Differentiation Summary. Revolutionizing Water Clean-Up Opportunities

Transcription

1 Differentiation Summary Revolutionizing Water Clean-Up Opportunities NanoClear is a water clean-up process that affordably and efficiently converts salt, brackish or waste water into pure, usable water. NanoClear s selectively permeable Dais membrane allows only high dielectric constant molecules, like water, to pass from one side to the other. This allows NanoClear to purify virtually any water-based substance. The NanoClear process brings the benefits of clean, affordable water to a world with limited and diminishing fresh water supplies. NanoClear adopts the best attributes of reverse osmosis (RO), the leading method of water cleanup today, while addressing key issues that have beset RO. Common problems with RO include membrane fouling, high costs (capital and operating expenses), effluent disposal, and removal of toxic elements. With Dais revolutionary membrane, NanoClear seemingly faces none of these issues. In the United States, a new and strong market driver for NanoClear comes from the recent Environmental Protection Agency s ruling, requiring US municipalities to lower discharge from run-off and waste water plants to parts per billion. Dais NanoClear is one of the few products to effectively, affordably and reliably clean to the EPA s new parts per billion standards, as confirmed by independent testing on water samples obtained from industrial processes: By-product water in Inner Mongolia, China and leachate water (contaminated runoff ) from a US area landfill. These tests were conducted under the protocols established by the World Health Organization and US EPA Clean Water Act. Low CAPEX and OPEX, parts per billion clean water and clear advantages over other processes, NanoClear is revolutionizing water clean up to meet the long term needs of the world s growing population. NanoClear Offers Clear Advantages Dais combines the best elements of RO and of distillation to successfully address each technology s respective weaknesses. A summary of NanoClear s advantages versus reverse osmosis is summarized in the following table: Version 5.0 F August 2010

2 NanoClear v. Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment NanoClear Reverse Osmosis Process 3 Distinct Low Pressure Membrane Processes * Multi-Staged Vapor Compression * Multi-stage * Parallel Stage Direct Impingement [1] Single High Pressure Membrane Process * Solar Pond [2] By Process (Independent of plant size) RO (Dependant on Plant Size) Electrical Usage * Vapor Comp kwh/m 3 * 2.5 to 3 kwh/m 4 m 3 per day * Direct Impingement.1 to.3 kwh/m 3 Membrane Characteristics * Solar Pond:.1 to.3 kwh/m 3 Simple 20 um particle pre-filtration * No regeneration required * * No fouling or scaling * * No chemicals required * * Extremely long lifetime - unknown limit Water Quality Independent Complex Multi-Stage Prefiltration/treatment Regeneration timing dependant on water quality Lifetime dependant on water quality - 2 yrs Chemicals required to protect membrane Water Quality Dependant Capture Percentage * Vapor Compression >85% * 45-65% * Direct Impingement = ~75% * Solar Pond >95% Low Pressure Plastic Piping High Pressure Stainless Steel Plant Construction * Vapor Comp - Serially Staged Trains * Serially staged trains * Cost * Direct Impingement - Parallel Multi- Pass * Batch Processing $.25 to $.33 (projected) M 3, desalination * $.50 to $1 (actual) M 3 desalination Notes: [1] Can be powered by ocean thermo cline or geothermal strata temperature differences [2] Vapor Capture closed heat cycle

3 NanoClear membranes separate water from dissolved solids by diffusing water through a solid molecular matrix that has nanometer dimensions and no pores. Once the water is through the structure it undergoes a phase change and is re-condensed against a thermal recovery surface. The membrane does not foul or scale or require regeneration and has not failed in our testing. The NanoClear process, when used in conjunction with a direct impingement plant configuration, has the ability to function using temperature differences contained within the environment, such as those in ocean thermo clines or geothermal strata. Operating onshore or on ocean platforms, NanoClear will efficiently produce clean water at low capture ratios that eliminate toxic salt discharge concentrations. Electrical energy consumption is 1/10 to 1/3 that of reverse osmosis because the process operates at ambient pressure and pumping energy is only used to overcome pipe friction losses. Product Status and Development NanoClear is early in deployment/beta stage with a scalable plant planned to open in 4Q 2010 in the Tampa area. Test results for the materials and flexible design approaches demonstrate that NanoClear offers compelling projected capital and operational cost savings of up to 50 percent over competing technologies while maintaining similar output efficiencies. To address China s growing water demand and diminishing water supply, Dais has partnered with Genertec America, Inc., creating a $200 million, 5-year distribution agreement. Under this distribution agreement, Dais is executing on its $48 million contract for NanoClear units for China s first Zero Discharge Waste Water Treatment Facility in the Inner Mongolia province (see photo on page 5). The first 2,500m 3 (660,000 gallons) unit is scheduled to be deployed in China by the end of Dais will use its experience in China as a model to expand NanoClear into other Chinese installations and into targeted foreign markets worldwide. A NanoClear prototype unit and the description of the process can be seen by visiting

4 NanoClear s Demonstrated Benefits High Performance o Functions well with small temperature differences (as little as 3 C) from waste heat or environmental gradients to provide potable water created from seawater, brackish water, or contaminated sources o Little/no discharge effluent needing disposal (eco-friendly) o Membrane materials are not damaged by high saline content water Low Cost o Affordable alternative in areas of the world that do not have the funds for traditional massive infrastructure investments o Reduces build and maintenance cost by over 50% Low Energy Consumption o Keeps energy consumption ultra-low (.1kWh - 4 kwh / m³ of water depending upon configuration) o Projected energy costs, depending upon configuration, range from $0.75-$3.00 USD kwh/m 3 of water produced at a delivered cost beginning at approximately $.25/m 3 o Uses waste heat from industrial processes, heat from the ground (geologic), or heat from water taken at different depths (hydrologic), thus lowering energy input costs Simple Process & Simple Maintenance o Low pressure, using C-PVC plastic v. stainless steel o Minimal/no chemical pre- or post-treatment of water o Needs no special treatment to protect the membrane from high saline content feed stream or other contaminants such as organic growth, chlorine, low ph, inorganic scaling or biological fouling o The process appears to maintain its thermal and electrical efficiency across all scales; large and small in all forms of testing o Plant simplicity combined with low power requirements allows decentralized, pointof-use deployment NanoClear s Technology: The Difference is in the Membrane NanoClear s ability to be a strong differentiator in the market comes from the attributes of Dais nano-structured membrane: Moisture transfer rate of 180 grams per square meter per 350 C (flux) Glass transition temperatures from -500 C to 2600 C (useful range) Ionic conductivity of C (no pretreatment) Self assembling channels or domains Forms a hermetic (solid) membrane with highly tunable selective permeability Our intellectual property methods allow precise control over the chemistry of the resulting polymer, giving Dais the ability to tailor the material s active properties to the application s needs and price point

5 Executive Summary As worldwide need grows for more clean water, newer technologies and processes will play a larger role in meeting the world s clean water needs. In addition to being a fully scalable water clean-up plant, NanoClear can be deployed as an RO hybrid product augmenting the effectiveness of an existing RO plant. NanoClear uses Dais s commercially available membrane material which is proven effective in this demanding application. NanoClear is cost competitive, has superior operational and scalable benefits, and can revolutionize water treatment to meet the world s growing potable water needs. NanoClear technology is being scaled, and water testing systems are now in the field. Customers can test their effluent water with the Dais NanoClear process. NanoClear holds the promise that no other existing technology can offer: a scalable, low cost, energy efficient process to provide clean water to the citizens of the United States and other nations for decades to come. No other commercial technology, as near as the Company can tell, has the breadth of application, ability to process as many types of brines and effluent, or the ability to purify away very high TDS (total dissolved solids) water as does NanoClear. NanoClear Testing and Water Qualification System