New Membrane Filter System Uses Air Bubbles to Distill the Water

A University of Colorado Boulder research team developed a new membrane water filtration technology. It uses a thin layer of air bubbles to remove unwanted impurities from the water instead of forcing it through a sieve. The air bubbles make the system more permeable and efficient than any typical reverse osmosis system today.

Published in the Science Advances journal, the novel technology could effectively desalinate seawater and reuse wastewater. Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering Assistant Professor Anthony Straub also revealed their partnership with NASA in utilizing the system for recycling water space explorations and missions.

Straub, who worked with first author Ph.D. student Duong Nguyen, also said the current membranes are vulnerable to chemical degradation. In addition, these engineered membranes that process high volumes of water struggle to remove salt and clean the water.

He pointed out that their new membrane filtering system, which took years to make, possesses promising features that would benefit existing water treatment processes and could help address water scarcity issues worldwide.

Read the full article here to learn more about the new solar steam generator.

Looking for laboratory water purification systems? Aqua Solutions offers top-quality and affordable products that deliver the highest purity reagent grade water. Choose the model that best fits your lab needs: https://www.aquaa.com/