer

Click Here to run the PX System Startup ('PX® with RO System Startup Animation')

When the presentation appears, for best results, right click on the presentation and choose "Full Screen" then click the buttons to display the various startup phases. Right click for more options and to end the show.

Right Click Here and select "Save Target As..." to download the PX with RO System Startup ('RO System Startup Animation)'

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