For a range of industries, liquid slurries represent both dollars and difficulties. The slurries can contain highly desirable commodities, but also unwanted materials, in various particle shapes and sizes, all suspended in liquid. The processes for filtering and separating the good from the bad would benefit from new, innovative approaches, but today’s options are dated, cumbersome, and costly. 

Existing processing plants rely on decades-old technology and are massive, energy-intensive operations that typically contain large tanks and a labyrinth of piping. Within these facilities, time-consuming batch processing methods filter particles from liquid slurries to keep unwanted solids or chemicals from downstream processes or separate the right particles for specific treatment or processing. In some cases, chemical separation methods are used, but this creates additional process streams or byproducts that must also be treated. To separate particles by size, liquids and very small solids are typically pushed through filters that quickly clog and need to be rinsed or replaced. This clogging is an expensive and rate-limiting step for operational efficiency.

A new, transformative solution for slurry filtering and separation is emerging. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has developed a novel in-pipe technology that could prevent clogging issues and increase processing efficiency and effectiveness for rapid filtering and separation. The Mesofluidic Separator – Clog-Free Filtration System provides a tunable, tailorable, energy-efficient, and cost-effective in-pipe solution. The technology leverages proven methods and process chemistries to deliver performance and economic improvements while minimizing the need for large processing plants. The small, puck-shaped Mesofluidic Separator fits snuggly in existing piping and could revolutionize the way the nation processes slurries and chemicals for a range of needs, particularly:

• Critical mineral recovery. Wastewater brines can be a source of rare earth minerals, including lithium, and the Mesofluidic Separator offers exciting potential for removing these particles for use in emerging energy technologies. The separator provides improved methods for selective mineral extraction to cost-efficiently meet priority national material needs and strengthen America’s energy and industrial security.

• Geothermal energy. A reduced processing footprint for removal of unwanted silica from geothermal brines at energy-producing plants can help enable the planned expansion of America’s geothermal industry.

• Water treatment. Treatment of wastewater/process water and cleaning/treatment of water for environmental remediation applications address industry and other needs.

• Oil and gas extraction. In the oil industry, for example, sparing one barrel of oil-well-produced wastewater from being pumped underground saves between $2.50 and $4.50. Mesofluidic separation could also eliminate the need for wastewater settling ponds, which often contain hazardous particles that can take up to a year to settle and that subsequently pose long-term environmental risks.

This technology also offers potential solutions in areas including food processing, advanced manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, environmental cleanup involving chemical waste treatment, and research applications that include aerosol science and supercritical fluids.