Beat the incumbent — and the region’s volcanic water
Ecolutia was invited to tender for a new 10-year outsourced contract to produce RO permeate at a refinery in Southeast Asia. The region’s volcanic geology brings silica up to 90 ppm from the deep wells, while the coastal location adds high hardness up to 100 ppm, and chlorides up to 900 ppm — problematic feedwater by any standard.
The incumbent offered continuity with the existing RO and no site disruption, so Ecolutia had to make a compelling case to demonstrate the benefits of a genuinely better solution.
New chemistry instead of tonnes of salt
The existing site process relied on monthly deliveries of up to 10 tonnes of salt for softener regeneration, plus large volumes of caustic for pH control. The Ecolutia solution removed the need for these deliveries and removed any suspended matter using GAC before it was fed to Ecolutia’s Triton BWRO96. This was then followed by removal of dissolved O₂ and CO₂ using an FDA. The high-quality RO permeate was then fed to the customer’s storage tank for use on site.
Every obligation met — at half the power
All contractual obligations were met or exceeded, with 100% permeate quality and flowrate availability. Power use fell from over 2 kWh/m³ to consistently under 1 — beating the <1.2 kWh/m³ contract spec and saving roughly US$10,000 a month on power alone. Eliminating bulk salt and caustic handling also made the site operations safer and more environmentally friendly.
