Evaporative cooling is the most water-efficient option.
NONA RECOVER is a cooling water recovery system that lets data centers keep evaporative cooling and stop dumping water. It eliminates 90% of wasted water on site with an MIT-patented alternative to reverse osmosis.
Cooling a data center takes an enormous amount of water.
1,150,000 tons
Water a 50 MW data center's cooling system consumes every year, about 300 million gallons.
Air cooling trades that water for significantly more electricity to reject the same heat. Liquid cooling is where new data centers are heading, but most facilities today still run evaporative towers, and that blowdown is still going down the drain.
See how RECOVER compares on water sustainabilityHow RECOVER works in your cooling towers
- 01
Durable, modular installation
A skid-mounted unit that bolts onto your existing cooling tower and tees into the blowdown line, a plug-and-play retrofit built to run continuously.
- 02
Eliminate 90% of wasted water
ICP continuously demineralizes your cooling water and returns it to the loop, eliminating 90% of the water you would otherwise waste.
- 03
No new towers, no shutdown
RECOVER works alongside the evaporative cooling you already run, with no new towers, no downtime, and no change to how the tower operates.
Nona RECOVER uses ICP technology.
ICP does something that conventional water treatment can't: it removes dissolved minerals from water using an electric field, with no membranes to foul, no heat required, and no pressure. The result is a system that handles the chemically aggressive water in a cooling loop without the clogging, scaling, and maintenance burden of reverse osmosis.
How does ICP compare?
Unlike reverse osmosis, ICP doesn't require high-pressure pumps or membrane replacement every 2–3 years. Unlike thermal distillation, it doesn't consume significant energy to heat water. ICP operates at low pressure, tolerates the chemistry of cooling tower blowdown, and recovers 90% of that water back into the loop.
Not a lab concept. Proven where it counts.
RECOVER isn't a benchtop prototype. It's hardware that has been demonstrated on real industrial sites, with recovery rates that are measured, not modeled.
90%
Of wasted water eliminated on site and returned to the cooling loop
Up to 30
Cycles of concentration RECOVER sustains without scaling
< 3 yrs
Typical payback at water-stressed sites
Recovery, cycles-of-concentration, and payback figures validated by a leading air cooling manufacturer. Low-pressure, room-temperature ICP operation confirmed in in-lab testing.
MIT-patented ICP
ICP, Ion Concentration Polarization, was invented and patented at MIT, then engineered into deployable recovery hardware by the Nona team.
Backed by the U.S. Army
The U.S. Army funded the development of ICP for field water production, where reliability and low maintenance are non-negotiable.
Demonstrated in the field
Our first industrial RECOVER unit was demonstrated with Tracy Renewable Energy, recovering cooling water on a working site.
Solutions for your data center water needs
Makeup Water Softening
RO Concentrate & Reject Recovery
Scale & Corrosion Control
Estimate what RECOVER saves your site.
Enter your facility's specifications to calculate your annual makeup water and operating cost savings with RECOVER.
Your Cooling Tower
Assumes 60% annual operation duty (approx. 5,256 hrs/yr).
WithRECOVER
Annual Water Savings
13,924kgal/yr
Annual OpEx Saving
$278,488/yr
Email me my full savings breakdown
Get these numbers plus a tailored recovery estimate for your exact site.
What you get with RECOVER
| RECOVER | Reverse Osmosis | No Treatment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water recovery rate | 90% | 70% | Low, blowdown discharged |
| Electricity consumption | Low (electric field only) | High (high-pressure pumps) | Lowest |
| Membrane replacement interval | 10 years | Every 2–3 years | N/A |
| Compatible with cooling tower chemistry | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Pressure required | Low | High | Low |
| Installation type | Plug-and-play retrofit | Additional tanks required | None |
| Maintenance burden | Low | High | Lowest |
| Capital cost (relative) | Moderate | High | Low |
See exactly how much water and money RECOVER saves your site.
Share your cooling load and water chemistry and our technical team will model the recovery and savings for your facility.