AdVE™ – The Technology of AdVE™

Developed as a by-product of the MixAlco® fermentation broth dewatering process, the AdVE™ technology successfully integrates an efficient compressing device and heat exchanger design into a unique desalination process, resulting in a very high heat transfer coefficient. Texas A&M University holds patents on this heat exchanger design and the process integration for AdVE™, both of which it has licensed to Terrabon.

Mechanical vapor-compression seawater desalination systems are commonly operated at temperatures below 180°F; however, AdVE™ employs a system that operates at 340°F. This higher operating temperature and related higher pressure delivers important advantages:

A lower amount of compression work is required
A smaller latent heat transfer area is needed
A smaller, less costly compressor can be used

AdVE™ employs a novel, low-cost latent heat exchanger that allows the use of low temperature differentials, thus reducing energy requirements. The compressor pulls vapors from the low-pressure side of the evaporator, compresses them, and returns them to the high-pressure side where they condense and supply the latent heat needed to evaporate more water from the low-pressure side. The heat is recycled, thus enabling an overall more efficient, cost-effective process.

AdVE™ also has the capability of desalinating streams with salinity much higher than 50,000 ppm, well in excess of the high limit of RO. It also has the capability of much higher recovery (percent of good output water vs. the total inlet water) than RO or mechanical vapor compression.

AdVE™ produces distilled water thus providing a very wide range of beneficial re-use applications from potable to agricultural to industrial.

AdVE™ – The Technology of AdVE™

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