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Zero Liquid Discharge

ZLD — Evaporation Systems

Evaporate the reject stream, recover distilled water and leave only dry salt — no liquid effluent leaves the plant.

Single Effect Evaporator Electric Evaporator Multiple Effect Evaporator

Why zero liquid discharge?

Pollution control boards increasingly require industries — especially those with high-TDS or coloured effluent — to discharge no liquid at all. A ZLD scheme concentrates the treated reject and evaporates it.

The condensed vapour returns as high-purity distilled water for reuse, and the residue leaves as dry salt or sludge cake. The right evaporator depends on your reject volume and available utilities — steam, electricity or both.

Single Effect Evaporator

Steam heats the effluent in a single calandria; the vapour is condensed and recovered as distilled water while the concentrate thickens for salt separation. Simple, robust and economical for low to medium reject volumes.

Capacity: 500 LPD – 25 KLD
Utility: steam from existing boiler
Best for: low reject volumes, simple operation
Construction: SS 316 contact parts

Electric Evaporator

Where no boiler or steam line exists, electrically heated evaporators do the same job in a compact skid. Ideal for laboratories, small process units and sites with intermittent reject generation.

Capacity: 100 LPD – 5 KLD
Utility: electricity only — no steam needed
Best for: small volumes, plug-and-run skids
Automation: fully automatic batch cycle

Multiple Effect Evaporator (MEE)

Vapour from the first effect becomes the heating medium of the next, so each kilogram of steam evaporates several kilograms of water. For large, continuous reject volumes an MEE — often with a thermo-vapour compressor — cuts energy cost dramatically.

Capacity: 10 KLD – 500 KLD
Effects: 2 – 4, with TVC / forced circulation options
Best for: continuous high-TDS reject streams
Downstream: agitated thin film dryer / centrifuge for salt

Process diagram

Reject water
high-TDS stream
Feed tank
preheating
Evaporator
single effect / electric / MEE
Condenser
vapour recovered
Distilled water
back to process

The concentrate goes to salt separation — ATFD / centrifuge — so no liquid leaves the plant.

Choosing the right evaporator

Criteria
Single Effect
Electric
MEE
Reject volume
Low – medium
Low
High, continuous
Utility needed
Steam
Electricity
Steam (less per litre)
Capital cost
Low
Lowest
Higher
Running cost / litre
Medium
High
Lowest

See it working

Evaporation systems recovering water from reject.

Facing a ZLD mandate? We’ll size the whole scheme.

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