Development of Advanced Compact Energy Recovery Pumping System for Shipboard Seawater Reverse Osmosis Desalination

Ocean Pacific Technologies (OPT) is proposing to further develop a high pressure pump and energy recovery device uniquely suited for shipboard seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) systems. The proposed device will require a unique integration of pumping and energy recovery technologies that are not currently available for smaller seawater desalination systems. The phase II base effort will produce a prototype unit that will demonstrate performance on seawater for a minimum of 8 hours of operation per day for five consecutive days. An established set of performance criteria for a five day demonstration test can be found in the technical proposal. As part of the base effort if resources permit, OPT will perform initial design studies and computational analyses for development of an even smaller capcity X-Pump for potential use the ONR Advanced Desalination FNC demonstrator. Pump design shall be capable of operating under technical guidelines identified in the SBIR Topic N101-082 solicitation, with the exception that the volume occupied by the pumping system (i.e., pump, motor, ancillary components) shall be no larger than 3.5 cu. ft. (threshold), with an objective pumping system volume occupying 2.5 cu. ft. or less.