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GraphAir is a graphene membrane for membrane distillation that allows for a simple temperature gradient process to create ultrapure water.
About
GraphAir allows for a current multistep and complex process to become a simple 1-2 step process required to create ultra-pure water.
GraphAir membranes are inherently anti-fouling. This reduces the need for changing the membrane and allows for membrane distillation to be used where they would usually fail.
Additionally, GraphAir can recover more pure water than other treatment methods, seeing over 90% recovery.
Key Benefits
• It reduces the number of steps required to produce ultra-pure water (from 6 steps or
more to 1 or 2), which simplifies the purification system.
• It is inherently anti-fouling , therefore potentially reducing the frequency of membrane
replacement and associated service costs, while also enabling for water purification harsh
conditions where conventional membranes typically fail.
• Using membrane distillation, GraphAir requires a smaller temperature difference to
produce the same flux as standard membranes, reducing energy costs, this needs
confirmation in a scaled system.
• It has a much higher flux (50 litre/m2h) than conventional membranes (10 litre/m2h),
meaning less membrane surface area is required to produce a given volume of water,
this needs confirmation in a scaled system.
• Unlike other graphene products, it is made in a simplified Chemical Vapour Deposition
(CVD) process from renewable liquid oil, significantly reducing manufacturing complexity
and cost.
• When compared with reverse osmosis, it can recover more pure water (over 90%), and,
furthermore, may enable extraction of valuable dissolved salts and compounds.
• To our knowledge, we have demonstrated to be the most scalable ionic separation
exchange membrane in the market currently.
Applications
Wastewater Treatment, Mineral recovery from brine solution and Exploring dewatering/thickening/filtering to recover precipitates generated in pregnant leach solutions. It can potentially replace an evaporation step at a lower cost and repurpose the purified water