Minimum & Zero Liquid Discharge
High-recovery treatment trains that shrink or eliminate liquid discharge, turning brine into reusable water and solids.
Overview
Tightening discharge limits, rising water costs and water scarcity are pushing industry to recover far more of the water it uses. Minimum Liquid Discharge (MLD) systems typically recover 90–95% of the wastewater at a fraction of the cost and energy of full ZLD. Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) goes all the way: water is recovered for reuse and the remaining salts leave the site as solids, so no liquid effluent is discharged at all.
We engineer MLD and ZLD systems as integrated treatment trains: robust pre-treatment and softening, high-recovery membrane stages such as Closed Circuit Reverse Osmosis, brine concentration with Osmotically Assisted Reverse Osmosis or humidification–dehumidification, and final crystallization or evaporation ponds. Concentrating the brine with membranes before any thermal step sharply reduces energy demand and capital cost compared with conventional evaporator-based ZLD.
How it works
Treatment train
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01Pre-treatment & softening
Clarification, softening and Selective Contaminant Removal take out hardness, silica and metals that would otherwise scale downstream equipment.
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02High-recovery RO
Closed Circuit Reverse Osmosis recovers the bulk of the water as high-quality permeate, with lower energy use and reduced scaling.
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03Brine concentration
Osmotically Assisted Reverse Osmosis and humidification–dehumidification concentrate the brine far beyond conventional reverse osmosis limits.
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04Crystallization & solids
Crystallizers or evaporation ponds convert the final concentrate into solids for disposal or recovery.
Technologies
Technologies we apply
Each project combines the processes best suited to the water, the target quality and the site.
Let’s work together
Sustainable water & energy for the future — starting with your project.
From consulting and strategy development to implementation and support, our team is ready to offer the most efficient solution for your site.