RecovOAR™
Concentrate Recovery Reverse Osmosis Technology for Brine Management
Increasing regulatory pressure and growing environmental awareness are driving the need for better brine minimization – one of the greatest challenges currently facing industries today.
RecovOAR™ is an innovative treatment process developed by Aquatech and FTS H2O, rooted in the concept of osmotically assisted reverse osmosis (RO).
Diverging from traditional RO, where permeate concentration approaches zero, in its initial stages, RecovOAR™ establishes a permeate side with salinity equal to or slightly lower than the solution, strategically minimizing the osmotic pressure gradient across the membrane.
The result is a smooth and efficient permeate flow, even under conditions of elevated osmotic pressure. RecovOAR™ is capable of treating brines with total dissolved solids (TDS) concentrations of up to 250 g/L, redefining possibilities in brine treatment.
Why Choose Aquatech?
Lower Applied Hydraulic Pressure
RecovOAR™ can be operated at lower applied hydraulic pressures of 70-80 bars, which permits the dewatering of more saline feed streams without exceeding the burst pressure of the membrane module.
Increased Brine Concentration
RecovOAR™ achieves concentrations of over 20%. This level of concentration is comparable to what a thermal brine concentrator can accomplish, providing a high degree of effectiveness in brine management.
Lower Capital Costs
RecovOAR™ offers a cost-effective solution compared to alternative options. Its implementation involves a lower capital investment, making it an economically attractive choice for brine management applications.
Improved Process Reliability
RecovOAR™ enhances process reliability by leveraging existing, proven equipment such as membranes, pressure tubes, high-pressure pumps, and energy recovery devices (ERDs).
Smaller Footprint
RecovOAR™ boasts a compact footprint, making it a space-efficient option in comparison to alternative technologies. This smaller physical footprint is advantageous, especially in situations where space constraints are a consideration.
Aquatech's RecovOAR™ Process Integrated With an RO Process
The clarified brine is concentrated by seawater reverse osmosis with reject of 70 g/L while producing fresh water permeate. The RO reject brine is then further concentrated by the RecovOAR system up to the desired target between 200-250 g/L TDS, operates at standard seawater RO pressures of 70 bar.
The ability to reach high TDS concentrates at only 70 bar is due to the use of novel low salt rejection membranes.
These membranes facilitate staged salt passage into the permeate, maintaining an approximately 7% salinity differential between the reject and permeate streams, thereby producing a salty permeate.
This salty permeate is recycled at various stages within the RecovOAR™ inter-stage process. In the initial inter-stages, the salty permeate is fed back into the SWRO system, generating high-quality freshwater permeate. The overall system operates using a forward cascading approach on the reject side and a backward cascading approach on the permeate side.
The process requires a single input—seawater—and generates two outputs: high-concentration brine and fresh water, all at an operating pressure of 70 bar.