Desalination Industry

The Industry

As fresh water scarcity rises, seawater desalination is an increasingly important source of water that has the ability to provide countries and governments with safe and secure drinking water.

Reverse Osmosis (RO) is the dominant membrane technology used for seawater desalination. However, the seawater contains varying concentrations of constituents commonly known as foulants that may clog/foul the membranes, leading to a sharp decline in process performance, and consequently, increase energy demand and membrane cleaning frequency. Conventional approaches include the use of chemical coagulation/flocculation (CC/CF), pH adjustment, disinfection, or other complex pretreatment stages such as dissolved air flotation (DAF)and ultrafiltration (UF) to remove these foulants. These consume a significant amount of chemicals, especially when the amount of foulants are high.

Our Solution

A robust, integrated and cost-effective electrical pretreatment and membrane (hybrid) solution for seawater desalination.

Hydroleap's hybrid technology offers a better alternative to remove common pollutants and foulants in seawater without the use of chemicals. These include algae, bacteria/viruses, boron, heavy metals, silica and turbidity.

The technology aims to achieve above 99% removal of foulants, which helps to ensure that downstream RO membranes work effectively and at 60% of the operating costs of current conventional pretreatment solutions.

Hydroleap, in partnership with the National University of Singapore, has won a long-term contract to develop an electrical pretreatment solution to optimize performance of the Public Utilities Board’s (Singapore’s national water agency) desalination plants. This will not only improve processes and cost-effectiveness of the plant, but also, augment the nation’s position as a hub for water innovation and new technologies.