We propose in brief in this powerpoint about the technology driver of the future of desalination. We propose that aquaporins through cost-effective membrane packaging can be the driver to deliver pure water to the expanding populace. Our research & development team incorporates the top scientists of the world with hundreds and thousands of man-hours put into studying this and related fields and we are in the verge of taking our insignts to the next level of commercialization.

2. Aquablue Global LLC
Ram Seetharaman IIT (Chennai) PE
Prof. Rohit karnik – Collaboration with MIT
Prof. Seeram Ramakrishna, NUS
N Bharathiraja
Karthik Raman (CEO, EROEI Power Solutions, Bangalore)
Dr Pradeep Dadhich,
Sowmya Viswanathan MD
Prof V. Renugopalakrishnan (Harvard and Northeastern
Univ,) Founder

3. 1. Energy
2. Water
3. Food
4. Environment
5. Poverty
6. Terrorism and War
7. Healthcare
8. Education
9. Democracy
10. Population
Desalination and Water Recycling 3
Richard E. Smalley, Nobel
Laureate, Chemistry, 1996,
MRS Bulletin, June 2005
The “Top 10” Global Challenges for the New Millennium

4. Desalination and Water Recycling 4
97.5% of Water on Earth is Saline

5. Fresh water Availability
Desalination and Water Recycling 5

6.  Many regions in the world do not have easy access to
fresh drinking water
 Desalination process helps remove salts from sea
water to make it potable
 Pros: Brings drinking water to many dry regions
 Cons: Expensive
 Energy costs are the most significant component in
desalination and water recycling and hence
combining non conventional green solar energy
generation and desalination and water recycling
reduces the cost of pure water per gallon
Desalination and Water Recycling 6
Desalination Process

7. Desalination and Water Recycling 7
Water Crisis in the United States

8. Desalination and Water Recycling 8
Number of Desalination Plants by State (US)
0
1-5
6-19
20-99
> 100

9. Materials and Processes
Desalination and Water Recycling 9
• Materials
– Aquaporins (biomimetric membranes)
– Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs)
– Graphene
– Thin Film (inorganic-organic)
Nanocomposites
– etc…
• Processes
– Forward Osmosis (FO)
– Membrane Distillation (MD)
– Adsorption Desalination (AD)
– Capacitive Deioniniation (CDI)
– etc…

10. Desalination and Water Recycling 10
Separation
mechanism
Energy Process Name
Water
separation
Thermal
+
Electrical
Evaporation
MultiStageFlash(MSF)
MultiEffectDistillation(MED)
ThermalVaporCompression(TVC)
SolarDesalination(SD)
Crystallization Freezing
Formationofhydrates
Evaporation
andfiltration
MembraneDistillation(MD)
Electrical Evaporation MechanicalVaporCompression(MVC)
Ionicfiltration ReverseOsmosis(RO)
Salt
removal
Electrical Ionicmigration Electrodialysis(ED)
Chemical Others IonicExchange(IX)
Extraction
Available desalination technologies (I)

11. Bio-inspired High Flux Membranes for Desalination
Desalination and Water Recycling 11
 Natural aquaporin proteins extracted from living
organisms can be incorporated into a lipid bilayer
membrane or a synthetic polymer matrix

12. Laboratory Prototype
Desalination and Water Recycling 12

13. Desalination and Water Recycling 13
Nanotechnology Leads to Breakthrough Technologies
“Nanotubes are so beautiful that they
must be useful for something. . .” Richard
Smalley (1943-2005) .
Graphene shows promising potential in
Aquaporin Membrane Desalination.

14. Desalination and Water Recycling 14
• Aquaporins are proteins found in living cells, which
facilitate highly efficient water transport in and out of the
cells. Synthetic aquaporin films can also be formed to
potentially improve water desalination at reduced
operational costs and low energy consumption.
Aquaporins

15. • Aquaporins are proteins found in living cells which facilitate highly efficient water
transport in and out of the cells. Water channels are found in all living cells – from
plants to man
• Synthetic aquaporin films can also be formed to potentially improve water
desalination at reduced operational costs and low energy consumption.
• Aquaporin water channels only allow water (H2O) to pass through the channel
• Each aquaporin water channel transport up to one billion water molecules per
second!
– That is about 1/10th of a drop/sec/channel
• Nature’s membranes (Aquaporin protein channels) are very fast, selective and
diverse.
EROEI Power Solutions - Proprietary

16. My laboratory at the Children's Hospital, affiliated to Harvard Medical School, has
developed recombinant human aquaporins with higher denaturation
temperatures, Tm, using c DNA from Prof. Peter Agre's (Nobel Chemistry, 2003)
laboratory at Johns Hopkins, and principles of protein engineering, based on
extensive molecular dynamics >100 nano seconds simulation on Super Computer
Cluster at Carnegie-Mellon, and molecular biology via Yeast, Pichia Pastoris. We
have also been developing phospho lipid membranes for incorporation of
recombinant human aquaporins based on extremophiles. Some of these are adept
at higher humidity and sub tropical to tropical climatic conditions prevalent in
India, South East Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
The desalination was a surprising off shoot of our research relating to Nephrogenic
Syndrome of Inappropriate Antidiuresis (NSIAD), (Int J Pediatric Endocrinol. 2012;
2012(1): 3), a novel disease caused by a gain-of-function mutation in the V2
vasopressin receptor (V2R), which results in water overload and hyponatremia,
relevant to pediatric nephrology, endocrinology, and urology (Lancet, to be
submitted). A rare case of a 14 year old child with the symptoms typical of
pathophysiology of NSIAD was examined by Dr. David A. Diamond, Chief of
Pediatric Urology and this triggered our interest in aquaporins.

17. Aquaporin embedded in membrane
Desalination and Water Recycling 17

18. Aquaporin Embedded in Membrane
Desalination and Water Recycling 18

19. Aquaporin membrane – Cinematic Version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpBTK_6CthQ&featur
e=player_embedded
Desalination and Water Recycling 19

20. Desalination and Water Recycling 20
Future Developments of Membrane Technology
• Nature’s membranes
(Aquaporin protein
channels) are very
fast, selective and
diverse.
• Biomimicry:
Nanotube membrane
• Block copolymer
membranes by self
assembly
Mass transport through Carbon Nanotube
Membranes Hinds et al., 2011, ACS Nano

21. Aquaporin Membrane
Desalination and Water Recycling 21

22. Desalination and Water Recycling 22
A view of Aquaporin Structure
 Atomic model of AQP1. (a) AQP1
tetramer viewed from the extracellular
surface. One monomer is colored in
blue representing the N-terminal and
yellow the C-terminal tandem repeat.
2-fold axis of symmetry is shown
diagonally across.

23.  The expression of aquaporins was up-regulated in
response to drought and salinity, and conferred the
water stress tolerance in plant.
 Aquaporins are involved in many great functions of
plants, including nutrient acquisition, carbon
fixation, cell signaling and stress responses.
Desalination and Water Recycling 23
Water stress tolerance in plant.

24. Phosphorylation may have a dual role on Aquaporins.
 The increased expression of McPIP2;1 (MipC), a root-
specific aquaporin (AQP) from Mesembryanthemum
crystallinum, under salt stress has suggested a role
for this AQP in the salt tolerance of the plant.
Substitution of Ser(123) or both, Ser(123) and
Ser(282), abolished the water channel activity of
McPIP2;1 while substitution of Ser(282) only
partially inhibited it (51.9% inhibition). Despite
lacking Ser(123) and/or Ser(282), the McPIP2;1
mutant forms were still phosphorylated in vitro,
which suggests that phosphorylation may have a dual
role on this AQP.
Desalination and Water Recycling 24

25. Calcium seems to be involved in plasma membrane
aquaporin regulation
Desalination and Water Recycling 25
 How does arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis regulate root
hydraulic properties and plasma membrane aquaporins in
Phaseolus vulgaris under drought, cold or salinity stresses ?
 Protoplasts extracted from plants grown under Ca2+ starvation
showed no aquaporin functionality. However, for the protoplasts
to which calcium was added, an increase of aquaporin
functionality of the plasma membrane was observed [osmotic
water permeability (Pf) inhibition after Hg addition].
 Interestingly, when verapamil (a Ca2+ channel blocker) was
added, no functionality was observed, even when Ca2+ was
added with verapamil. Therefore, calcium seems to be involved
in plasma membrane aquaporin regulation via a chain of
processes within the cell but not by alteration of the stability of
the plasma membrane

26. • The physiological characteristics that distinguish archaeal and
bacterial lipids, as well as those that define thermophilic lipids, are
discussed from three points of view that
1. the role of the chemical stability of lipids in the heat tolerance
of thermophilic organisms:
2. the relevance of the increase in the proportion of certain lipids
as the growth temperature increases:
3. the lipid bilayer membrane properties that enable membranes
to function at high temperatures.
• It is concluded that no single, chemically stable lipid by itself was
responsible for the adaptation of surviving at high temperatures.
• Lipid membranes that function effectively require the two
properties of a high permeability barrier and a liquid crystalline
state.
• Archaeal membranes realize these two properties throughout the
whole biological temperature range by means of their isoprenoid
chains.
Desalination and Water Recycling 26
High temperature stable membranes

27. Water desalination plants around the world
Desalination and Water Recycling 27

28. Desalination and Water Recycling 28
Major desalted water producing countries
Little or no water scarcity
Physical water scarcity
Approaching water scarcity
Economic water scarcity
Not estimated
13%
17%
8%
4% 4%5%
3%
2%
13%
2%
% world capacity
Source: International Water Management Institute (2006) & GWI DesalData/IDA (2009)
World desalination market

29. India – Domestic water purifier market
 At present water purification industry is valued at Rs.1500 Crores
($250 million)
 Estimated to grow to Rs 7,000 crore ($1.2b) by 2015.
 Players
 Eureka Forbes (Aquaguard) (52% market share)
 Hindustan UniLever (Pureit)
 Kent RO
 Luminious Water,
 Panasonic.
 Electrolux and Kelvinator
 Tata Chemicals,
 LG
 The Rs 6,000 crore packaged drinking market is severely
competitive with biggies like Bisleri, Tata Global, PepsiCo, Coca-
Cola and several other regional players.
Desalination and Water Recycling 29

30. Economics of Desalination
 Energy is the largest single expense for desalination
plants, accounting for as much as half of the costs to
make drinking water from the sea, according to a report.
 Desalination plants on average use about 15,000
kilowatt- hours of power for every million gallons of
fresh water that’s produced, the Pacific Institute said
today in a report. In comparison, wastewater reuse
draws as much as 8,300 kilowatt- hours of power for the
same volume and importing a similar amount of water
into Southern California requires as much as 14,000
kilowatt-hours of electricity, it said.
Desalination and Water Recycling 30

31. Desalination Costs
 Sea Water Desal $650 - 1000/ac-ft
 Brackish Desal* $325 - 650/ac-ft
 Water rental/purchase in NM $350/ac-ft
 MWD rate ca. $500/ac-ft
 Conservation $350 - 500/ac-ft
 Water Recycling $400 - 800/ac-ft
 Bottled Water (based on $1/liter) $1,200,000/ac-ft
Desalination and Water Recycling 31
* Very dependent on chemical make up of brackish water

32. Desalination and Water Recycling 32
Operating Cost of different desalination technologies

33. Desalination and Water Recycling 33
Process TotalEnergy
(kW-h/m3) CapitalCost
($/m3/d)
UnitWater
($/m3)
MultiStageFlash/MSF(withoutwasteheat) 55-57 - -
MSF(withwasteheat) 10-16 1000-1500 0.8-1.0
MultiEffectDistillation/MED(w/owasteheat) 40-43 - -
MED(withwasteheat) 6-9 900-1200 0.6–0.8
SeaWaterReverseOsmosis/SWRO 3-6 800-1000 0.5–0.8
SWRO(withenergyrecovery) 2-3 <800 0.45–0.6
InnovativeTechnologies/Hybridization <2.0* <800 <0.5
(Source: Ghaffour and Ng, 2011)
* Thermodynamically minimum energy requirement for desalination 0.75 kWh/m3; <2.0
kWh/m3 attained by improving efficiency/hybridization
Energy Requirements
• Conventional technologies: minimize energy requirements by waste
heat, energy recovery
• Thermal desalination energy reduction by co-location with power plant
Thermal > SWRO > Innovative processes
Energy Requirements (and costs) of Seawater Desalination

34. Sea Water Reverse Osmosis Cost Trend
Desalination and Water Recycling 34

35. Desalination and Water Recycling 35
Desalination membrane manufacturers in the world
Dupont
Dow-Filmtec (USA)
General Electric-Osmonics (USA)
Koch (USA)
Toyobo (Japan)
Nitto Denko (Hydranautics) (Japan)
Toray
Woongjin Chemical (Korea)
Vontron (China)

36. Desalination and Water Recycling 36
Near Horizon
< 2.0 kWh/m3
• Forward Osmosis (FO)
• Membrane Distillation (MD)
• Adsorption Desalination (AD)
Far Horizon:
Approach
1.0 kWh/m3
• Microbial Desal. Cell (MDC)
• Microbial Osmotic FC (MOFC)
• Heat stable Aquaporin Membrane
Coupled to Non-conventional
Solar Energy Generation
Current
3.0 – 4.0 kWh/m3
• Seawater
Reverse Osmosis
(SWRO)
A Technology Roadmap for Low-Energy (Cost) Desalination

37. Top 10 assignees by patent families for desalination technologies in the
last 5 years
1. Suh Hee Dong (20)
2. General Electric Company (18)
3. Lee Sang Ha (15)
4. Kurita Water Ind Ltd (12)
5. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (10)
6. Doosan (9)
7. University Tianjin (9)
8. Japan Organo Co Ltd (7)
9. Kobelco Eco-solutions Co Ltd (7)
10. Siemens Ag (7)
Desalination and Water Recycling 37
Patent Landscape

38. Top 10 assignees by patent families for desalination-solar thermal
energy integration
1. Hitachi ltd 10
2. Mitsubishi heavy industries ltd 8
3. Hitachi Zosen corp 7
4. Ebara Corp 6
5. Toshiba Corp 6
6. Sasakura Engineering co ltd 4
7. Massachusetts institute of technology3
8. Johannes Markopulos 3
9. Iida Tomimaru 3
10.VG Gol Proektno Izyskatelskij 3
Desalination and Water Recycling 38
Patent Landscape

39. • Provisional patents
• Development of thermally stable aquaporin mutants by
biotechnology
• Development of heat stable biomimetic membranes
• Non conventional solar energy generation
Desalination and Water Recycling 39
Our Own Intellectual Property – Boston Children Hospital

40. Prof. Peter Agre receives Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Stockholm 2003
http://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/index.php?id=996
Desalination and Water Recycling 40