Richard Lindsay Stover, Ph.D., pioneered the development of the PX Pressure Exchanger energy recovery device Energy recovery that is currently in use in most seawater reverse osmosis desalination plants in existence today.
Stover is a water industry veteran with 25 years of commercial and technical experience, dedicated to making global water resources sustainable through improved water treatment efficiency.
Early life and education
Richard Stover studied chemical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin from 1983 through 1986. He graduated with bachelor's degree.
He continued the study of chemical engineering at the University of California at Berkeley starting in 1991, completing a Ph.D. in 1996. His dissertation was entitled "Bubble Dynamics in Electrolytic Gas Evolution” (Electrochemical Engineering) with Charles Tobias and Morton Denn. As part of his work he devised an optical-laser technique to record fluid dynamics during hydrolysis and experimented with surface tension, viscosity, electrode polarity, and bubble size. He simulated experiments with a finite-difference fluid-flow model.
Career
He worked for 3M Company in Minnesota from 1986 through 1990 as a process and chemical engineer. He was responsible for product delivery, reliability, and cost at a videotape manufacturing facility.
Stover worked for the IBM Corporation in San Jose from 1996 through 1998 as a process development engineer. There he led a manufacturing engineering team in developing and implementing a process for reducing friction and contamination in advanced computer hard drives. He discovered, demonstrated, and patented a hard-drive component design feature to increase product reliability.[citation needed]
He then worked for LFR Levine Fricke in Emeryville California 1998 through 2002 as a chemical engineering and environmental consultant. In this capacity, he designed and implemented wastewater treatment plants using chemical, electrolytic or membrane separation processes.
Stover joined Energy Recovery Inc.(ERI) in 2002 to develop and launch the PX-220, which has since become the leading energy recovery device in seawater desalination. His numerous publications and achievements have earned him international recognition as an expert in energy recovery and process optimization in reverse osmosis systems. At ERI, he holds responsibility for technical product-support services, strategic positioning of PX technology, and managing and expanding ERI's intellectual property holdings. In addition, in his current role as Vice President of Sales, he is responsible for strategic growth and risk management. Stover was a co-recipient of the European Desalination Society's 2006 Sidney Loeb award for outstanding innovation.
As Desalitech's Executive Vice President since 2010, he has been responsible for market strategy, customer and technical support and growth of the company's leadership role in high efficiency water treatment. Since joining Desalitech, Dr. Stover has assisted in the launch of Desalitech's ReFlex Reverse Osmosis systems which features patented CCD technology – the first major improvement in the reverse osmosis process in decades. ReFlex systems typically reduce brine waste by 50 to 75 percent and energy consumption by 35 percent while providing increased reliability and flexibility.
Adult life
Stover hates to travel.[citation needed] He rode 10,000 miles on a bicycle in Southern Europe in the years 1990 and 1991.
He has been married since 1996 and has two children.
Project Involvement
Development of Energy Recovery Devices
Richard Stover pioneered the development of the PX Pressure Exchanger energy recovery device which revolutionized seawater desalination by reducing the amount of energy required by the reverse osmosis process. The PX Pressure Exchanger device represents a notable contribution to Clean Technology.
Notable Activities and Other Participations
Energy Recovery Devices in Desalination Applications, Proceedings of the International Water Association’s 2008 North American Membrane Research Conference, University of Massachusetts, Amherst Massachusetts, August 2008.[1]
Richard Stover presented about Energy recovery devices in desalination applications.
Energy Recovery Devices in Membrane Desalination Operations (with Borja Blanco), Proceedings of the WIM2008 International Congress on Water Management in the Mining Industry, July 2008.[2]
An Oral and Poster presentation with Mr. Borja Blanco about Membrane Processes - Desalinisation - Reverse Osmosis
Low Energy Consumption SWRO, submitted to Proceedings of Clean Technology 2008, Boston Massachusetts, June 2008.[3]
Presented an article that describes the design and operation of the Perth plant as a new standard for seawater desalination.
Environmentally Sound Desalination at the Perth Seawater Desalination Plant, Proceedings of the Enviro '08, Australia’s Environmental and Sustainability Conference and Exhibition, Melbourne, Australia, May 2008.[4]
Spoke at a conference about Energy Solutions in the Water Industry – The Perth Seawater Desalination Plant.
Seawater Reverse Osmosis Process Simulator, Desalination, Volume 221 Numbers 1, pp.126–135, March 2008.[5]
Published an article about an original SWRO process simulator.
Seawater Reverse Osmosis with Isobaric Energy Recovery Devices, Desalination 203, pp.168–175, February 2007.[6]
Published an article about principles and theories of energy recovery devices.
Rotary Pressure Exchanger, US Patent 7,201,557, Patent and Trademark Office, Washington, D.C., April 10, 2007.[7]
Osmotic Power from the Ocean (with G.G. Pique), Power Magazine, December 2006.[8]
A demonstration test of osmotic power generation using the osmotic potential difference between seawater and fresh water.
The Ghalilah SWRO plant: an overview of the solutions adopted to minimize energy consumption (with A. Ameglio and P.A.K. Khan), Desalination, 184 (1), p.217-221, Nov 2005.[9]
Published an article that describe the challenges and solutions associated with the design, commissioning and operation of the Federal Electricity and Water Authorities (FEWA) SWRO plant, particularly those aspects associated with energy efficiency and energy recovery.
Development of a Fourth Generation Energy Recovery Device – A CTO’s Notebook, Desalination, 165, pp.313–321, August 2004.[10]
Authored an article about the challenges and solutions of the design and deployment of the PX energy recovery device.
Report of the Berkeley Plastics Task Force (with K. Evans and K. Pickett), Ecology Center Press, 1996.[11]
Authored and was member of the task force that conducted research about plastic manufacturing, the recyclability of various types of plastic packaging, the feasibility of picking up plastics in a curbside recycling program, and issues surrounding plastics in the waste stream.
Related Research Articles
Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, brine may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for brining foods) up to about 26% (a typical saturated solution, depending on temperature). Brine forms naturally due to evaporation of ground saline water but it is also generated in the mining of sodium chloride. Brine is used for food processing and cooking (pickling and brining), for de-icing of roads and other structures, and in a number of technological processes. It is also a by-product of many industrial processes, such as desalination, so it requires wastewater treatment for proper disposal or further utilization (fresh water recovery).
Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in soil desalination, which is an issue for agriculture. Saltwater is desalinated to produce water suitable for human consumption or irrigation. The by-product of the desalination process is brine. Desalination is used on many seagoing ships and submarines. Most of the modern interest in desalination is focused on cost-effective provision of fresh water for human use. Along with recycled wastewater, it is one of the few rainfall-independent water resources.
Forward osmosis (FO) is an osmotic process that, like reverse osmosis (RO), uses a semi-permeable membrane to effect separation of water from dissolved solutes. The driving force for this separation is an osmotic pressure gradient, such that a "draw" solution of high concentration, is used to induce a net flow of water through the membrane into the draw solution, thus effectively separating the feed water from its solutes. In contrast, the reverse osmosis process uses hydraulic pressure as the driving force for separation, which serves to counteract the osmotic pressure gradient that would otherwise favor water flux from the permeate to the feed. Hence significantly more energy is required for reverse osmosis compared to forward osmosis.
Multi-stage flash distillation (MSF) is a water desalination process that distills sea water by flashing a portion of the water into steam in multiple stages of what are essentially countercurrent heat exchangers. Current MSF facilities may have as many as 30 stages.
Solar desalination is a desalination technique powered by solar energy. The two common methods are direct (thermal) and indirect (photovoltaic).
A watermaker is a device used to obtain potable water by reverse osmosis of seawater. In boating and yachting circles, desalinators are often referred to as "watermakers".
Osmotic power, salinity gradient power or blue energy is the energy available from the difference in the salt concentration between seawater and river water. Two practical methods for this are reverse electrodialysis (RED) and pressure retarded osmosis (PRO). Both processes rely on osmosis with membranes. The key waste product is brackish water. This byproduct is the result of natural forces that are being harnessed: the flow of fresh water into seas that are made up of salt water.
A reverse osmosis plant is a manufacturing plant where the process of reverse osmosis takes place. Reverse osmosis is a common process to purify or desalinate contaminated water by forcing water through a membrane. Water produced by reverse osmosis may be used for a variety of purposes, including desalination, wastewater treatment, concentration of contaminants, and the reclamation of dissolved minerals. An average modern reverse osmosis plant needs six kilowatt-hours of electricity to desalinate one cubic metre of water. The process also results in an amount of salty briny waste. The challenge for these plants is to find ways to reduce energy consumption, use sustainable energy sources, improve the process of desalination and to innovate in the area of waste management to deal with the waste. Self-contained water treatment plants using reverse osmosis, called reverse osmosis water purification units, are normally used in a military context.
A solar-powered desalination unit produces potable water from saline water through direct or indirect methods of desalination powered by sunlight. Solar energy is the most promising renewable energy source due to its ability to drive the more popular thermal desalination systems directly through solar collectors and to drive physical and chemical desalination systems indirectly through photovoltaic cells.
Reverse electrodialysis (RED) is the salinity gradient energy retrieved from the difference in the salt concentration between seawater and river water. A method of utilizing the energy produced by this process by means of a heat engine was invented by Prof. Sidney Loeb in 1977 at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. --United States Patent US4171409
The Perth Seawater Desalination Plant, located in Naval Base, south of Perth, Western Australia, turns seawater from Cockburn Sound into nearly 140 megalitres of drinking water per day, supplying the Perth metropolitan area.
A pressure exchanger transfers pressure energy from a high pressure fluid stream to a low pressure fluid stream. Many industrial processes operate at elevated pressures and have high pressure waste streams. One way of providing a high pressure fluid to such a process is to transfer the waste pressure to a low pressure stream using a pressure exchanger.
Sidney Loeb (1917–2008) was an American-Israeli chemical engineer. Loeb made reverse osmosis (RO) practical by developing, together with Srinivasa Sourirajan, semi-permeable anisotropic membranes. The invention of the practical reverse osmosis membrane revolutionized water desalination. Loeb invented the power generating process pressure retarded osmosis (PRO)--making accessible a rich previously unknown source of green energy, and a method of producing power by a reverse electrodialysis (RED) heat engine, among other inventions in related fields. The production of energy by PRO and RED, among others, is sometimes called "osmotic power."
Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane to separate ions, unwanted molecules and larger particles from drinking water. In reverse osmosis, an applied pressure is used to overcome osmotic pressure, a colligative property that is driven by chemical potential differences of the solvent, a thermodynamic parameter. Reverse osmosis can remove many types of dissolved and suspended chemical species as well as biological ones (principally bacteria) from water, and is used in both industrial processes and the production of potable water. The result is that the solute is retained on the pressurized side of the membrane and the pure solvent is allowed to pass to the other side. To be "selective", this membrane should not allow large molecules or ions through the pores (holes), but should allow smaller components of the solution (such as solvent molecules, e.g., water, H2O) to pass freely.
Pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) is a technique to separate a solvent from a solution that is more concentrated and also pressurized. A semipermeable membrane allows the solvent to pass to the concentrated solution side by osmosis. The technique can be used to generate power from the salinity gradient energy resulting from the difference in the salt concentration between sea and river water. In PRO, the water potential between fresh water and sea water corresponds to a pressure of 26 bars. This pressure is equivalent to a column of water 270 meters high. However, the optimal working pressure is only half of this, 11 to 15 bar.
The Dual Work Exchanger Energy Recovery (DWEER) is an energy recovery device. In the 1990s developed by DWEER Bermuda and licensed by Calder AG for use in the Caribbean. Seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) needs high pressure and some of the reject stream can be reused by using this device. According to Calder AG, 97% of the energy in the reject stream is recovered.
Australia is the driest habitable continent on Earth and its installed desalination capacity has been increasing. Until a few decades ago, Australia met its demands for water by drawing freshwater from dams and water catchments. As a result of the water supply crisis during the severe 1997–2009 drought, state governments began building desalination plants that purify seawater using reverse osmosis technology. Approximately one percent of the world's drinkable water originates from desalination plants.
The Minjur Desalination Plant is a reverse osmosis, water desalination plant at Kattupalli village, a northern suburb of Chennai, India, on the coast of the Bay of Bengal that supplies water to the city of Chennai. Built on a 60-acre site, it is the largest desalination plant in India. Construction works were carried out by the Indian company IVRCL and the Spanish company Abengoa, under the direction of the Project Manager Fernando Portillo Vallés and the Construction Manager Juan Ignacio Jiménez-Velasco, who returned to Europe after the inauguration of the plant to work on renewable energy projects. Originally scheduled to be operational by January 2009, the work on the plant was delayed due to Cyclone Nisha in October 2008, which damaged a portion of the completed marine works and destroyed the cofferdam meant for the installation of transition pipes. The trial runs were completed in June 2010 and the plant was opened in July 2010. Water from the plant will be utilised chiefly for industrial purposes such as the Ennore Port and North Chennai Thermal Power Station. However, during droughts, water from the plant will be supplied to the public, serving an estimated population of 1,000,000.
Fluid Equipment Development Company (FEDCO) is a Michigan-based designer and manufacturer of high-pressure feed pumps and brine energy recovery devices (ERDs) for brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO) and seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) systems. With over 3,500 units in service, FEDCO pumps and ERDs can be found on 6 continents, specifically in areas with little freshwater and rainfall or dense populations. Reverse osmosis (RO) applications including SWRO plants, boiler feedwater, oil platforms, ocean liners, military systems, hotels and resorts.
The low-temperature distillation (LTD) technology is the first implementation of the direct spray distillation (DSD) process. The first large-scale units are now in operation for desalination. The process was first developed by scientists at the University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland, focusing on low-temperature distillation in vacuum conditions, from 2000 to 2005.
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