IDE Water Technologies recently signed a contract with ENEL Generación Chile S.A. to demonstrate the company’s MAXH2O Desalter solution at ENEL's San Isidro Power Plant. The scope of the ENEL Generación Chile S.A. San Isidro Power Plant project includes the fabrication, installation and operation of a fully advanced demonstration treatment unit implementing IDE's MAXH2O Desalter technology. This unit will use standard commercial size membrane elements and will be shipped to Chile to be installed and operated by IDE in partnership with a local subcontractor. IDE believes that cooling tower blowdown poses a challenge for many industries in general and for power plants in particular. By introducing IDE's MAXH2O technology for this industrial application, much of the cooling tower blowdown can be minimized and reused, thus offering an economic and sustainable solution.

 “From the beginning, IDE’s MAXH2O technology impressed us and interested us to further explore the applicability and performance on the complex cooling tower blowdown minimization needs of our power plants,” said Daniela Galla an innovation manager at ENEL. “As one of the largest power and energy companies in the world, we continually strive to be more sustainable in our practices and have complete confidence in IDE’s technology to help us achieve this goal.”

 IDE’s MAXH2O Desalter operates by recirculating treated water through the reverse osmosis system and a fluidized bed pellet reactor at high velocity, continuously precipitating supersaturated salts from the recirculated brine. The solution offers high recovery rates and flexibility without endangering the membranes’ service life, translating into low investment and operational costs for the facility.  

 “We are excited to have been selected by ENEL Generación to provide our MAXH2O Desalter technology for their San Isidro power plant, and to have the opportunity to commission a first of its kind demo unit for a facility of this size,” said Matan Alper, Head of Industrial Water Business Development, IDE Water Technologies. “We are working hard on this installation and look forward to the positive impact IDE’s innovative water technologies will have on the plant’s sustainability in the coming years.”