Municipal water treatment using PARC's novel filtration solution
High-volume, small-footprint, low-cost water purification

Overview

Conventional municipal-water treatments systems face a unique set of challenges:
-	Facilities require a significant amount of physical space – both land and structures;
-	Flocculation/ sedimentation approaches require significant chemical usage and long process times;
-	Membrane-based alternatives have high capital and operating costs – filters clog and require frequent backwash.
To address these problems, PARC has developed a novel fluidic approach that transforms the practice of conventional water treatment. It can reduce requirements for physical space, chemicals, and energy in conventional water treatment – and can serve as a front-end for membrane-based desalination.

PARC Solution & Its Benefits

“Equitable and sustainable management of water resources is a major global challenge.” -- United Nations Environment Programme

Our approach uses a careful balance of hydrodynamic and centrifugal forces as water flows through a spiral channel.

After flowing through the device, particles are moved controllably to one wall of the channel, where they can be shunted off in a waste stream. More than 90% of the water emerges without particles from the other side of the channel.

By cascading a number of spiral devices in succession, and re-circulating the waste stream, it is possible to reduce the rejected water to below 5%. In addition, we have demonstrated a 50% reduction in coagulant dosage.

All particles above 5 microns in size can be removed from the liquid, and this is true for particles with specific gravities above, equal to, and below 1.

By using a spiral concentrator to filter micron-sized particles, PARC's solution:

• Delivers high throughput—individual spiral systems can filter 100 L/min, and can be stacked together to accommodate the million of gallons per day required for large municipal treatment facilities;
• Reduces amount of chemicals for flocculation/sedimentation, since particles can be extracted at a much smaller size using the spiral device;
• Significantly reduces land use, by eliminating flocculation and sedimentation tanks;
• Reduces energy use typical of membrane-based solutions; and
• Accelerates processing time from raw to finished water.

For a typical 20MGD installation, PARC technology is estimated to reduce capital cost by 39%, operations and maintenance cost by 30%, and land use by 58%.

How It Works

Next Steps

PARC has completed simulations and experimental work to fully characterize the scaling laws that govern the behavior of the spiral devices. With this information, we are scaling up to complete a 100L/min demonstration. The intellectual property includes extensive patent filings and design know-how.

PARC is interested in working with companies that deliver water filtration solutions, to harden the technology and implement pilot installations with the potential of delivering a transformative, low-cost urban water solution in the next 2-3 years.

To explore working with PARC, please contact Jennifer Ernst, Director of Business Development.