Our Research Off-grid portable ion concentration polarization desalination unit

The water purifiers market is expected to grow from $45.0B in 2019 to $90.1B in 2025 with the decline of freshwater availability. However, the current products on the market (e.g., household reverse osmosis) are limited to treat low salinity feed (< 1 g/L, < 1 NTU), which is not adequate for addressing emerging challenges, such as salinization (e.g., groundwater in California) and sudden disaster (e.g., Flint water crisis). Building on the recent progress in the ion concentration polarization process, we completed a fully functional prototype of a portable desalination system. It is a compact (~ 1.5 ft3) and lightweight (< 10 kg) apparatus capable of removing dissolved (up to 45 g/L) and suspended solids (up to 30 NTU) altogether from brackish water and seawater to yield potable water (< 0.5 g/L) at the rate of 1 L/h. At the end of the project, the next-generation prototype and its performance will be demonstrated, and the mass production strategy and business model will be established. The target prototype will have 1 L/h per cartridge (stackable up to 10 cartridges, ~10 L/h). It will be useable in both installed and remote field settings with renewable power options (solar panel).