Desalination does not have to be bad for the environment. 

Salacia is developing an environmentally friendly method of seawater desalination and brine treatment. Our patent pending technology can eliminate brine waste by recovering more than 97% of the water with more than 60% energy saving and more than 50% cost saving while producing valuable solid salts, which result in lower CO2 emission and cost-effective brine waste elimination. With more than 97% water recovery, we also help industries to substantially reduce their freshwater consumption. 

Why existing desalination methods are not good for the environment?

 The problem is clear: 

  • Low water recovery of existing desalination and brine treatment technologies results in large volumes of produced brine waste
  • Lack of environmentally friendly method for disposal or treatment of produced brine waste from industrial plants (desalination, oil and gas, mining)
  • High energy consumption for desalination and treatment of high salinity water and brine waste

The Solution Is Chemistry 

Solvent Extraction, also called Directional Solvent Extraction (DSE) is a method for purifying water-soluble salts. The idea of this directional solvent extraction for salt production and water purification was first proposed in the 1960s. This method separates the water from a saline water based on the difference in the solubility between water and solvent at different temperatures. 

The Salacia Solution

Salacia is the first to develop and achieve a Direct Solvent Extraction (DSE) based method for desalination of seawater with low/medium salinity (35g of salt per litre) and industrial brine waste with high and ultrahigh salinity (up to 300g of salt per litre). This technique is membrane-less and not based on evaporation phase change so operates at lower temperature ranges (<70 degC), therefore it has lower energy consumption and is eco-friendly.

Salacia has developed two main products: 

  • Desalination Unit
  • Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) Unit 

Desalination Unit

Salacia Desalination unit is used for a feed stream with less than 120g of salt per liter. The direct competition for Salacia desalination unit is high pressure reverse osmosis (RO). Salacia desalination unit can process higher salt levels and recover almost 90% more water than RO with using less energy. Higher water recovery ratio means lower brine volume needs be treated and/or disposed by expensive brine management methods.

Following is a comparison between Salacia and other prominent desalination and concentration technologies:

Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD)

Salacia ZLD unit is used for a feed stream with more than 120g of salt per liter. The direct competition for Salacia ZLD unit is evaporator plus crystallizer. Salacia ZLD unit can process higher salt levels with substantially lower energy consumption.

Following is a comparison between Salacia ZLD and evaporator plus crystallizer:

In order to achieve maximum water recovery (>97%) and/or to meet customer’s feed and treatment specification a combination of two Salacia products can be used. Also depending on requirements for treated water specification a low pressure Reverse Osmosis unit may be added to the system.

When two units are combined, the system can recover almost the entire water with energy saving of more than 60%. Also the cost specially opex is substantially lower (>50%) and the salt by-product can potentially be sold to lower the opex even further. With more than 97% water recovery, this technology also helps industries to substantially reduce their freshwater consumption.

Contact us to find out how Salacia can help you reduce your desalination and brine management costs.