“This membrane offers a long list of key benefits which would be compelling under normal business circumstances, e.g., small footprint, higher yield, and reduced fouling.”
In the world of computers, a footprint is how much space a piece of hardware occupies on your desk, or how much space micro components occupy inside a computer, and how much memory software takes up.
Smaller footprints mean a smart phone held in your hand is more powerful than a mainframe computer from back in the era of vacuum tubes.
Just as smaller footprints for computation opened a world of possibilities for chip applications in telecommunications,….almost all aspects of daily life….we expect smaller water footprints to unleash huge creativity in planners and engineers. Example: using today’s conventional equipment, adding arsenic treatment to a 1Million gallon per day California well requires $4-5Million in capital cost, including a building. With Agua Via technology, 1Million gallons per day can be produced by 10 small cartridges. Even smaller cartridges support smaller volume production needs, and could enable distributed water treatment systems at the level of the individual household or at the community level.
A cartridge sits in a tank of feedstock water. Gravity - a 27” head of water – provides the pressure to drive the process. A forward osmosis unit is added to the desalination cartridges to improve yield.
Agua Via systems offer the smallest footprint in the world of water. System economics are dramatically improved, and operational constraints are lifted. This opens up a new range of design possibilities to engineers and planners. With such a small footprint, distributed systems become possible. New options open for supporting small and remote communities, or for campuses and manufacturing locations. Local water recycling and reuse becomes possible, improving water security, and saving the energy expenditure of transporting water in and wastewater out. Some of the most exciting discussions we have are with designers exploring the new options as they address problems that were previously intractable due to capital costs, energy demands or maintenance logistics.
