ALI: A Water Recovery Solution for Cooling Towers
About the solution
Improve Your Cooling Tower Efficiency
- Aqua Liquefaction with Ionization (ALI), is a leading patented technology for cooling towers
- ALI uses specially-designed ductwork over cooling towers to capture evaporating water
- Without using heat or chemicals under normal cooling tower operations, ALI condenses and recovers evaporating water and eliminates the concentration of solid and liquid impurities
Features
The Benefits of ALI
Recover a significant amount of water loss.
Under normal cooling tower operations, ALI captures and recovers evaporative water which may save in operating expenses.
Reduce chemical treatments.
ALI reduces the need for expensive chemicals to treat water impurities and bacteria by recovering and recycling water.
Reduce blow down.
Recycling clean, evaporated water reduces sewage discharge and wastewater disposal.
Eliminate plume rise.
ALI contains and redirects the plume, which can spread bacteria and diseases into the atmosphere.
The Science
How It Works
Step One
The Conventional Process
Traditional cooling tower systems use water to extract waste heat and eject it into the atmosphere. In these towers, humid air carries warm water vapor out of each tower. Many cooling towers also utilize a sump, or basin, that collects water and impurities that over time lead to corrosion and bacteria growth. Many cooling tower systems control these issues by adding more water and chemicals.
Step Two
Splitting
ALI’s technology adds a patent-pending duct system above the existing cooling tower that condenses and recovers evaporating water. The duct system splits and straightens the airflow using psychrometrics, which prevents back pressure and reduces turbulence.
Step Three
Coalesce and Condense
The duct system's airflow is then directed to an ionization and cloud chamber, where a carefully controlled electric field causes the water molecules to coalesce and condense into larger droplets.
Step Four
Return and Exhaust
The condensed, clean water is returned to the basin, and the remaining air exits through the exhaust. The recovered and recycled water is now available for reuse in the water cooling system.
Our Partners
Frequently Asked Questions
Does ALI interfere with normal cooling tower operations?
No, ALI does not interfere with cooling tower operations and operates independently from existing systems. It fits over the top of the cooling tower with its own steel support structure and maintains existing access points.
Does ALI inhibit air flow from the cooling tower exhaust?
No, ALI’s patent-pending design improves air flow by removing moisture, straightening the air flow and creating a venturi effect, which increases airflow toward the exhaust.
Is ALI patented?
ALI is patent-pending. Breakthrough Technologies filed patents in the U.S. and additional jurisdictions abroad.
Does ALI require a lot of maintenance?
Due to the fact that ALI does not involve any moving parts, ALI only requires one inspection and cleaning per year.
Does ALI reduce the use of chemicals to treat water in the cooling tower system?
Since ALI returns evaporated water to the cooling tower, the concentration of impurities at the basin or sump is reduced. This results in fewer blowdowns or the removal of impurities and reduced chemical use.
The Team
Who We Are
Boston-based Breakthrough Technologies is led by a world-class engineering team managed by one of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s brightest engineers. Unlike any other sustainable technology company, our engineers utilize physics to solve sustainability problems with industrial production processes. This unique approach ultimately leads to cleaner, cost-saving sustainable solutions.
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Learn more about Breakthrough Technologies and our innovative industrial products.