IDE Technologies Announces Success of First Demo Facility in Texas, Achieving Overall Recovery of 96%

IDE’s proprietary MAXH₂O PFRO technology successfully demonstrated for the City of Abilene

CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--IDE Technologies, a world leader in desalination and water treatment solutions, today announced the success of its demo facility in the state of Texas. The facility tested IDE’s proprietary MAXH₂O Pulse Flow Reverse Osmosis (PFRO) technology for treating concentrated RO brine discharge, thus maximizing the recovery of high-quality water to achieve an overall recovery of 96 percent. The demo facility is located at the Hargesheimer Water Treatment Plant, which supplies water to the City of Abilene, Texas. Access to clean, high-quality water continues to be critical for municipal and industrial growth in the state of Texas and IDE’s technology supports both municipal and industrial applications. MAXH₂O PFRO is a game-changer for water recovery in water treatment plants, with results showing a decrease in the volume of brine to be discharged, and a significant increase in efficiency.

The Hargesheimer Water Treatment Plant uses reverse osmosis to process raw water from Lake O.H. Ivie, which contains high concentrations of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). The plant’s RO system operates at about 80 percent recovery and discharges 20 percent of the feed as brine to the evaporation pond. Due to the lack of pond area, the brine is minimized by spraying, which creates an environmental nuisance to nearby residents. However, further desalination is not possible as contents of the rejected brine – Calcium sulphate, Calcium carbonate, Barium sulfate – are at significantly high concentrations which limit the use of conventional desalination technologies. By utilizing high discharge velocity and a short production cycle, the MAXH₂O PFRO enables reuse of the brine stream and allows for the increase in overall system recovery to 96 percent.

IDE’s MAXH₂O PFRO leverages mechanical and chemical ingenuity to overcome typical reverse osmosis challenges such as scaling, fouling and bio-fouling. Compared to a conventional RO approach where the flow conditions are stable, the PFRO constantly changes the flow regime and the osmotic and gage pressure. This unique mechanism leads to an increase of 50 percent more in water recovery and extending the membranes lifespan.

“As Texas faces a population boom and heightened industrial growth, continuous access to water – especially for inland regions – is essential,” said Iris Jancik, CEO, IDE Americas. “We’re thrilled with the success of our MAXH₂O PFRO technology for RO brine recovery, and the opportunity to showcase this innovation with the City of Abilene. This technology offers groundbreaking benefits, and its versatility means that it can be applied to different types of water facilities to increase the recovery of waste discharge.”

Following this successful demonstration of MAXH₂O PFRO, the city of Abilene is set up to explore the use of a commercial unit to process all the brine from the Hargesheimer Water Treatment Plant.

For additional technical information on MAXH₂O PFRO, please visit, https://www.ide-tech.com/maxh2o.

About IDE Technologies

A world leader in desalination and water treatment solutions, IDE specializes in the development, engineering, construction, and operation of some of the world's largest and most advanced thermal and membrane desalination facilities and industrial water treatment plants. IDE partners with a wide range of customers – municipalities, oil & gas, mining, refineries, and power plants – on all aspects of water projects and delivers approximately 3 million m³/day of high quality water worldwide.

For more information, visit www.ide-tech.com.