EcoVAP Technology Reduces Costs and Land Footprint While Improving Water Balance

ECOVAP ADVANTAGES FOR THE POWER UTILITIES SECTOR

ACCELERATING CONCENTRATION PROCESSES

ECOVAP complements technologies that are used in the extraction of targeted or residual elements that are in the water (i.e., such as rare earths, including lithium), ECOVAP can inexpensively increase Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) to 250kppm. This reduces any transportation cost to a processing facility, as well as the energy and chemicals needed in the process.

REDUCING WASTEWATER VOLUMES

ECOVAP facilitates permanent disposal by dramatically reducing the volume of wastewater through Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) by 80-95% with a similar reduction to related transportation and disposal costs.

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REDUCE COSTS, CONSERVE SPACE, AND COMPLY WITH NEW EFFLUENT DISCHARGE REGULATIONS

A large thermoelectric power plant in the Northern Rockies sought a cost-reducing solution from EcoVAP to help it meet new effluent discharge regulations while conserving real estate. Power plants require large volumes of water for cooling towers, quenching bottom ash, and flue-gas scrubbing. Resulting wastewater contains many contaminants, including sulphur and salts, and heavy metals due to the process of flue-gas desulfurization (FGD). Historically, this wastewater was discharged into open land, large evaporation ponds, or into underground injection wells. The EPA finalized new power plant effluent guidelines in 2015, establishing a path toward zero discharge of pollutants from the fly ash and bottom ash waste streams. The federal laws include the first limits on the levels of heavy metals in wastewater (which increased with parallel requirements to use wet “scrubbers” and FGD for reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs) being released into the air) that can be discharged from power plants.

ECOVAP DRAMATICALLY REDUCED COSTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

The power plant's 2019 pilot of an EcoVAP Evaporative Matrix™(EM) installation suceeded in removing wastewater at more than 59x conventional evaporation rates. While the rate fluctuated during the pilot, the EcoVAP installation operated continuously even during cold weather given the salinity and movement of the water. This weatherproof capability further differentiates EcoVAP technology from conventional holding or evaporation ponds, which can freeze during winter conditions. EcoVAP estimates that this pilot resulted in a 40%+ reduction to all-in wastewater disposal costs.

EcoVAP technology's superior rate of evaporation, low power requirements, and modular design, resulted in significant reductions in operating costs as well as harmful environmental impacts. Highlights include:

1. Near zero operating costs due to negligible energy requirements (12V DC)
2. 85% reduction in land footprint compared to a conventional evaporation pond
3. 85% reduction in water volume and corresponding transportation costs for final slurry solid waste
   

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