The Cost Benefit Of On-Site Oxygen

Sam Lopez of PCI explains how an on-site oxygen source reduces operating expenses for water and wastewater applications such as ozone generation, odor control, corrosion prevention, and extended aeration.

The following is an excerpt from a Q&A with Water Online Radio. Click on the Radio Player above to hear the full interview.

Water Online Radio: Tell us about PCI. What do you do and how do you serve your market?

Sam: PCI has the only Vacuum Swing Adsorption technology on the market today for its size range – being around 80 liters per minute, up to 40 tons per day – that's generating on-site oxygen for various clients and different applications.

PCI's focus with commercial oxygen goes in several markets. It goes into medical applications, as well as diaster relief, as well as water/wastewater treatment – and then we also have military applications as well, and then agriculture.

Water Online Radio: Who are you selling this to within water/wastewater?

Sam: We sell to municipalities and industrial applications for ozone generation. We also sell to municipalities for odor control, corrosion prevention, and extended aeration. We usually partner with dissolution systems or ozone generators.

For a typical ozone generation system, you would require an oxygen source. You can either use LOX (liquid oxygen), which has a higher operating cost – you're paying more for the molecules than generating on-site; it's about 58% more for LOX than it is for on-site generation – so, per standard 100 cubic feet you're running at around 50 to 60 cents…

But with our system, you can generate the same amount and quality for 18 to 20 cents. That's the benefit, and payback is usually within a year or a year and a half.

Currently in the U.S., about 15% of all of the wastewater treatment happens through actual pure oxygen injection. We foresee a lot of benefits in wastewater treatment.