Gradiant Corporation trials new waste-saving system

Team at Gradiant Corporation site

Gradiant Corporation, a Boston-based water treatment solutions firm, has announced the start of official demonstrations for its new Counterflow Reverse Osmosis (CFRO) processing technology.

The company has released bids for end users to adopt the system and has meanwhile requested a demonstration site for the CFRO. It expects the system will help industrial water users minimise desalination waste both more cheaply and efficiently.

Gradiant’s bidding process coincides with a wider move across the water industry to employ sustainable production practices. For example, the new system could provide a cost-effective alternative to expensive evaporation technologies typically used to treat the runoff wastewater created by garment manufacturers.

The CFRO process uses less than half the energy of the most efficient evaporator and costs about half as much

Last month, the company opened a subsidiary in India (Gradiant India Pvt. Ltd) – a major source of the world’s textile products. It recently signed another project in Asia allowing Hong Kong-based textile firm, Esquel Group, to implement industrial wastewater reuse technology in its operations. The project includes an agreement that Gradiant will supply dehumidifying technologies to help reduce Esquel’s harmful pollutants.

Commenting on the industry’s increased awareness of sustainability regulations, Gradiant India’s managing director, Ravi Selvaraj, said:

“Innovative solutions have gained in popularity as facilities throughout the country seek cost-effective options.”

He added: “We are excited to help solve these issues using Gradiant’s technologies, which reduce the life-cycle cost to treat and recover water for many industries.”

The corporation is currently seeking end users to host the CFRO for a minimum 90-day period.

Firms that bid for adoption of the CFRO must prove themselves eligible based on specific criteria. These include whether a particular firm does in fact require the minimisation or disposal of brine, together with the level of brine concentration for which they require treatment. Other criteria include access to electrical power and available area space to host the system’s infrastructure.

The CFRO is designed to achieve a final brine concentration of up to 250,000 parts per million (or Total Dissolved Solids) while operating at less than 1,000 pounds per square inch of pressure.