Air Products, located near Los Angeles, produces pure hydrogen for a variety of customers, including zero-emission hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

The plant uses 1.75 million gallons of water per day to produce steam for the hydrogen production process. To clean this influent water stream, Air Products uses reverse osmosis (RO) membranes installed and operated by Evoqua. This main RO system produces a concentrate which was previously being sent to waste. Air Products engaged Evoqua to install an additional RO purification system that would recover the brine, clean it, and recycle it back to the main RO system, offsetting the total water used by the plant.

Since startup, the system has been saving more than 125,000 gallons of water daily. Once system operation is tuned to maximum efficiency, anticipated savings will be 200,000 gallons of water per day, totaling up to more than 75 million gallons a year, with a corresponding reduction in wastewater flow. Improvements will continue for the lifetime of the plant, and Air Products is currently expanding the solution to a second plant. Evoqua is pleased to help Air Products meet their Grow-Conserve-Care corporate sustainability initiatives, outlining a goal of conserving 5% of water by 2020.