Metito backs low-temperature distillation to challenge lead desalination technologies

Dubai-based water technology firm, Metito, is set to make a “significant investment” in clean-tech company Thermal Purification Technologies (TPTec), to develop TPTec’s patented low-temperature distillation (LTD) technology. Metito claims LTD could displace existing membrane and thermal desalination technologies.

Water technology firm Metito, is set to make a “significant investment” in clean-tech company Thermal Purification Technologies (TPTec), to develop TPTec’s patented low-temperature distillation (LTD) technology which Metito claims could displace existing membrane and thermal desalination technologies.

LTD deploys low-grade waste heat to desalinate seawater and wastewater. According to Metito, LTD is capable of treating high-saline and polluted water. Metito said it will introduce, and help develop, LTD initially in markets across Asia and Africa, where the feasibility of desalination and the energy production resources required for water and wastewater purification are in short supply. In deploying low-tempeature heat from waste and renewable souces LTD is particularly suited to emerging markets said Metito.

Bassem Halabi, Metito Group Business Development Director, said: “LTD has the potential to redefine the practice of thermal desalination as it not only offers advanced benefits over existing thermal and membrane technologies, but it also provides significant energy and cost savings compared to other technologies.”

Metito said it had the “scale, expertise and financial backing” ” to bring on LTD “to become a mainstream solution”. It pointed to its heavyweight shareholders who include Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Gulf Capital and the International Finance Corporation.

The technology can be retrofitted to existing plants to optimise processes,that produce waste heat without incurring huge investments said Metito. While LTD typically might be used in conjunction with other technologies, Metito said it foresees it quickly displacing current reverse osmosis and thermal desalination technologies.

“The process is very tolerant of salinity and is not limited to treating seawater, but also polluted water, brine from other desalination plants and various industrial wastewaters, including produced water from oil and gas exploration and mining which ordinarily can be problematic to deal with,” Metito said.

Metito’s compelling shareholder base that includes Mitsubishi Corporation (MC), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Gulf Capital and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Group has the scale, expertise and financial backing” to bring on LTD “to become a mainstream solution”.