Technology
How It Works
How we work
A proprietary dry absorbent selectively pulls water molecules from the brine. Approximately 98% salt rejection occurs. Contaminants stay behind.
Process Description
A food-grade regenerant with higher osmotic potential extracts water from the absorbent. The absorbent is recovered for continuous reuse.
Process Description
Reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes separate the water from the regenerant with minimal fouling. The regenerant is also recovered for continuous reuse.
Process Description
How we’re different
Designing an effective solvent extraction desalination system requires precise understanding of water, organic, and salt partitioning. Our in-house database, built on five years of experimental work on real brines, gives us unparalleled ability to select specific chemicals based on the composition of a feed brine to minimize partitioning.
Solvent extraction desalination has typically relied on a temperature or pressure change to release the extracted water. We run our process at ambient temperature and pressure by transferring the water to a membrane-friendly regenerant solution.
Instead of adding layers of pretreatment to fit the brine to our process, the right chemicals are selected for the brine.
Membranes are highly efficient for water recovery from brines, but they often struggle with organic solvents and are prone to fouling in complex high salinity brines. The ABX™ system confines solvents and fouling salts to the first stage, ensuring membranes only handle a purpose-built regenerant, optimizing their performance and lifespan.
Where You Can Find Us
ABX™ is not a concept. It is operational technology with a clear path from demonstration to commercial-scale deployment.
Our facility in Colorado City, Texas, currently operates 2,000 bpd.
Current methods are inadequate
This method involves holding wastewater in ponds and allowing natural evaporation to reduce volumes. While simple in concept, it’s only viable in specific situations where temperatures are high, humidity and rainfall are low, land is cheap, and wastewater volumes are reasonably low.
Key limitations
This process uses pressure to drive water through a porous material, with the membrane selectively allowing water passage. While it remains the lowest energy method of extracting freshwater from brines, treating high-salinity wastewater typically results in large amounts of salt crystallizing on the membrane surface.
Key limitations
This method involves partially boiling water out of a brine. While effective, these systems suffer from extremely high energy input requirements due to the enthalpy of vaporization. They also face practical difficulties in processing highly corrosive salt solutions at elevated temperatures.
Key limitations
Our Solution
The Aquafortus ABX™ process prevents salt content from interacting with the membrane system by exchanging it with our specialized Regenerant. The Regenerant, specifically selected for membrane performance, is rejected by the membranes to separate the water. The process utilizes the efficiency of membrane treatment while avoiding membrane scaling.
Key advantages
