Distech Limited (Auckland, New Zealand), a wholly owned subsidiary of Liquitek Enterprises, Inc., has successfully completed field trials of a proprietary new seawater purification system.
Under development for almost a decade, the unique VacuPure(TM) system replicates the natural cycle of evaporation and condensation to produce high-purity water from virtually any source of water.
"Essentially, we have conveniently packaged nature's timeless water treatment process, making it easy to install and affordable to operate," declared Kent Price, president of Distech. "To our knowledge this is the first system ever to bring vacuum vapor distillation to small-scale, commercially available equipment."
Combining several breakthroughs in heat transfer technology, Distech's new system harnesses the well-known benefits of the distillation process without the high energy costs associated with traditional distillation technologies.
Yielding water 10 to 100 times more pure than reverse osmosis (RO) systems, and with no membranes requiring constant periodic replacement, Distech's VacuPure water purifiers are expected to be extremely competitive with alternative technologies in performance and cost.
The VacuPure system is already proven in applications as diverse as distilled water production for water bottling plants and laboratories, the reduction of toxic wastes from metal plating rinse water, and milk condensation on dairy farms.
"Unlike filtration and RO systems which force impure water through delicate membranes under high pressure, the VacuPure system applies a small amount of pressure to the condensing pure vapor, saving energy, and making the process inherently fail-safe," stated Dudley Ward, founder of Distech.
Currently offered in a processing unit with capacity of approximately 1,000 gallons per day, Distech believes the technology is scalable to process much larger volumes and larger capacity equipment is scheduled for introduction into the market within the next several months.
Liquitek is now offering the new equipment worldwide. Plans are in place for resort and small municipal desalination plants in the near future.
Source: Liquitek Enterprises, Inc.