Our installations are suitable for concentration of nearly any kind of solution. The operation principle is a thermal separation based on evaporation and condense below the boiling point for minimum energy costs.
Starting from the beginning: Evaporation and vaporization/steaming faces us daily in the nature for example at the global water cycle. The first technical distillations were developed 2000 BC in China and Egypt. These processes were evolved during the centuries in many varieties of steaming and distilling apparatus. The advantage of this technology is that nearly any kind of water can be treated and the final result has an excellent and pure quality.
Typically thermal processes come along with high energy and huge space requirements at high investment and operation costs.
Simply genius – the waterwin®-process:
Inside of the Evaporator rotates a brush at a low speed. It is charged with the liquid to be concentrated. A thin film of liquid is created on the bristle. By rotation of the brush the liquid will be dispensed into little droplets. Both liquid film and droplets create a huge surface which is required for the evaporation process.
At the same time upstreaming air enters the evaporator and is kept in turbulence by the rotating bristles. The air passes along the droplets and liquid film and absorbs the moisture – dissolved substances like salts, heavy metals etc. are kept in the solution. They remove the system in the concentrate. The air which is spiked with water of the solution leaves the evaporator at the top.
The waterwin® evaporator comes in two designs:
The required type of the system based on the following questions
The functional principle of the waterwin®-condenser follows the logic of the evaporator. However the solution to be treated is heated up to 80 °C. Due to this the capacity of the air to absorb water is higher which increases the effectivity of the condensation.
For highest value in the effectivity of energy of the process a high efficient heat recovery system is integrated. Almost All heat required for heating up the solution to 80 °C is taken from the condensation. At the same time the media to be heated up is used as cooling media for the condensation. Almost no further external energy is required. The energy oscillates between evaporator and condenser back and forth. Only the loss of energy is submitted.
Like in all thermal separation processes the waterwin®-evaporator is able to generate a high concentrate of the solution at the same time a pure water in high quality is generated – but a low energy consumption.
Energy is expensive. Because of this the waterwin® systems do have an integrated intelligent energy management system for achieving sensational low operation cost.
This system guarantees that the energy is kept inside the process. Additional energy is provided by a high efficient heat pump. Alternative to a heat pump an integration into a central heat distributor or integration of rejected heat form other production processes is possible. Further our systems are prepared to be added with a combined heat and power module. This allows typically to operate the water treatment without further operation costs.
Example for the use of the waterwin®-Technology in the Mining Industry and comparison with the state of the art.
In this example a water treatment of 100 m³/h of salt containing waste water is shown with the target to have almost no waste water to discharge (Zero Liquid Discharge/ZLD). For comparison a conventional vaporator with sedimentation as pre treatment is taken. The combined QWAIR process comprises of the modules 1 – 5 (see picture). In the first step sedimentation the water is separated from any suspended solids. After that the clear phase is thickened with a combination of UF and RO.
The concentrates of both processes are collected and fed into the waterwin®-system. Here the concentrates are extremly thickened to be barely pumpable in a energy efficient manner. This concentrate is fed into a thermal centrifuge and thickened to an almost dry filter cake. The combined process uses the advantages of the individual processes. Due to this the invest cost compared to the state of the art is reduced by approximately 30 %. The energy cost drops to almost the half.
[1] Sedimentation
[2] Ultrafiltration (UF)
[3] Reverse Osmosis (RO)
[4] waterwin®-Evaporator
[5] Thermal Centrifuge
| Technologie | Abfallwärme / Heihungsnetz | Wärmepumpe | BHKW |
|---|---|---|---|
| Investitionskosten | +++ | ++ | – |
| Betriebskosten | ++ | 0 | +++ |
| Platzbedarf | +++ | ++ | – |
| Voraussetzung | Wärmequelle > 80 °C | / | Verhältnis Strom- zu Gaskosten > 4:1 |
We not only consider the final treatment of process water or air, but also the upstream processes and procedures and develop a solution that is optimally tailored to your needs.
We look forward to receiving your non-binding enquiry for the planning & realisation of a plant for exhaust air purification, process water generation or waste water treatment.
