Decentralized Wastewater & Water Treatment

Smart, Sustainable, and Scalable Solutions Wherever They’re Needed

As water scarcity and climate variability increasingly strain global resources, decentralized treatment has become a practical, sustainable solution for treating wastewater and delivering clean water right at the point of use — even off the grid.

Fluence’s Smart Containerized Wastewater and Water Treatment Solutions bring advanced technology directly to where it’s needed, reducing infrastructure costs and environmental impact while ensuring reliability, efficiency, and flexibility.

Decentralized Wastewater Treatment

Fluence's decentralized wastewater solutions take treatment to the point of need and are efficient enough to be deployed even in remote areas off the grid. Decentralized wastewater treatment is ideal for a variety of residential, commercial, and industrial settings, including:

Small communities and villages
School campuses
Resorts and malls
Industrial facilities
Mining and oil & gas camps
Construction or temporary sites
Agricultural or municipal reuse projects

Smart Containerized Wastewater Solutions

Fluence has a range of efficient, plug-and-play wastewater treatment and reuse solutions. Our products are pre-engineered and preassembled, and can be up and running in record time. They're neighborhood-friendly, producing minimal noise and odor. And they're flexible: Treatment can be scaled up by operating two or more units in tandem, and when requirements change, they can easily be redeployed or sold.

Decentralized Wastewater Treatment with MABR

For sewage treatment, our innovative membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) product line is particularly suited to decentralized settings. MABR technology uses a spirally wound membrane to perform SND (simultaneous nitrification-denitrification) in a single tank. Its passive aeration uses up to 90% less power than conventional aeration technology. This means treatment is possible off the grid with alternative energy sources. MABR treatment produces a high-quality effluent suitable for discharge into the environment or for irrigation.

Learn more about Fluence’s MABR technology.

Aspiral™ Smart Packaged Wastewater Solutions

Fluence’s Aspiral is a decentralized wastewater treatment solution that packages MABR technology in standard-sized shipping containers. Its small- to medium-sized plants are ideal for serving small towns, villages, residential communities, resorts, and more. Aspiral's efficiency makes it suitable for decentralized wastewater treatment off the grid since its low energy needs can be supplied by alternative sources.

The Aspiral Family offers several model sizes and configurations, with treatment capacities starting at 20 m³/d and going up to 340 m³/d with multiple units running in tandem. For operating ease, the systems can be remotely monitored and controlled. Tertiary treatment such as filtration and disinfection are compatible with the process and can be provided separately.

Learn more about Fluence’s Aspiral™ Smart Packaged MABR plants.

Decentralized Water Treatment

Fluence’s decentralized water treatment solutions place small plants near the point of use to guarantee a steady supply of potable water with flexibility and cost efficiency — even off the grid. This eliminates the need for expensive pipelines to central treatment facilities.

Decentralized water treatment, including desalination, can be an ideal solution for a variety of residential, commercial, and industrial settings, including:

Small communities
School campuses
Hotels and resorts
Golf courses
Industrial plants
Mining or oil & gas camps
Construction sites
Commercial developments

Smart Containerized Water Solutions

Fluence's NIROBOX^™ Smart Containerized Water Solutions -- featuring modular freshwater and desalination plants installed in standard shipping containers -- are ideal for decentralized treatment anywhere in the world, even off the grid.

The self-contained units are plug-and-play, easy to deploy, and more cost-effective than conventional plants. They can be up and running in less than four months from receipt of the purchase order.

Larger plant capacity can be achieved by combining containers on a small scale, or on a large scale with NIROPLANT configurations, which are ideal where ease of operation, lower CAPEX, fast delivery, and a modular approach are required.

Decentralized Freshwater Treatment

NIROBOX^™ FW is a modular, self-contained system that treats feed water from nonsaline sources such as rivers, lakes, or wells. The units can handle total dissolved solids (TDS) up to 1,000 ppm. NIROBOX FW uses advanced membrane filtration technologies to remove turbidity, microbes, and other solids, bringing water up to potable standards.

A single, compact NIROBOX FW unit can produce up to 5,000 m³/d of clean, high-quality water that can be used directly for drinking or as industrial process water.

Contact Fluence to learn more about NIROBOX freshwater treatment, or to discuss your next project with our experts.

Decentralized Seawater Desalination

NIROBOX^™ SW is a modular, high-output, and efficient membrane-based seawater desalination solution that offers pretreatment, reverse osmosis, and post-treatment in a single, 40-foot shipping container.

NIROBOX SW is suitable for a variety of applications -- including desalination for potable or industrial water -- and can meet the most stringent regulatory requirements. Offering industry-leading capacity, a single NIROBOX SW container can produce up to 1,500 m³/d (275 GPM) of permeate water, making it the most compact plant-in-a-box.

NIROBOX SW offers recovery rates of up to 50%. This, along with low chemical and energy consumption, reduces overall operational costs.

Contact Fluence to learn more about NIROBOX seawater desalination, or to discuss your next project with our experts.

Decentralized Brackish Water Desalination

NIROBOX BW is a modular, highly efficient desalination solution for brackish water. It delivers potable water, industrial process water, and high-quality water for irrigation and other applications.

Designed for flexibility, NIROBOX BW treats water from a wide variety of sources, including surface water, groundwater, and well water, and can handle turbidity, salinity, and a wide range of contaminants, from 1,000 to 10,000 ppm total dissolved solids (TDS).

NIROBOX BW offers recovery rates of up to 90%, while boasting low chemical and energy consumption. Its patent-pending process includes a cleaning process for membranes that inhibits microorganism growth and scaling. This natural disinfecting effect lowers energy and chemical requirements and minimizes the plant's ecological footprint.

Contact Fluence to learn more about NIROBOX brackish water desalination, or to discuss your next project with our experts.

Customizable Modular Plants

Fluence’s NIROFLEX Desalination Building Blocks uses a series of standardized units for pretreatment filtration and reverse osmosis desalination. With these "building blocks" and a range of optional features, Fluence can quickly and economically build a desalination plant that fits your requirements for capacity and water quality.

Developed from the highest quality standard components, NIROFLEX includes blocks for reverse osmosis, as well as pretreatment blocks for ultrafiltration and multimedia filtration. The versatility of the Niroflex system means the blocks can be arranged for capacities that produce from 100 m³/d (25,000 GPD) up to 15,000 m³/day (3.75 MGD) of clean water.

Niroflex can be configured with a wide range of optional features, including:

Integrated cleaning in place (CIP) with an automatic flushing system
Compressor with air dryer
Feed pumping station
Alternative power supply
Remineralization
Delivery pumping station
Remote monitoring software with cloud-based data logging

Contact Fluence to learn more about NIROFLEX modular plants, or to discuss your next project with our experts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVYd0tJfouc

What is Distributed Wastewater Treatment? The Benefits of Decentralization (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVYd0tJfouc)

What is Decentralized Wastewater Treatment?

Decentralized wastewater treatment, also known as distributed wastewater treatment, is the practice of locating wastewater treatment plants at the site of supply, demand, or ideally both. It's a flexible, sustainable alternative to large wastewater treatment facilities that require expensive supply and delivery infrastructure.

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Decentralized Water Treatment Resources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PacGG3NtG8

Fluence Nirobox water treatment solutions (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PacGG3NtG8)

What Is Smart Containerized Water Treatment?

Fluence has a range of Smart Containerized water treatment solutions that bring treatment exactly where it's needed, with plants packaged in standard shipping containers. They're designed with efficiency, flexibility, and portability in mind. Bringing small, decentralized water treatment plants to the point of use eliminates the need for expensive piping networks. They're an ideal solution for hotels and resorts, worker camps, small communities, and more -- even off the grid.

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Shared Benefits of Fluence Decentralized Solutions

In its quest to bring safe, clean water wherever it's needed around the world, Fluence has put a focus on Smart Packaged solutions, small independent treatment plants housed in standard shipping containers. They can be used alone or in tandem to customize capacity, and they're ideal for a decentralized system that brings treatment to the point of need.

Economy & Efficiency

Pre-engineered, containerized plants are ready to install and operate with minimal civil works. They enable fast deployment, simple maintenance, and reduced operating costs.

Flexibility & Scalability

Completely modular systems can be expanded or integrated with other technologies as needed. Fast commissioning ensures quick access to clean water and wastewater treatment.

Sustainability

Low energy and chemical consumption reduce environmental impact.

Aspiral™ reduces aeration energy by up to 90%.
NIROBOX™ integrates low-energy membranes, recovery devices, and high-efficiency pumps.

Compactness & Portability

Small footprints reduce land-use and construction costs. Units can be redeployed or relocated as needs evolve, minimizing disruption to communities or the environment.

Operational Intelligence

Fully automated and remotely monitored, Fluence systems optimize energy, chemical use, and flow rates while providing real-time alerts and performance data for cost-effective operation.

Featured Decentralized Water and Wastewater Treatment Case Studies

NIROBOX™ Seawater Desalination for Coastal Resort

Due to an ongoing drought, a beach resort, golf course, and spa in Costa Rica was facing water scarcity. It needed a solution with a high recovery rate that featured low energy consumption and minimal use of chemicals. The system had to be quiet, have a small physical footprint, and a low ecological impact. Three NIROBOX units were installed, with a total treatment capacity of approximately 1,500 m³/d, providing disc filtration, ultrafiltration, SWRO, and remineralization to drinking-water quality. The system was started up only eight months after it was ordered, with a plan to gradually increase reliance on the system with the approach of tourist season.

Solar Power Plant Recycles Blowdown Water to Save Fresh Water

A solar power plant in Israel uses sunlight to produce high-pressure steam to power a turbine generator. Brackish blowdown wastewater, which is continuously discharged on-site, must be disposed of in evaporation ponds unless it's treated for reuse. Fluence housed the entire water treatment process in a Smart Packaged NIROBOX system, which reduced use of fresh water by 50%. The system uses ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis to produce cooling makeup water from the blowdown, and adds second-pass reverse osmosis, GTM degassing, and CEDI polishing to produce ultrapure water for boiler use.

NIROFLEX Desalination Building Blocks for Engineering Company

When an engineering company needed drinking water on Taiwan's Nangan and Dongyin islands, Fluence created a treatment train that included two 2,000 m³/d ultrafiltration units and two 600 m³/d reverse osmosis units, as well as energy-recovery devices. The manufacturing time was three months.

Seawater Desalination for Power Plant Expansion in Egypt

When an Egyptian power plant planned to expand its generation capacity, it needed a source of ultrapure water, and it needed it quickly. In order to use low-quality feed water from the Red Sea, Fluence designed a three-train demineralization system featuring ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis. The first train was delivered in four months, with the second and third following two months later.

Episkopi Desalination Plant in Cyprus

In Cyprus, the government is relying on desalination to meet the nation’s growing water needs due to population spikes and ever-increasing tourism. Acting as a subcontractor, we manufactured, installed, and commissioned the main process equipment for a 50,000 m³/d desalination plant in Episkopi. The treatment process includes pretreatment by ultrafiltration membranes, seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO), energy recovery, and remineralization for potability.