SAN RAFAEL, CA, Mar. 13, 2009 -- Spectra Watermakers Inc., a leading manufacturer of reverse osmosis desalination systems and energy recovery pumps, will show their latest product development, the Pearson Pump, at the Water Quality Association, WQA - Aquatech USA, conference in Chicago, Mar. 18-20, 2009.
Spectra's Pearson Pump is an elegant new high-pressure pump innovation that has been developed for energy-efficient reverse osmosis desalination of sea water and brackish water. The Pearson Pump is a breakthrough evolution and enhancement of reciprocating pump design. This unique pump system combines feed water pumping and energy recovery into a single unit.
The "Energy Recovery" feature of the Pearson Pump recycles valuable energy entrained in the waste stream which is normally discarded, recovering as much as 80% of the energy wasted in a conventional system. This dramatically increases Spectra's efficiency, bringing energy requirements down to an impressive 10 watt hours per gallon, a major improvement for water desalination.
Spectra Watermakers has been a long-time leader in energy recovery systems for marine industry small-scale (from 150 to 1000 gal/day) reverse osmosis desalination. Spectra's Clark Pump energy recovery pressure amplifier, proven over ten years and in thousands of installations, features energy efficiency that allows the application of solar and wind power to drive many of their land-based products like the "Solar Cube," which now produces 3,000 gallons per day with the Pearson Pump.
The development of the new Pearson Pump will enable Spectra to increase the output of desalinated water by 30% in many of their existing products while also reducing their energy requirements and, because of the scalability of the Pearson Pump, the next generation of Spectra Land-Based and marine products will be efficiently producing 12-30 thousand gallons per day from ocean water and brackish water wells, river estuaries, and inland aquifers.
"Solving the global clean water shortage is a huge problem that will need political will, vision, and technology," said Bill Edinger, CEO of Spectra, in a recent report. "The production of the Pearson Pump is another important step toward affordable, dependable, and environmentally sound water purification."
The message is clear from numerous sources that the water supply in much of the most densely populated parts of the world is under great stress, not only from contamination and salt water intrusion, but also from the breakdown of an aging water distribution infrastructure. This looming crisis and the associated issues are vast and complex, but part of the solution could lie within a decentralized non-municipal distributed water system of smaller plants.
Building a distributed infrastructure is less capital-intensive and can be constructed on an incremental basis. This model is more easily powered today by renewable solar and wind green technology, reducing the costs of energy transport and its associated infrastructure while also reducing its carbon footprint. Projects such as this are being built in developing countries and remote areas that may not have existing infrastructure and fewer regulatory hurdles; however, this localized concept has advantages that apply anywhere.
Spectra manufactures a product line that includes solar and wind-powered land-based desalination units which are now being used for military, disaster relief, village level water supply, small eco-resort, and remote home applications. The introduction of their new Pearson Pump adds more water production for less energy as part of the solution.
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