Subsea Process, which Reduces Energy Requirements of Desalination by 40 percent, Requires Durable, Long-Lasting Membranes

March 7, 2021, – DuPont (NYSE:DD) today announced that it has entered into a collaboration with Waterise to provide seawater reverse osmosis membranes and expertise to the company’s subsea desalination plants.

Subsea reverse osmosis (RO) desalination presents a sustainable and more economical new way to turn seawater to freshwater. As subsea desalination leverages the natural hydrostatic pressure found at the depths of the sea to run the reverse osmosis, it reduces the energy requirements of conventional RO desalination by 40 percent. It also requires 80 percent less coastal land than land-based plants, presenting a viable option for communities with limited space. From an environmental perspective, subsea desalination requires lower amounts of pretreatment chemicals and eliminates the discharge of concentrated brine into coastal waters.

As Waterise’s patented desalination units reside on the sea floor, Waterise sought the most durable, longest-lasting reverse osmosis element on the market—ultimately focusing on DuPont’s FilmTec™ seawater membranes.

“As we look to increase access to fresh water and enable a water optimized world, we are energized by opportunities to collaborate on innovative solutions to water purification, conservation and reuse,” said HP Nanda, global vice president and general manager, DuPont Water Solutions. “We are excited about Waterise’s new approach to desalination that not only reduces water scarcity, but also minimizes energy consumption and environmental impact.”

In addition to exclusively using DuPont’s FilmTec™ seawater membranes for all systems, DuPont and Waterise will share knowledge and expertise, as well as collaborate on research and development toward the mission to advance the subsea desalination operations and performance.

“I am delighted to announce that Waterise is collaborating with DuPont as part of our program to identify and establish collaboration with world leading companies which produce components needed to construct a Waterise desalination unit,” says Niels Petter Wright, CEO, Waterise.

DuPont Water Solutions (DWS) is a leader in sustainable water purification and separation technologies, including ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis (RO) membranes and ion exchange resins. DuPont has been innovating and producing solutions in support of desalination for more than 40 years. The company continues to be at the forefront of reverse osmosis products that pursue sustainability—from lower energy membranes to the recent launch of dry-tested seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO)—as well as the continuous enhancement of membrane durability to enable extremely long membrane lifetimes.

Waterise is a Norwegian company with a groundbreaking and ready to go to market technology for desalination. The subsea desalination solution combines existing reverse osmosis technology with established Norwegian subsea technology and off-the-shelf equipment from leading global subsea suppliers. By reducing land and energy use and providing a standardized and module-based system, Waterise´s solutions will deliver fresh water with substantially reduced investment and operating costs compared to any other technology.

Desalination removes salt and other chemicals from seawater to produce freshwater for municipal, agricultural, energy or industrial use. The world’s oceans contain over 97 percent of the planet’s water resources, providing an essentially unlimited raw material for seawater desalination.