User:Eri 1ic/PX Pressure Exchanger

Energy Recovery Inc.
Energy Recovery, Inc. (ERI) was established in 1992. Its primary goal is to make seawater desalination affordable world-wide by dramatically reducing energy costs. ERI manufactures ultra-high efficiency recovery products and technology, specifically the ERI PX Pressure Exchanger® (PX®), that are among the enabling technologies driving the rapid growth in seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination, and are helping to make desalination affordable worldwide.

History
At the time that the late President Kennedy wrote these words, the US Navy was currently engaged in transplanting an emergency desalination plant to Guantanamo after Cuban President Fidel Castro cut off the water supply to the US base. President Kennedy was right about the enormity of this accomplishment, as well as the difficulty in making it affordable. The chief challenge was reducing the energy consumption of the plant, which accounted for 80 percent of the cost of desalinated water. Indeed the total energy consumption of this desalination plant was over 22 KWh per cubic meter (over 85 kWh per 1,000 gallons).

Forty years later, ERI is making President Kennedy's dream a reality by rapidly changing the economics of seawater desalination. ERI's Pressure Exchanger® (PX®) technology has reduced by a factor of ten the energy wasted in the process used in Kennedy's Guantanamo plant. Today, ERI's PX® technology enables plant operators to produce potable water from seawater with an energy consumption of less than 2.0 kWh per cubic meter (8 kwh/1,000 gallons).

"With our PX Pressure Exchanger (PX) we will harness the ocean to give the world future supplies of fresh water," said ERI Chairman Hans Peter Michelet. "We now can produce drinking water at 60 cents per one cubic meter. The PX is becoming the standard energy benchmark for desalination.”

The Baghdad-Kuwait Connection
The roots of ERI can be traced to the early 1990’s at the Kuwait Institute of Scientific Research (KISR) laboratories by a Norwegian inventor, Leif Hague. In 1990 when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, Leif became a prisoner of war in Baghdad. At the end of the war the inventor was repatriated to the US and soon thereafter developed the PX Pressure Exchanger device. The company founded on the premise that water should be affordable to people world-wide began to manufacture an innovative solution to the underlying problem surrounding desalination (a process by which seawater is pushed through fine membranes at high pressures) – reducing high energy costs.

ERI's technology is an improvement on reverse osmosis -- a widely used process in which seawater is pressurized to approximately 70 bar (1,000 PSI) and pushed through polymer membranes. Part of the water permeates the membranes and leaves all the salt behind. The remaining salty brine contains as much as 185% of the energy required to do the desalination.

Early Technology
Early prototypes of the device proved difficult to develop, and it would be years before the technology and manufacturing processes would be perfected. Initial devices were made of metal, and eventually moved to ceramics. Furthermore development was complicated and expensive, and with no guarantee that the venture would succeed, technically or in the conservative marketplace of massive scale desalination. From 1993 through 2007, the company’s now Chairman of the Board, HP Michelet, led a private group of investors in the amount of about $24 million to believe in the concept and business opportunity. Every step in development brought new challenges and required a continued financial commitment.

Saving Energy Resources
The energy cost component of desalinating seawater has historically been a large factor (up to 70%) of the total cost to produce water and a major obstacle for market acceptance. With ERI’s PX technology, the high hydraulic energy efficiency transfer which is up to 98% makes it possible to dramatically improve the performance of seawater reverse osmosis plants by reducing their energy consumption by as much as 60% compared to systems operating without an energy recovery system. By 2002, ERI had close to 500 devices installed in the market and the prototype of the larger units in beta- testing.

Global Growth
The company’s current president and CEO, Mr. GG Pique has lead a seasoned management team to build the business globally by expanding the reach of its technology to countries such as Algeria, Australia, China, India, Korea, Middle East, Mexico, Spain, Taiwan, US,  and the Caribbean. Over 6,000 PX units are currently on the market or contracted helping to produce approximately 2.5 million tons of CO2/yr and saving over 500MW of energy.

Recognition
2006

2006 Small Business Environmental Exporter of the Year Award – awarded by Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) at Ex-Im Bank's annual conference in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, April 6.

Sidney Loeb Award for Outstanding Innovation – Awarded to ERI by the European Desalination Society

2007

Environmental Exporter of the Year (an honor awarded for its technological leadership and innovation in bringing cost effective desalination to nations around the globe) – awarded by the US Commerce Department

Global Water Awards 2007 Environmental Contribution of the Year For environmental stewardship in the water industry as exemplified by the project, process or organization that best reflects the ability of a water/wastewater plant to leave a small environmental footprint

Oct. 11, 2007 – ERI received energy recovery contract awards for the largest desalination plants in Spain: The Torrevieja Desalination Plant and the Barcelona Desalination Plant.

Product
ERI's patented PX technology recovers energy from the high-pressure waste stream of a seawater desalination reverse osmosis system at up to 98% efficiency. Its advanced ceramic technology reduces the energy wasted in the process of converting seawater into drinking water. The PX energy recovery device uses the principle of positive displacement and isobaric chambers to achieve extremely efficient transfer of energy from a high-pressure waste stream, such as the brine stream from a reverse osmosis desalination unit, to a low-pressure incoming feed stream. Because the PX is highly efficient — up to 98% virtually no energy is lost in the transfer. The pressure of the concentrated reject from an SWRO process is transferred to low-pressure feed water. The device (Figure 1) contains a cylindrical rotor that spins inside a sleeve between two end covers. The rotor is driven by the flow so that no power is required to make the device operate. Rotor speed is self-adjusting, maintaining the interface between the feed streams and thus eliminating mixing. This design results in no pressure spikes or pulsations and does not require pistons, valves or timers. PX technology maintains consistent high energy transfer efficiency regardless of salinity, temperature and recovery rate variations.

Figure 1 Schematic diagram showing the pressure difference inlet/outlet system of the rotary positive displacement pump principle of the PX-220 ERD.

Currently, ERI's patented PX technology is making cost-efficient desalination of seawater possible in over 30 countries world-wide, covering six continents.

The company has research, development and manufacturing facilities in the San Francisco technology corridor as well as direct sales offices and technical support centers in key desalination hubs such as Madrid, UAE, Shanghai and Florida; including service representatives in Algeria, Australia, China, India, Korea, Mexico, Taiwan and the Caribbean.

As the demand for clean, potable water increases; ERI is poised to face the global challenges ahead.

Resources
http://www.environmental-expert.com/STSE_resulteach.aspx?cid=2632&idproducttype=0&level=0 http://www.exim.gov/pressrelease.cfm/3DAE11EC-E3F4-AC8A-C3FEBF97D3555A1B/ http://www.environmental-expert.com/resultEachPressRelease.aspx?cid=2632&codi=25033&level=0&idproducttype=8 http://thinkglobal.us/exporteroftheyear/2007/ http://www.globalwaterawards.com/2007/ http://www.edie.net/ireland/marketplace/details.asp?cid=58634