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Voltea, Ltd., the world’s leader in membrane- Capacitive Deionization (CapDI©), has completed a €5m capitalization round to fund continued commercialization of its technology in multiple sectors. Existing investors Pentair, Unilever Ventures and Anterra Capital joined the round, and the financing will underpin the company’s continued rapid commercial expansion.

Voltea’s CapDI© devices remove salts and other dissolved solids from water simply by applying electric fields across the water flow. This lowers maintenance, energy and CAPEX compared to traditional approaches, which depend on high pressure or heat. Voltea’s technology recovers up to 90% of treated water, which is a big step forward in efficient water use. The devices are highly modular and have been miniaturized to the size of a coffee cup.

Voltea achieved key advances that have resulted in robust performance, lifetime and reliability while attaining a cost structure superior to traditional deionization technologies. Large-scale commercial and industrial systems are now operating on four continents, and both residential and consumer appliances will launch in the coming months.

The global desalination equipment market is worth tens of billions and is growing at 10-20% per annum. Voltea’s technology enables an even larger market opportunity by making desalination economical in many new settings. “Voltea is clearly the pioneer in the space and owns all of the key patents. As we’ve lowered costs and improved performance, we have seen demand increase rapidly. Our technology is competing and winning in multiple sectors,” says Bryan Brister, CEO of Voltea. “Current investors are very pleased with our commercial progress, and believe ETF will help accelerate growth of our business. We were impressed with ETF’s common sense practical approach, which already had an impact even before the deal was signed. ETF will add a lot of value as we continue to grow the business.” Arne Morteani, of the Environmental Technologies Fund, adds:

In 2015, the term that seems to define the needs of populations around the world, and that has become a mission in its own right, is water reuse. From residential to commercial and industrial consumers, water reuse is becoming more and more essential to our daily survival. The earth’s population is expected to climb fully 35%, that’s 2.5 billion more people, by 2050, meaning that pressure on global water resources is increasing at an even faster rate than ever before. The need for technologies that cost-effectively enable water reuse is currently at its peak of importance. Voltea has developed a new technology that removes TDS (total dissolved solids) more cheaply and efficiently than any other technology, and does so at high temperatures. The introduction of this technology means water reuse can become an affordable and viable option today.

Over the last 15 years, innovations in many fields have so rapidly developed that keeping up with the ever-changing technologies has not only been difficult, but also very expensive. In the water reuse field, there have been numerous technologies that have been developed in order to help solve the water issues we have at hand; the same issues that we have been dealing with for many years now. These technologies are particularly important for industries that consume significant amounts of water during normal operation such as commercial laundries and textile cleaning.

Water reuse not only helps save the planet by consumers and businesses becoming more environmentally friendly, but it also saves costs in both personal and industrial applications. Voltea, a water technology company located in the Netherlands, has proven a way for water reuse to be a more commonly practiced concept around the world. Voltea’s Capacitive Deionization technology, CapDI©, deionizes brackish water at the lowest economic and environmental cost of any globally available technology. CapDI© is a simple, innovative, and most importantly cost-effective way to remove TDS from water.

In commercial laundry, TDS above 750-1,250 ppm causes dull, gray linens, so effective use of recycled laundry water has been limited by the inability to affordably and reliably remove TDS at high temperatures. Current technologies, such as reverse osmosis (RO), require water to be cooled below laundering temperatures before TDS removal, which means it must then be reheated for laundering. This is expensive, time consuming, and now unnecessary. By removing TDS at laundering temperatures, Voltea customers realize exceptional operational, chemical, and energy costs savings. Commercial laundries across the globe have reduced their total water consumption up to 90% per year by implementing Voltea’s CapDI© technology. This technology recovers up to 90% of the water it treats, and does so at the high temperatures that commercial laundry facilities operate (140°F/60°C).

CapDI© is a simple 2-step process wherein water flows between electrodes, where the electrode surfaces are separated from the water by membranes that selectively allow positive or negative ions to pass. In the first step, purification, saline water passes between oppositely charged electrodes which electrostatically remove dissolved ions, leaving pure water flowing out of the cell. In the second step, regeneration, feed water flushes through the cell at a lower flow rate, while electrode polarity is reversed. Ions are then rejected from the electrode surface, concentrated in the flow channel, and flushed from the cell before the cycle is repeated. Moreover, a critically important feature of the technology is that the amount of TDS removed from the water is tunable.

For example, a laundry operator could set an upper limit of 1,000 ppm TDS, above which recycled water would no longer be suitable for laundering. In such a case CapDI© would remove TDS as the water was recycled for repeated washes without allowing the water to reach the upper limit of 1,000 ppm, and if the laundry operator wanted an even lower threshold, CapDI© would simply remove more salt with each recycle loop. The addition of CapDI© to the treatment system provides a longer run time and an increased number of recycling cycles before the water reaches the TDS limit, thus saving the facility on water intake and recovery, as well as providing essential energy savings by doing so at laundering temperatures.

Voltea reuse solutions work across all laundry intakes, such as healthcare, hospitality, uniforms/industrial, and food & beverage. These commercial laundry intakes make up the approximately 90,000 commercial laundry facilities globally, which combined wash an estimated 55 million tons of textiles annually. If the commercial laundry field alone entirely converted their operations to adopt Voltea’s water reuse solution, CapDI©, they would make a monumental difference in water usage around the world.

Arguably the most important molecule on the planet is water; and more than any other single molecule, it is essential to sustaining life. So why do we take it for granted? Why do we waste so much of what we need to survive? As the world comes to grips with this enormous challenge, the answer is more efficiently using this precious resource, and water reuse is key.

Interestingly, citizens in developed nations consume far greater daily amounts of water on a per capita basis than citizens of developing nations owing to industrialization itself. On-demand energy, 24 hours a day, and the availability of clean water is critical to the growth, prosperity and quality of life of global citizens, and these needs place ever-increasing demands on natural resources.

In real-world issues, water reuse can help arid regions of the world sustain growth and development, as well as improve the health of the population. In business applications, water reuse can help conserve energy and proves to be cost-effective with incentives given in a world leaning more and more towards “going green” and being energy efficient. With water usage tripling over the last 50 years, water reuse has become a necessity.

At Voltea, we realize the importance of water reuse and specialize in cost-effective technology that advances the reuse in residential and industrial applications. Capacitive Deionization (CapDI©) controls water composition by removing dissolved impurities, thus improving water quality. The advantage of CapDI in an industrial system is that the reduction of TDS (total dissolved solids) is tunable, chemical consumption is low, and there is low systematic maintenance.

An example of an industry that relies on significant daily volumes of clean water is the global commercial laundry business. A typical commercial laundry will consume 250 m3/day of potable water, as well as discharge approximately 200 m3/day of wastewater. The feed and wastewater costs typically represent over 50% of total operating expenses for these industrial companies. It is important to note that the water sent to drain in this critically important industry suffers elevated levels of dissolved salts due to the cleaning process.

Voltea’s technology is revolutionizing this industry because it has proven capable of controlling TDS below levels that would otherwise result in gray linens. Equally as important, Voltea technology treats laundry water at elevated temperatures, without first having to cool the water, treat it, and then re-heat for use. All of which would be an energy intensive, expensive process. CapDI’s ability to remove TDS at temperatures used in commercial laundries is allowing much greater water reuse efficiency in this critically important industry. Moreover, Voltea’s TDS management reduces water consumption and discharge, which results in energy savings and cost reductions that matter!

Dan Gates, President at American Water Purification (AWPI) commented “Voltea and their team has delivered a TDS trimming solution that opens the door to an unprecedented opportunity for savings in hot water reuse for commercial laundry facilities.” Voltea has such a unique application for the commercial laundry industry where CapDI is the only successful technology in the world that can help this industry leap forward towards being more energy efficient and become a leader in water reuse.

In Western Australia, Voltea has integrated CapDI into a water reuse system for commercial laundry to help address the dramatic water scarcity across the country. Sue Murphy, CEO of the Western Australia Water Corp noted “Western Australia has seen climate change happen faster and earlier than almost anywhere else on the planet. In the last 15 years, the water from rain into our dams has dropped to one-sixth of what it used to be before that.” If Voltea can help these companies with this technology now, water reuse can quickly become a staple in not only the commercial laundry industry, but also any industry where water reuse is of critical importance.

Another industry in which Voltea is making significant progress with commercializing CapDI is industrial cooling towers. Trimming the TDS of cooling tower make-up water by removal of up to 90% of the incoming salt delivers an immediate increase in cycles of concentration. Multiple global installations are yielding an average 20% reduction in make-up water, 40%-60% reduction in wastewater, and a full 60% reduction in the use of anti-scalants and anti-corrosion chemicals.

Voltea is delivering measurable benefits through a powerful economic message combined with meaningful environmental benefits.

Voltea continues its global expansion by partnering with Texchine, a South Carolina-based distributor and reseller of equipment for commercial laundry, cooling tower, and general water treatment industries. Voltea is honored to have Texchine as a reseller of their industrial water softening equipment, and is excited to enter into the North American market.

Through this partnership, Voltea has already completed the first installation in a U.S. based commercial laundry facility where Voltea equipment is allowing reuse of laundry water by controlling TDS (total dissolved solids) yielding superior, bright white linens washed with recycled water. This laundry facility has already achieved significant cost savings and has been able to double their daily throughput without exceeding daily discharge permit limits. This is attained because of the ability to use recycled water.

Jay Dixon, Owner of Texchine (www.texchine.com), commented “Texchine has forty years of experience bringing new technologies to the industries we serve. We are excited to work with Voltea to introduce CapDI© into laundry and cooling tower applications. This technology will allow our customers to conserve water at a time when these industries are recognizing the need.”

Voltea’s award winning CapDI© technology removes dissolved salts from water at the temperature that commercial laundries clean their linens, so cooling the water down before treatment is not necessary. Energy costs are lowered due to Voltea’s ability to treat water at elevated temperature (North American laundries operate at temperatures exceeding 45° C (113° F).)