UK technology business Evove Ltd. has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) – to take advanced membrane technologies to industrial trials for water and mineral production from sea water.
During this week’s “Evolve - Enabling the Future of Desalination in KSA” event, SWCC gathered solution providers from around the world to present and discuss how to create the next generation of desalination in the Kingdom.
SWCC has created a platform to answer questions such as:
- How can we make $0.2/m3 seawater desalination a reality?
- How can we cut carbon emissions of the industry by 50%?
- How can we grow non-water revenue streams by 10% of the total?
In response, Evove CEO Chris Wyres gave a keynote presentation entitled “Delivering Transformational Advancements with Additive Manufacturing” in which comparisons between how rapidly the semiconductor sector has developed with the potential held for desalination by combining advanced material science with precision engineering and additive manufacturing of filtration membranes.
Head of SWCC’s DTRI (Desalination Technologies Research Institute), Tariq Al-Ghaffari, was instrumental in engaging with Evove about the use of their highly selective graphene membranes and 3D-printed spacers to reduce energy consumption in the reverse osmosis process.
The ability to couple water production with the recovery of precious resources, especially magnesium, from desal brines is a key additional advantage of Evove’s proposition. He and Wyres formally began the partnership with the MoU which will lead to industrial-scale piloting in the Kingdom.
SWWC will trial Evove technologies as part of its drive for next-generation solutions – the UK tech firm’s enhanced coated membranes and 3D spacers will be tested in a desal plant on the Gulf coast. The prospect of a water and brine mining “factory” is now in sight, as SWCC looks to create low-energy water production while recovering valuable resources from brines.
Chris Wyres commented:
“As society decarbonises, building new capacity for low-energy water production is key, as water touches all aspects of life. SWCC have a leading position in green desalination which they wish to utilise both within Saudi Arabia and abroad. We will see desalination becoming a part of many more nations' water supplies and the ability to make transformational desalination membrane technologies is a key factor in circular, green water & mineral factories.”
The fast-growing technology business has a portfolio of technologies that reduce the cost and environmental impact of the filtration and separation of fluids in a variety of sectors. Evove’s Enhance technologies harness graphene oxide based coatings and a variety of 3D-printed enhancements to boost the performance of conventional membranes.
Separonics® are Evove’s precision-engineered membranes, providing transformational productivity gains in selectivity and flux, operational efficiency, energy consumption and equipment lifetime.
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