Resources
Technical resources for facilities and operations teams
Everything you need to evaluate Nona RECOVER for your site — from the savings calculator to technical comparisons.
Nona RECOVER
Nona RECOVER is a cooling water recovery system that lets facilities keep evaporative cooling and stop dumping water. It eliminates 90% of wasted water on site with an MIT-patented alternative to reverse osmosis. RECOVER tees into your existing blowdown line as a modular retrofit, with no new towers and no change to how the tower runs.
How RECOVER Works
RECOVER uses Ion Concentration Polarization (ICP) — an MIT-patented electric-field water purification process — to separate dissolved minerals from cooling tower blowdown. No fouling membranes. No high-pressure pumps. No chemical scale inhibitors to manage.
No fouling membranes
Unlike water pushed through a reverse osmosis membrane, ICP does not foul. Cooling water never passes through a filtration membrane, so there is nothing for minerals to clog, and no recurring membrane-replacement cycle.
No high-pressure pumps
ICP runs at roughly 10 PSI and room temperature instead of the hundreds of PSI reverse osmosis demands, which is why operating cost and energy draw stay low.
No scale inhibitors to manage
RECOVER demineralizes the loop continuously and works with your existing tower chemistry, so you can run higher cycles of concentration without dosing more chemicals to fight scale.
ICP Technology
What is ICP? Ion Concentration Polarization (ICP) is a water purification process that uses an electric field — not pressure, not heat, not membranes — to separate ions and contaminants from water. It was developed at MIT's Research Laboratory of Electronics and exclusively licensed to Nona Technologies.
Unlike reverse osmosis, ICP does not require high-pressure pumps or traditional membranes that foul and require frequent replacement. The core components are durable, with replacement intervals around 10 years rather than 6 months.
ICP works particularly well with the high-mineral, chemically complex water found in cooling tower blowdown — water that challenges conventional RO systems.
Nona RECOVER Product OverviewICP vs. Reverse Osmosis
The differences that matter most for cooling tower water recovery.
| RECOVER | Reverse Osmosis (RO) | |
|---|---|---|
| Filter / membrane replacement | ~10 years | Every 2–3 years |
| Pressure required | Low | High (high-pressure pumps) |
| Handles complex water chemistry | Yes — built for cooling tower blowdown | Fouls on high-mineral water |
| Water recovery rate | 90% of wasted water | Low |
| Maintenance burden | Low | High |
Ready to talk specifics?
Tell us your cooling load and water chemistry and our technical team will model the recovery and savings for your facility.