Technology
CIRCULAR-WATER is based on the advanced water purification process called Air-Gap Membrane Distillation (AGMD). In AGMD, the feedwater is heated, separating the pure and impure components by differences in volatility. The micro-porous membrane is a key component to the process because it allows water vapor through, but not the entire impure liquid. The water vapours then condensed on a cooling plate to get totally pure liquid water. In this special configuration, an air-gap is left between the membrane and condensing plate to prevent heat loss and hence save thermal demand of the process.
CIRCULAR-WATER is a breakthrough innovation
It brings a well-researched, documented and tested new technology targeting both purification efficiency and cost reduction in water and wastewater purification. In the AGMD-process the wastewater undergoes evaporation followed by microfiltration producing absolutely pure water and extreme concentrate of pollutants and impurities leading to zero liquid discharge. The process removes all contaminant to levels below detection limits measured by state-of-the-art analytical equipment.
The evaporation process occurs at low-temperature (commonly 60-90oC but can also work at lower temperatures) which is enough to produce water vapours. These processes of evaporation, filtration and condensation occur in a single module, making the equipment compact and easy to operate. Being modular enables the CIRCULAR-WATER to be infinitely scalable to meet diverse needs from a very small (few liters per day lab equipment) to a very large-scale (hundreds of thousands of cubic meters per day municipal facility)capacity installations.
The single module AGMD technology is extremely efficient (100%) in removing all types of non-volatile impurities from any types of sources, whereas a degasser is attached as an add-on when gaseous pollutants exist in a particular wastewater
The technology is able to produce absolutely clean water in which the produced water can be used for other purposes or can safely be released to any water body, as proven in a number of studies at laboratory and demonstration units.
With the ultimate goal of achieving closed loop water recovery systems, more and more stringent limitations are urging industries to use the best available wastewater purification technologies. There is also a growing global awareness that CO2-emission should be controlled to mitigate global warming. The CWT-process ideally uses waste heat replacing traditional energy intensive systems.
In cooperation with the KTH Royal Institute of Technology (in four Doctoral dissertations, more than six Masters Theses and many more research projectsthis entirely new water recycling technology has been tested and proven. Our AGMD technology for industrial wastewater purification meets the most stringent environmental regulations even at a very high content of pollutants. We are aware that only when strict industrial emissions standards are followed, do industries such as fossil-fuel power plants, waste incinerators and other facilities enjoy the essential public acceptance.
Manufacture in 2020 of first series of test equipment for imec at PM Plast in Barkarby outside of Stockholm
Test results
| Type of contamination | Amount | Method | Detection limit | Test by | Result |
| Bacteria | 14 000 (after 7 days) | Membrane filter count | – | National Bacteriologic Laboratory, Stockholm | BDL |
| Chlorine | 3.4 mg/l | Photometric analysis (Perkin Elmer) | < 0.01 mg/l | Water Protection Association of South West Finland | BDL |
| Salt water | 31 000 ppm | Ion chromatography | < 1 ppm | VBB Viak Stockholm | BDL |
| Trihalomethanes | 1 000 μg/l | Gas chromatography | < 1μg/l | University of Turku, Finland | BDL |
| Radon | 380 Bq/l | Alfa detection | < 4 Bq/l | Swedish Radiation Protection Institute | BDL |
| Cesium, Strontium, Plutonium, Radium | 2.4 Bq | Lithium Drifted Germanium Detector | < 0.1 Bq | Radiation Physics Department, University of Lund | BDL |
| Arsenic +3 | 10 mg/l | AAS Graphite | < 0.003 mg/l | Analytica AB, Stockholm | BDL |
| Arsenic +5 | 10 mg/l | AAS Graphite | < 0.003 mg/l | Analytica AB, Stockholm | BDL |
| Ag nanoparticles | 3100 μg/l | HPLC | < 2 μg/l | IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute | BDL |
| SiO2 | 10 000 μg/l | AAS | < 5 μg/l | Vattenfall AB, Stockholm | BDL |
| Setralin and 20 other pharmaceutical residuals | 4 ng/l | HPLC | < 0.8 ng/l | IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute | BDL |