Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer
High Performance Forward Osmosis Membrane Element
Project Description
Forward Osmosis (FO) is a promising technology for wastewater treatment applications. FO-based treatment does not require external pressure, can use lightweight components, and has low propensity to foul. Yet, the biggest obstacle to the use of FO processes is the low level of performance of the current commercial FO membranes. This project will use the novel high-flux and high-rejection FO membrane developed by Porifera, scaling up the membrane area, and incorporating it into a membrane module. The project will benchmark the membrane performance in the module, and deliver a module to NASA for further testing in NASA-specific applications.
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Anticipated Benefits
FO-based treatment processes have direct relevance to NASA's efforts to create technologies for long-term sustainability in space missions, specifically for treating grey water and even black water generated by the crew during space flight. Moreover, NASA's Sustainability Base program incorporates the forward-osmosis based greywater recycling effort (run by Dr. M. Flynn at ARC) that would benefit directly and immediately from the results of this project.
FO-based water treatment could have important applications in the marketplace. Currently, there is an enormous unfilled need (more than 2 Billion gallons/year) in the produced water market from oil and gas drilling, and FO could fill that niche with a simple, economical, and sustainable solution. Other industrial applications of FO range from food and beverage industry use to auxiliary power generation from Pressure-retarded osmosis processes. More »
FO-based water treatment could have important applications in the marketplace. Currently, there is an enormous unfilled need (more than 2 Billion gallons/year) in the produced water market from oil and gas drilling, and FO could fill that niche with a simple, economical, and sustainable solution. Other industrial applications of FO range from food and beverage industry use to auxiliary power generation from Pressure-retarded osmosis processes. More »
Primary U.S. Work Locations and Key Partners
| Organizations Performing Work | Role | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Porifera Inc. | Lead Organization |
Industry
Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB)
|
Hayward, California |
Ames Research Center
(ARC)
|
Supporting Organization | NASA Center | Moffett Field, California |
Primary U.S. Work Locations
-
California
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This is a historic project that was completed before the creation of TechPort on October 1, 2012. Available data has been included. This record may contain less data than currently active projects.