Recovery Act - Carbon Nanotube

The need for pure water is a global problem that encompasses manufacturing, home consumption and desalination. Currently reverse osmosis filtration is used for purification but its widespread use is hampered by the high energy cost required to operate the systems. We have demonstrated that vertically aligned carbon nanotubes have the capability to process polluted or salt water with the same filtering efficiency as RO filtration but with a throughput that is over two orders of magnitude greater. We will construct a CNT based filter using a relatively simple, flexible and scalable solutions chemistry process that will realize the tremendous advantage of CNT filtration at an unprecedented low cost. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: The global water purification market is expecting to reach $1.5 billion in 2012. In the U.S. orders for new purification systems are approximately $200 million per year and growing at an annual rate of 8%. Replacing RO filters with CNT based ones in water-intensive manufacturing plants can save over $20 million per year in just one plant. The potential for water purification systems for drinking water can have a huge impact on the 5 trillion gallons of water that are shipped around the world. The production of bottled water also requires 50 million gallons of oil per year and results in the release of one billion pounds of carbon dioxide. A potentially huge benefit of this new technology is desalination of sea water which is a $95 billion market that will double in ten years. The ability to process sea water with less energy and with orders of magnitude greater rate will benefit especially the U.S. (especially California) and the Middle East. enormous