High Silica Treatment Strategy
Nearly nine years ago, an unexpected opportunity arose to field-test a concept I had been developing to manage high-silica waters — specifically those with silica concentrations exceeding 100 ppm in the feed — a challenge that has historically required substantial and costly pretreatment to address. The idea grew out of years spent working in geothermal fields, where I had closely observed how silica behaves in high-temperature geothermal production wells. The principle was straightforward: chemistry is chemistry, and what occurs naturally in those environments should be replicable under controlled conditions.
The timing of that first trial was critical. The evaporation pond at the site was nearly at capacity, and two of the three brine concentrator units were unable to keep pace with cooling tower blowdown rates. With the window open, we brought in a mobile reverse osmosis trailer and configured the system to replicate the conditions found in geothermal fluid — minus the extreme heat. The results came quickly. Within days it was clear we had made a significant step forward. The process was achieving 50–60% water recovery before sending concentrate to the evaporation pond, and pond levels began to drop. We ran the process from mobile RO trailers for four consecutive summers before a permanent 500 gpm ultrafiltration-reverse osmosis plant was constructed. During that period, I also developed a proprietary antiscalant — HWTR1000 — specifically formulated for this process.
The applications for this technology are broad and timely — from managing cooling tower blowdown and controlling evaporation pond levels, to achieving 90% recovery for new gas plants driven by AI power demand, retrofitting legacy ZLD and HERO-based systems, and developing new potable water sources from saline groundwater. Four supporting documents are attached below: a concept overview, the Gila River Power Station case study, a comparative analysis of the HERO process versus this approach, and a product information sheet on the HWTR1000 antiscalant.
Heinstein Water (HWTR, LLC) is actively seeking partnerships with companies interested in licensing this technology. For serious inquiries please call at 480-450-7306 or pheinstein@hwtrllc.com.