Efficient Water Treatment Solutions for Data Centers
Enabling Sustainable Cooling and Water Reuse in the Digital Era
The data center industry is expanding at an unprecedented pace, powered by AI workloads, hyperscale computing, and massive infrastructure investments from global tech leaders. But this growth comes with a hidden cost: water consumption.
Data centers require significant volumes of water for cooling, humidity control, and system maintenance, placing additional strain on already water-stressed regions.
IDE's Unique Benefits for Data Centers
IDE’s advanced water treatment technologies are designed to help data centers operate more efficiently, comply with sustainability mandates, and minimize their freshwater dependency. Each solution supports reliability, uptime, and regulatory compliance, all while reducing environmental impact.
Up to 99% high recovery rates for CTBD treatment
Meet Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) regulatory compliance
Brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO) for high-quality water supply
Leverage advanced technologies for sustainability goals
A Novel Approach to Cooling Tower Water Recycling
IDE’s innovative solution focuses on treating cooling tower blowdown water, the largest untapped source for reuse in data centers.
Our CTBD treatment systems combine advanced filtration, reverse osmosis, and integrated brine management to reclaim water for reuse within the facility. By recycling treated blowdown as make-up water, data centers can:
- Reduce freshwater demand by up to 60%
- Minimize brine discharge and sludge formation
- Lower maintenance costs
- Extend equipment lifespan
- Achieve freshwater-neutral operations
IDE Solutions for Data Centers
High Recovery Reclaim Technologies
Our proprietary MAXH2O PFRO and MAXH2O Desalter systems deliver exceptional recovery rates (up to 99%), reduce chemical usage, and lower operating costs.
These high-recovery solutions transform cooling tower blowdown (CTBD) into a valuable water resource, enabling recycling, reuse, and seamless integration into ZLD frameworks. All of this is done while significantly reducing the chemicals and power consumptions and minimizing the required footprint of the plant.
Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) Solutions
Our ZLD portfolio, including MAXH2O Desalter and thermal evaporators (MVC, MED), minimizes environmental discharge and simplifies brine management, ensuring compliance with the strictest environmental regulations while reducing disposal costs.
Standard Reverse Osmosis (RO) and Filtration Systems
IDE Technologies provides RO and filtration systems (GAC, UF, Sand Filters) designed to handle complex water streams, improve cooling efficiency, and ensure a high-quality make-up water supply for continuous operations.
Maximize Water Efficiency with IDE Technologies
With 60 years of innovation in desalination and water treatment, IDE Technologies delivers more than 1,600 MGD of clean water daily across 500 installations in over 40 countries, supported by a global team of 800 employees in the US, Israel, India, Chile, and Australia.
MAXH2O PFRO (Pulse Flow RO)
Simplified single-stage operation, 100% recovery, high shear velocity prevents scaling, lower energy use
Thermal Evaporators (MVC, MED)
Complements membrane systems for ZLD and MLD applications
MAXH2O Desalter
Combines membrane and salt precipitation, achieves 95–99% recovery, no sludge formation, adaptable to variable feed conditions
Integrated Pretreatment (UF, Media, Biological)
Ensures reliable and high-quality feed water for cooling and process reuse
Planning a New Data Center
From intake to reuse to discharge, IDE provides a complete water strategy for new facilities:
Brackish water or alternative source treatment for make-up supply
Integrated pretreatment and RO systems for cooling efficiency
High-recovery CTBD reuse systems built into the design
Brine minimization and ZLD solutions where required
Long-term operational planning for water neutrality
This early involvement allows the entire cooling and water infrastructure to be optimized before capital is committed.
Instead of asking “how do we treat blowdown later?”, the question becomes: “How do we design the plant so blowdown is never a waste stream to begin with?”
The Overall Impact: Reliability, Compliance, and Sustainability
Up to 40% of data center outages are tied to cooling or power issues, many caused by poor water management. IDE’s solutions address this head-on by optimizing cycles of concentration (CoC) and maintaining heat exchange performance. With IDE’s integrated approach, data centers can:
- Secure cooling reliability and system uptime
- Minimize freshwater withdrawal and environmental discharge
- Comply with ZLD/MLD and ESG mandates
- Reduce OPEX through energy and chemical savings
- Support corporate sustainability reporting and green certifications
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