SAN LEANDRO, Calif. – February 17, 2022 – Energy Recovery, Inc. (NASDAQ: ERII) today announced two awards to supply its PX® Pressure Exchanger® (PX) energy recovery devices and an array of pumps to support industrial wastewater treatment operations at a battery-grade lithium carbonate manufacturing facility in Tibet, China and a textile wastewater treatment facility in Rajasthan, India.

Both projects will utilize Energy Recovery’s flagship PX in the seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination portion of their industrial wastewater treatment operations.  

The textile wastewater treatment facility in India will utilize a combination of Energy Recovery’s PXs, turbochargers, and boosters to maximize efficiency. The operation in China is at one of the largest salt lakes in the world and will produce lithium carbonate, a crucial ingredient in lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles. Energy Recovery’s PXs will help make treating industrial wastewater associated with lithium mining operations more energy efficient.

“Energy Recovery’s technology has always accelerated the environmental sustainability of critical industrial processes,” said Robert Mao, Energy Recovery’s President and CEO. “Our products continue to bring affordable, drinkable water to communities around the world. Today, by making wastewater treatment more energy efficient, our products are also making industrial operations like textile manufacturing and lithium mining into cleaner, greener processes.”

More regions are prioritizing sustainable wastewater treatment as the world faces dwindling freshwater resources, and regulatory pressure to reduce pollution from industrial operations increases. The opportunity for industrial wastewater treatment is vast – more than 16%of global freshwater withdrawals end up as industrial wastewater, flowing back into the world’s aquatic ecosystems without being treated.

“The need to efficiently and sustainably treat wastewater is truly a global issue,” said Rodney Clemente, Energy Recovery’s Senior Vice President of Water. “Particularly in fast-developing countries that have embraced industry and manufacturing – like much of South Asia – wastewater treatment will no longer be a nice-to-have, but a must-have. With Energy Recovery’s state-of-the-art technology, wastewater treatment can also be an energy efficient, economical, and more environmentally friendly process.”

The emissions and cost savings of the PX will enable industrial producers to better align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which include targets that seek to improve water quality by reducing pollution and halving the proportion of untreated wastewater globally. Reducing the energy usage and emissions associated with wastewater treatment will be an essential step for a more sustainable future – according to estimates by the International Energy Agency, total energy consumption for the water treatment industry is expected to increase by 130% through 2040.

About Energy Recovery

Energy Recovery (NASDAQ: ERII) creates technologies that solve complex challenges for industrial fluid-flow markets worldwide. Building on our pressure exchanger technology platform, we design and manufacture solutions that make industrial processes more efficient and sustainable. What began as a game-changing invention for desalination has grown into a global business accelerating the environmental sustainability of customers’ operations in multiple industries. Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Energy Recovery has manufacturing, research and development facilities across California and Texas with sales and on-site technical support available globally. For more information, please visit www.energyrecovery.com.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain matters discussed in this press release are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including our belief that with the Company’s state-of-the-art technology, wastewater treatment can be an energy efficient, economical and more environmentally friendly process. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to us and on management’s beliefs, assumptions, estimates, or projections and are not guarantees of future events or results. Potential risks and uncertainties and any other factors that may have been discussed herein regarding the risks and uncertainties of the Company’s business, and the risks discussed under “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for the year ended December 31, 2020 as well as other reports filed by the Company with the SEC from time to time. Because such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, the Company’s actual results may differ materially from the predictions in these forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are made as of today, and the Company assumes no obligation to update such statements.