Our Technology

Katadyn's patented Energy Recovery System

In order to remove dissolved salts from seawater with a reverse osmosis membrane, extremely high pressures must be generated. Traditionally, powerful motors and large amounts of energy were used to generate the necessary pressures. This was no problem for large vessels that had plenty of power and space to spare. Therefore, fresh water was a luxury that few sailors could afford.

The Katadyn Energy Recovery system takes advantage of stored energy in the high pressure reject water that is typically wasted. The pressurized reject water is recirculated to the back side of the piston to aid the next stroke. This energy is kept in the system, resulting in less work to achieve fresh water.

With this unique technology, we were able to develop the first, and only, manual desalinators in the world. The same technology that allowed efficient hand operation was adapted to higher output power units to give energy-efficient cruisers access to the "luxury" of fresh water on demand. Today, watermakers have almost become standard equipment, and Katadyn leads the way with the most energy efficient solutions.