“An Aqua Fission retrofit to existing RO investments doubles capacity and cleans toxic brine streams through its Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) process.”
Toxic Brine and ROC Remediation
Reverse osmosis systems produce large volumes of toxic brine and Reverse Osmosis Concentrate (ROC) as an unavoidable byproduct. Disposing of these waste streams is becoming one of the biggest challenges for RO operators. Ocean discharge, deep-well injection, evaporation ponds, and other disposal methods are expensive, increasingly restricted by regulation, difficult to permit, and carry growing environmental and reputational risk
How Aqua Fission works as an RO retrofit or add-on
Aqua Fission can be deployed downstream of existing reverse osmosis systems as a retrofit or modular add-on specifically designed to treat and recover water from brine and ROC streams. Instead of disposing of concentrate as waste, Aqua Fission processes it further, recovering additional clean water and eliminating liquid discharge and recovering valuable wet salt through its true Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) process.
This allows RO operators to:
- Eliminate brine and ROC disposal
- Double fresh water capacity, recovering water from existing feedstock without new intake permits
- Extend the useful life of existing RO assets
- Create a significant revenue stream through the sale of wet salt.
Lower cost, lower risk, better compliance
By eliminating the need for brine discharge and long-term disposal, Aqua Fission reduces operating costs tied to transport, injection, evaporation, and regulatory compliance. Its ultra-low energy operation and lack of membranes or chemical-intensive pretreatment help stabilize OPEX as energy, consumable, and disposal costs continue to rise.
From a regulatory and ESG perspective, removing liquid waste streams significantly de-risks RO projects. Operators can meet tightening environmental standards, simplify permitting, and reduce exposure to community opposition and future regulatory changes.
Future-proofing existing RO infrastructure
Aqua Fission enables RO plants to transition from partial recovery systems into closed-loop water facilities. The modular design allows phased deployment without major civil works, making it practical for retrofits, capacity expansions, and compliance-driven upgrades.
The result is future-proof infrastructure that aligns with ESG goals, supports long-term sustainability, and unlocks new growth opportunities for utilities, municipalities, and investors — without abandoning existing RO investments.
The Problem with Reverse Osmosis
Pressure is increasing to adopt sustainable technologies while rising water scarcity and brine-disposal bans accelerate demand. Reverse Osmosis (RO) dominates the water desalination and treatment market today. RO is a problematic solution because it is energy-intensive and often powered by fossil fuels, relies on plastic membranes and requires chemical treatments and constant consumable replacement. Importantly, RO generates large volumes of toxic brine and reverse-osmosis concentrates (ROC) that are costly to manage, environmentally harmful, and increasingly restricted by regulation.
Aqua Fission not only solves energy, waste, and cost limitations of RO and thermal systems, it can be a retrofit to existing RO plants to process toxic brine and ROC’s and double freshwater capacity.
Read [Debunking desalination] by the World Wildlife Federation
- Energy-intensive and costly, requiring heating, consumables such as chemicals, membranes, reagents, inhibitors, coagulants, filters, cathodes and anodes, and high-pressure pumps that require regular replacement.
- High labor, maintenance, and toxic brine and reverse osmosis concentrate disposal costs.
- Significant greenhouse emissions
- Outputs 50% brine and reverse osmosis concentrates (ROCs) in the reject stream, increasing toxicity and disposal complexity.
- Toxic salt brine (highly concentrated seawater) and ROC’s are loaded with chemicals and heavy metals, depletes oxygen, and threatens entire ecosystems.
- Only 50% clean water output (and 50% toxic brine) requiring the processing of 2X water volume.
- Ineffective on high salt content water, PFAS and microplastics, and radioactive contaminants such as tritium.
- Requires pre- and post-treatment.
- Mineral loss and acidic pH.
- Processing and sources lead to bad tasting water.
Case Study
GREECE: Port of Piraeus
Seawater Decontamination / Hydrocarbon Removal
Piraeus, the largest port in Greece, faces chronic hydrocarbon pollution from maritime and industrial sources. The energy company, OilOne, deployed AquaFission to treat seawater contaminated with hydrocarbon derivatives and other pollutants.
TIMEFRAME: 6 months
CAPACITY: 75 m³/day (75,000 liters/day)
TOTAL VOLUME TREATED: 13,500 m³ (13,500,000 liters)
