Sliding Element Energy Recovery (SEER) For Water Purification Systems

In the US alone, there is unaddressed waste energy in membranebased water treatment processes worth >$290M annually, across several sectors which current commercially available energy recovery devices cannot extract: brackish/seawater water desalination, process water production, food/beverage production, potable reuse, produced water, and transportable military systems. Current commercial options are not designed to perform at relevant operating conditions to provide a reasonable ROI for customers: flowrates, pressures, and dynamic changes. For the sake of national security, the DOE Water Security Grant Challenge provides 5 goals for the US to reach by 2030adding energy recovery to unaddressed waste stream helps satisfy 4 out of the 5 goals. A novel energy recovery device was developed focusing on effective simplicity to make reject stream energy recovery attainable for all: only five unique components, serviceability without removing piping, and energy decrease up to 40%. Part count reduction is achieved by novel fluid passage design in combination with highly efficient sliding vane pump technology. The resulting device has low capital cost and high efficiency over a wide operating range, yielding a rapid ROI in 12 months. During Phase I, business and technical groundwork was established for rapid commercialization through improvements from: 1 advanced computer simulation to enable rapid design evolution, 2 customer pipeline development with thirty interviews of industry leaders providing critical insights, yielding interest in pilot tests; 3 additive manufacturing innovations that enable rapid prototyping and identifying applications of metal printing; 4 implementation of 6axis lathe for complex manufacturing, and 5 completing a new scaled prototype and testloop, supporting up to 50 gal/min, 570 psi. In Phase II, the analysis, design, manufacture, and test of the energy recovery device will evolve to meet the high standards necessary for commercial use across brackish and seawater reverse osmosis. In house testing will have been completed under low and high pressures, varying flowrates, and endurance operations. Operational confidence will lead to field testing at end user sites where interested customersand partner organizationswill be invited to observe operations and review white paper results. Membranebased desalination is a critical process for countless industrial and municipal operations, from agriculture, energy production, to household potable tap water. The lower pressures and flowrates in the brackish water reverse osmosis market have been neglected because seawater desalination has much greater energy expenses, and the developed technology did not effectively scale down in pressure or size. Through innovative design and machining techniques, we are excited to commercialize a device that will reduce energy use up to 40% from personal desalinators to municipal water treatment plants.