SBIR Phase II: High Permeability Thin-Film Nanocomposite Membranes for Reverse Osmosis Desalination

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to further the development of nanomaterials-based, high permeability, energy-efficient membranes for desalination of water. Membrane-based reverse osmosis (RO) is the dominant desalination technology in many parts of the world, although it provides just a small fraction of potable water demand. This is in large part due to the energy intensiveness of the technology. It is widely acknowledged that improvements in membrane permeability can bring about significant reductions in the energy requirements for seawater RO of between 30-50%. The RO membranes developed under Phase I demonstrated significant improvements in permeability over state-of-the-art membranes, while maintaining a high salt rejection. Phase II aims to scale the process developed in Phase I to produce spiral wound cartridges of an industry standard form factor. The membranes then will be tested to determine their future performance in a large-scale municipal desalination plant. The broader impact/commercial impact of this project is that the technology is expected to bring RO desalination closer to cost-parity with existing methods of water production. Also, the superior membrane performance achieved in Phase I demonstrates the promise of nanomaterials in RO membrane development. Scaling this process up to the pilot scale will help demonstrate the commercial viability of the technology. In addition, this project is expected to enhance the understanding of the science behind water and ion transport through membranes on the nanometer-scale, an area of current academic interest.