The movement towards Zero Liquid Discharge in industrial processes

Progress has been made in lowering capital costs, however. “When we started out seven years ago, we had a total installed cost factor of 5.0,” says Heins. “That meant that a $10 million unit cost $50 million after installation. Now, we’re on our fourth generation modular design, and we’ve reduced the total installed cost factor down to 1.8-2.0. A $10 million unit now costs $18-$20 million total installed. That makes produced water evaporation a lot more economically viable.”

Although the recession has had a negative impact on many sectors of the economy, ZLD has not slowed dramatically. In fact, industry analysts predict a cumulative annual growth rate for recovery/ reuse systems in excess of 200% over the next decade, of which a significant portion could be accounted for by ZLD capacity. “The economic and regulatory climate is such that ZLD or near zero discharge is going to continue to grow rapidly,” says Cornish. “We see great potential.”