PFI: Partnerships for Water Purification

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This Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) project will establish the Partnership for Water Purification (PWP), an alliance between university and industrial researchers, a key national laboratory with groundwater purification facilities, a state water agency, and international collaborators. The PWP will use asymmetric and composite thin-film membrane materials to open a new platform for advancement in the field of water purification. The PWP is working to achieve water purification with new chlorine-resistant and fouling-resistant reverse osmosis and nano-filtration membranes. The goal is to provide a more stable, low-cost supply of purified water by developing and commercializing improved polymeric membrane materials for water purification and desalination.The proposed partnership creates a pathway for the new polymeric membrane materials to progress from the university research environment out into the world of commercial water purification. With the active participation of the international partners, there is a good chance that the impact of this project will extend well beyond the U.S. The project has a structure that will allow students and investigators to gain industrial experience from the commercial partners. In addition, opportunities will be created for traditionally underrepresented student populations to participate in the project. If the PWP provides the scientific and technological foundation for chlorine-resistant and fouling-resistant reverse osmosis and nano-filtration membranes, use of those membranes will enable improvements in water purification in the U.S. and worldwide. The knowledge gained can then be transferred through broad-based national and international workshops and collaborations.Partners: Partners include Virginia Polytechnic University; the University of Texas; Dow Filmtec; Hydrosize Technologies; Polymer Solutions; Sandia National Labs; the Virginia Center for Innovative Technologies; the Texas Water Development Board; and international partners from Universiteit Stellenbosch in South Africa; the Woongjin Conway industrial firm in Korea; Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia; and Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia.