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

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目旨在开发一种可扩展的工艺，用于生产用于海水淡化的基于纳米材料的高渗透性、节能膜。虽然最近在提高海水淡化过程的能源效率方面取得了进展，但人们普遍承认，需要改善膜的渗透性，使这一过程的成本接近与现有的水生产方法相等。本项目开发的反渗透膜将利用所选纳米材料独特的水输送和排盐特性来实现所需的高渗透性。该项目还将加强对纳米尺度上水和离子通过膜传输背后的科学的理解，这是一个活跃的学术兴趣领域。该项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发一种基于反渗透的海水淡化系统，该系统可以在比现有系统低得多的给水压力下有效运行（从而降低从咸水中生产饮用水的资本和运营成本）。这一概念可能适用于其他具有挑战性的分子分离。世界上只有不到0.5%的水是容易获得的淡水。因此，咸淡水和海水的脱盐已经发展成为一个巨大的（每年100亿美元）产业。然而，这只能满足世界1%人口的需求。一些全球趋势将增加世界对饮用水的需求。虽然反渗透（RO）已成为成本最低的海水淡化工艺，但它仍然相对昂贵。能源和膜成本占海水淡化设施运营成本的75%。目前，全球RO海水淡化设备的总成本每年超过100亿美元。现有和未来的RO海水淡化设施所有者需要一种方法来减少能源消耗，使用更少的膜盒，并建造更小、更便宜的设施。该项目开发的下一代膜的成本降低将引起众多水供应商的兴趣。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project aims to develop a scalable process for production of nanomaterials-based, high permeability, energy-efficient membranes for desalination. While recent strides have been made in improving the energy-efficiency of seawater desalination processes, it is widely acknowledged that improvements in membrane permeability are needed to bring the process closer to cost-parity with existing methods of water production. The reverse osmosis membranes developed in this project will utilize unique water transport and salt rejection characteristics of select nanomaterials to achieve the desired high permeability. The project will also enhance understanding of the science behind water and ion transport through membranes on the nanometer-scale, an area of active academic interest. The broader impacts/commercial potential of this project is to develop a reverse osmosis-based desalination system that can operate efficiently at substantially lower feed pressures than currently available systems (and thereby reduce the capital and operating costs of producing potable water from salty water). The concept is likely to be applicable to other challenging molecular separations. Less than one half of one percent of the world's water is readily accessible fresh water. As a result, desalination of brackish and seawater has grown into an enormous ($10B annual) industry. This, however, meets the needs of only 1% of the world's population. A number of global trends will increase world demand for potable water. While reverse osmosis (RO) has emerged as the lowest cost desalination process, it nevertheless remains relatively expensive. Energy and membrane costs comprise 75% of the operating costs of desalination facilities. The total costs of the world's RO desalination facilities today exceed $10B annually. Existing and future RO desalination facility owners need a means to reduce energy consumption, use fewer membrane cartridges, and construct smaller, less expensive facilities. Reduction in cost associated with the next-generation membranes developed in this project will garner interest from a wide array of water suppliers.