Technology - WDR's CDR Rating
Artificial gill ‘too artificial’ to be true
With the ink barely dry on last week’s issue of WDR, reports that the Triton artificial gill was a fraud began to arrive. It seems that the technology’s promoters had overpromised on their ability...
A biomimetic Membrane process
In the mid-1960s, John Kessler’s interest in osmosis was piqued while reading a newsletter that explained why sharks don’t drink water. It seems that because they have hypersaline blood and...
Another biomimetic membrane approach
Aquaporins—the protein channels that facilitate highly selective water transport through biological membranes—have long been studied as the perfect model for a desal membrane. Researchers from...
Desal Innovations promise energy savings
Over the past two weeks, several new desal technologies were announced with varying degrees of fanfare. It is unlikely that any desalter with an internet connection could have missed stories about...
Makeover improves CD process efficiency
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) first explored the use of carbon aerogels—a highly porous, ultralow density carbon material with a surface area of up to 3000m2/g—for capacitive...
New spray nozzles claim to be ‘disruptive’
High Voltage Water, a spin-off company from Wetsus, the Netherlands-based water institute, has made some bold claims about its new electrospray nozzle technology for MED desalination units....
An interesting new evaporator, but…
Innovative. Cost-effective. Low temperature. Eliminates fuel costs. Uses waste heat, less energy. Fewer scaling problems. Less capital intensive. Lower operating costs. High water recovery. Award...
Membrane offers promise, raises questions
For more than six years, researchers at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have been working to develop membranes incorporating titanium dioxide (TiO2) crystals. At least 100 papers have been...
Steam generation process soaks up rays
In a paper just published in Nature Communications, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers report on their work to develop new solar-powered steam generation technology. The...
SAGD has another Desal option
Fresh water is crucial to the production of heavy oil in Alberta, Canada’s oil sands region. However, the region’s steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) oil producers are under strict regulatory...
