Brackish Water Desalination

The use of EWM's technology on brackish water is a world opportunity. Demand for EWM’s Full Recovery Desalination® technology is highest in arid regions of the world that have access to brackish water. These areas also correspond to high value solar resource regions, allowing EWM to apply its PV based green energy system to the process.

Waste brine disposal is the key issue preventing greater use of inland brackish water desalination. The waste brine has elevated levels of salts and other trace contaminants that are fully leachable and can contaminate existing fresh ground water and surface water resources. The brine can also damage wetlands, cause soil salinization, or eutrophication. Deep well injection, which consists of pumping the waste brine underground, is the current standard brine disposal method selected by most new large-scale plants. Deep well injection is costly because a disposal pipeline is needed to carry the waste brine away from the source well, and a separate injection site and wells are required. Brine reinjection also creates a significant long-term environmental risk of contaminating existing freshwater supplies. Evaporation ponds are also being used by others, but these are not feasible for large industrial scale projects due to the large land requirements.  Evaporation ponds also are also subject to flooding and stored salt release from unpredictable storm events caused by global warming.

EWM’s Full Recovery Desalination® process eliminates the typical brine discharge. EWM’s low cost based green energy system addresses the energy cost and CO2 emission issue. EWM’s Full Recovery Desalination® technology is more energy efficient than traditional desalination solutions because the same green energy is used to produce both desalinated water and high value minerals and chemicals. There is no inefficient waste to pollute the environment making this solution a game changer.