A patents-pending chemical desalination process, which will be presented as a Water Technology Idol contestant in Paris in April, claims to reduce concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS) in excess of 300,000 mgl to less than 150 mg/l.

Advanced Water Recovery (AWR)'s process uses a recoverable chemical saturation to concentrate and precipitate dissolved salts out of any water stream, at ambient temperature, making all of the water suitable for reuse or surface water discharge. The resulting >80% dry solid waste can be selectively separated for valuable byproducts, or disposed of in an ordinary landfill.

TDS reduction is accomplished at dramatically reduced operating and capital costs, compared with existing treatment technologies, says AWR. The process has wide-ranging applications, from toxic mine water treatment to economical total water recovery on existing desalination plants, converting high dissolved solids liquids into clean usable water and zero liquid waste.

The South Dakota-based company is currently constructing a commercial produced water treatment facility in the Marcellus shale region in Pennsylvania, which is expected to be operating in summer of 2014. The company is currently seeking commercialization partners.