LOVES PARK, ILLINOIS, March 24, 2025 (WaterSurplus release) – Illinois-based WaterSurplus, a leading provider of sustainable water treatment solutions across industries and around the world, announces that it has installed five ImpactRO brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO) systems at one of the largest beverage facilities in North America.
Developed by WaterSurplus, ImpactRO combines several milestone technological improvements into one system that delivers a significant reduction in membrane fouling, significantly lower operational costs, and improved sustainability. With a combined flow rate of ~2.5 MGD, this high efficiency/high recovery BWRO system is going to deliver the customer >95% percent recovery.
More than 40 ImpactRO systems with a combined capacity in excess of 15 MGD throughout the United States are currently online or slated for installation by the end of 2025. A wide range of industries have adopted this new technology. To date, this includes projects at breweries, soft drink bottlers, water bottlers, dairies, meat processors, municipalities, refineries, and various industrial water reuse applications.
“The suite of patented innovations that came together to make our ImpactRO were developed over years of research and development. From the beginning, our goal was to create an efficient RO that would intelligently address the root causes of membrane fouling, extend the life of membranes, reduce energy consumption, deliver high recovery, and minimize system downtime. We believe that repeat purchases by major international industrial customers, followed by recent adoption by municipal customers are our best indication that we have succeeded,” said Dileep Agnihotri, PhD, chief technology officer of WaterSurplus.
According to Dr. Agnihotri, ImpactRO systems contain multiple complementary innovations from WaterSurplus:
- Feed-forward design, which balances the distribution of feedwater across stages and membrane elements throughout the system, reducing the range in flux from the lead element to the tail element. This results in reduced energy consumption and increased recovery while maximizing the lifespan and performance of each element.
- Micro-disruptions, which are intermittent bursts of feed water that clean the concentration polarization on the membrane surface without disrupting operation.
- Intermittent variable recovery (IVR), a strategic and automated modulation of the RO’s concentrate recovery valve that enables operators to maintain optimal recovery without placing the RO at risk of fouling when feed water conditions change.
- NanoScope, a monitoring system that assesses RO performance 15 times faster than traditional monitoring allowing the use of predictive analytics to anticipate and preempt membrane fouling.
- Single-point clean-in-place, which enables easy and independent cleaning of each stage, reducing system downtime.
A deeper look at ImpactRO’s benefits reveals up to 96 percent product recovery, a two to three-fold reduction in membrane fouling and system downtime, and a two-fold increase in membrane life when compared with a traditional, multi-stage brackish RO.
About Water Surplus
Based in Loves Park, Illinois, WaterSurplus delivers sustainable water treatment solutions across industries and around the world. Since its founding in 1989, innovation has been the company’s hallmark. Today, that is represented by cutting-edge reverse osmosis systems, fouling-resistant membrane elements, PFAS treatment systems, and pre-engineered filtration systems that feature proprietary catalytic media. Additionally, WaterSurplus continues to deliver an availability advantage thanks to its ready-to-run rental fleet and large inventory of surplus water treatment equipment. For more information, please visit: watersurplus.com
