Voltea, the world’s leader in membrane Capacitive Deionization (CapDI©), has expanded its reach into South America with an installation at the Catholic University of Northern Chile (UCN) – Antofagasta Campus located in Chile’s Antofagasta Region II, near the renowned Atacama desert, the driest place on earth.

For this specific install, the university purchased Voltea’s DK Unit for the Research and Technology Centre of Water of the Desert (Ceitzasa) to perform several research and development studies of various applications, including treatment of low brackish water (0.5 - 5 mS/cm) with silica, hydroponics, waste streams reuse, and boron and arsenic removal.

One of Ceitzasa’s missions is to evaluate sustainable water technologies that offer the highest efficiency plus the lowest environmental footprint. Ceitzasa has partnered with public institutions and private companies involved in the mining sector to quantify and qualify removal rates of specific ions present in water from various sources, and their application in several mining processes. Deionization for mining applications is the first step for Voltea to validate the benefits of membrane CapDI© technology in this market segment, in addition to acquiring a new reference in this part of the globe.

“Voltea continues to partner with universities from around the world that are interested in exploring the benefits of CapDI© technology for water purification,” explains Carlos Camero, Sr. VP Global Sales of Voltea. “We look forward to working with Ceitzasa, UCN and other academic institutions in years to come. It’s important to help our partners reach their high standards and validating proven cost-effective solutions for water purification that are friendly to the environment like CapDI©.”