What CAST is
Capillary Action Separation Technology (CAST) is a modular water pretreatment unit that removes fine suspended solids, oils, organics, and metals from challenging water and conditions that water for high-efficiency downstream polishing. It installs ahead of a system's existing or planned treatment — including reverse osmosis, ion exchange, and membrane systems — and improves the performance and operating economics of whatever process sits behind it. CAST is patent pending. It is delivered as a service and is always proven first on the client's own water in a paid pilot.
How it works
Water first passes through CAST vessels whose hydrophilic surfaces drive capillary separation, coalescing and lifting fine particles, oils, and interfering organics at low energy and removing the fouling precursors first. Selective ion-exchange media then capture target constituents of concern — strong-base anion resins for organics and PFAS, cation resins for metals — and an optional granular activated carbon stage provides final polishing. Integrated sensors and software monitor flow, pressure, breakthrough, and effluent quality across the train. The treatment train is matched to the site water rather than sold as a fixed package.
Markets served
Municipal and public water
PFAS removal, reverse-osmosis and membrane pretreatment, and reduction of hardness and dissolved solids for constrained or declining source water.
Federal and defense
PFAS treatment at Department of Defense and federal facilities subject to Superfund and drinking-water requirements.
Oil and gas
Produced-water and flowback treatment and reuse, reducing disposal volume and enabling recycling.
Industrial and manufacturing
Process and cooling-water conditioning, reverse-osmosis reject recovery, metals capture, discharge reduction, and water reuse. Landfill leachate pretreatment is a further fit.
Reference technical envelope
| Parameter | Reference value |
|---|---|
| Throughput per unit | 150 to 200 GPM per unit; capacity scales by adding units |
| Total suspended solids removed | 90–99% (expected; site-specific) |
| Turbidity | to ~1–3 NTU |
| Oil and grease removed (when present) | over 90% |
| Chemical oxygen demand (hydrophobic fraction) | 30–60% reduction |
| Single-pass TDS reduction | approximately 30%, water-chemistry dependent |
| Membrane feed quality | SDI₁₅ below 3 |
| Coagulant / chemical dosing | 10–20% less than conventional flotation |
| Downstream ion-exchange resin life (PFAS pretreatment) | extended several-fold |
| Water recovery (with downstream high-recovery RO) | from ~75–80% toward 90–95% |
| Footprint | modular ConEx box or skid; field-deployable, no building required |
| Monitoring | integrated sensors and software (flow, pressure, breakthrough, effluent quality) |
Values are expected, bench- and pilot-based ranges and are site-specific; confirmed per water matrix in a pilot. Dissolved salts pass through CAST and are addressed downstream.
Deployment model
Flotration delivers CAST as a service. Units are modular and field-deployable, scale by adding capacity, and are provided on a lease-plus-usage basis that shifts spending from the capital budget to the operating budget. This supports rapid deployment, pilots, and phased or distributed projects without a large upfront purchase.
Proof
In independent third-party bench-scale column testing by ECT2 (now Onterris), adding CAST ahead of ion exchange extended run length more than eightfold before breakthrough — PFOS remained below the 4 ng/L threshold to about 13,767 bed volumes with CAST pretreatment versus fewer than about 1,619 without — while reducing column fouling. That is a CAST-plus-IX train effect on media life, not a claim that CAST alone is a PFAS-removal technology. Longer runs cut media replacement, often the largest recurring cost in PFAS treatment. Site-specific full-train performance is confirmed in a paid pilot on the client matrix.
Status
CAST is patent pending and in active deployment readiness. United States non-provisional and Patent Cooperation Treaty applications were filed February 19, 2026. Paid pilots are underway across municipal and industrial settings, with independent third-party performance testing completed.
Contact
Flotration Technologies
- Chris Fetters, CEO/CTO — chris@flotration.com
- John Michaels, COO — john@flotration.com
This overview is non-confidential and intended for general distribution. It does not describe proprietary design details and is not a technical specification or an offer of terms.