Energy Recovery was awarded its second contract for the Company’s new Ultra PX™ energy recovery device, which will support the industrial wastewater treatment operations of a natural gas plant in the Sichuan Province of China. Energy Recovery previously announced during the Company’s Q3 2020 earnings conference call its first Ultra PX contract to support the operations of a chemical manufacturer in central India. That project has shipped and is scheduled for commissioning by Q2 2021.
Energy Recovery’s Ultra PX is designed to dramatically reduce the energy needs, costs and environmental impacts associated with treating industrial wastewater in Ultra High-Pressure Reverse Osmosis (“UHPRO”) applications. The Ultra PX recovers up to 60 percent of wasted energy when applied to UHPRO systems.
UHPRO is increasingly used to achieve Zero Liquid Discharge (“ZLD”) and Minimal Liquid Discharge (“MLD”) industrial wastewater treatment requirements, which seek to eliminate or minimize wastewater discharge by purifying and recycling heavily concentrated industrial waste fluids. Many governments – particularly in Asia – are focused on improving water sustainability, mandating ZLD or MLD requirements for industrial wastewater treatment. Energy Recovery’s Ultra PX can enable the accelerated adoption of UHPRO in the growing ZLD and MLD market as it develops globally and in Asia.
“As governments across the globe increase their focus on water conservation and protecting water quality, they are establishing more stringent requirements for industrial wastewater treatment,” said Robert Mao, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of Energy Recovery. “As the need for industrial wastewater treatment grows, the energy efficiency of these operations is becoming increasingly important. With the Ultra PX, our core pressure exchanger technology is tackling water quality and scarcity issues in a new way, while providing significant cost and energy usage reductions to our customers in this exciting new market.”
In traditional ZLD and MLD configurations, up to fifty percent of costs typically come from cost- and energy-intensive thermal treatments. ZLD and MLD systems that adopt UHPRO can potentially realize significant cost savings by lowering the energy intensity of treating industrial waste fluids. Energy Recovery’s Ultra PX enhances the efficiency and affordability of the UHPRO process versus a UHPRO system with no energy recovery device.
“Our technology is well-positioned to address the major pain points in the industrial wastewater UHPRO space: energy intensity and environmental impacts. We are confident our Ultra PX can help make UHPRO the preferred treatment option to achieve ZLD and MLD requirements, just as our PX® Pressure Exchanger® transformed the desalination industry by making Seawater Reverse Osmosis desalination an affordable and energy efficient alternative to thermal desalination,” said Rodney Clemente, Energy Recovery’s Senior Vice President of Water. “We are excited to apply our trusted technology to new markets that can dramatically benefit from increased energy efficiency.”
The Ultra PX can be paired with Energy Recovery’s new Ultra High-Pressure circulation pump for maximum system performance. Product details are available on Energy Recovery’s website: http://www.energyrecovery.com/water/ultra-px/.
