Mojave’s liquid desiccant technology uses half the energy and 20% less refrigerant than comparable incumbent HVAC products to provide buildings with fresh, cool, and dry outdoor air, according to a press release from the company.

In September, Mojave won a competitive $2.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to support manufacturing scale-up and initial pilot projects. Mojave has selected Anderson as the location for these operations. Mojave will invest more than $4M and create at least 200 high-paying, clean-energy manufacturing jobs over the next five years.

“Cleantech is a growing manufacturing opportunity for our country and Mojave is in a unique position to create U.S. jobs while significantly lowering its customers’ energy expenses and climate impact,” said Phil Farese, Mojave’s CEO. “We appreciate the support of the Department of Energy, the state of South Carolina, and Anderson County to help us bring this important technology to market.”

The South Carolina Coordinating Council for Economic Development approved Mojave’s project as part of its Enterprise Program, under which Mojave will be eligible for up to $5 million in job development credits and other incentives, including employment training services from readySC, a workforce training program. In addition, Anderson County has granted Mojave access to its county-owned business incubator and additional local tax incentives.

“Anderson County’s labor market, real estate availability, and proximity to major highways and the Greer Inland Port, were all important factors in our selection process,” said Robert Fancher, Mojave’s vice president of manufacturing. “It is exciting to see this innovative technology that originated in a U.S. R&D lab transfer into a U.S. manufacturing facility right here in South Carolina.”

Mojave’s patented ArctiDry technology uses a highly concentrated salt solution to passively pull water from air. The cool, dry air is then delivered to the building, and the water-saturated liquid desiccant is reused by “regenerating” it (returning it to a state of high salinity) using only waste heat from the system. This eliminates the need for external sources of heating or cooling. This process achieves double the moisture-removal efficiency when compared to traditional vapor-compression a/c, both reducing cost of operation for customers and helping them achieve net-zero compliance.

The Mojave system can “drop in” to existing HVAC infrastructure and requires minimal maintenance. Mojave is already running several field pilots and has the commercial rollout of the product slated for January 2024 at the AHR Expo in Chicago.