British Columbia’s Saltworks Technologies was engaged by the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) to demonstrate their zero-liquid discharge SaltMaker at an on-site location in the U.S.
The USBR has been intercepting saline water from entering an important American watershed and looked to Saltworks to demonstrate a full-scale solution for desalinating the saline water. Zero liquid discharge (ZLD) involves treating 100 per cent of the water flow to only produce two outputs: clean water and all contaminants reduced to a solid, which is salt in this case. The USBR selected Saltworks’ SaltMaker Evaporator Crystallizer after a comprehensive competitive review of brine management and ZLD technologies.
“We sent one of our SaltMaker pilots from our test fleet in a pre-packaged shipping container along with a team of operators,” said project leader Malcolm Man. “We are incredibly proud of the hard work demonstrated by our team that resulted in rapid ZLD solid salt production on day four and continues to deliver results that help protect US waters.”
The demo plant was delivered in the winter and operated 24/7 to produce solid salts and freshwater.
“Site staff as well as the other Reclamation personnel who have visited the demonstration test have been very impressed with Saltworks employees’ communication, technical knowledge, and professionalism,” said USBR Civil Engineer Frederick Busch.
The demonstration showed that rivers and lakes can be protected by ZLD, extracting contaminants of concern in a single, packaged plant that does not require pre-treatment or complex, multi-step processes.
