Around the world, drought inflicts an increasingly unpredictable, frequent and devastating toll on human activities, ranging from, struggling to secure access to sufficient clean water to simply survive leading to political unrest and instability, increasing the cost of agriculture and manufacturing operations, and damaging the environment, both directly and indirectly. Climate change exacerbates stress on both water supply and demand. Water and energy are inexorably linked, with enormous volumes of water required to generate energy in many cases and large energy inputs required to purify water. For example, oil and gas production by hydraulic fracturing comes at a substantial price in terms of the amount of water required and the amount of flowback or produced water generated. This water is contaminated and requires substantial cleanup (i.e., energy input) for any beneficial use. As an additional indicator of the importance of water, it is estimated that every $1M USD of economic activity requires 22,000 m3 of water per year; the faster our economies run, the more clean water we need. Membrane science is alleviating water shortages, weakening the linkage between energy and water, and arresting the environmental damage occurring due to agricultural runoff (e.g., uncontrolled algal blooms), oil and gas production, and energy generation. A “moonshot for water” has been proposed in the U.S. to reduce the cost of desalination to be comparable to that of conventional drinking water. Disruptive, membrane-based technologies will lead the way in bringing about this revolution. Membrane-based seawater desalination is already the least energy intensive way to desalinate seawater, and membranes are increasingly used for wastewater treatment and reuse. Basic and applied science discoveries are paving the way for next generation membranes that will be highly selective, fouling resistant, low energy and highly resilient. Rational control of pore size and pore size distribution in membrane filters is critical to such developments. Discovering and developing the underpinning science to predict ion and water transport across membranes designed to separate ions from water is already providing profound insight regarding molecular strategies to tailor next generation membranes. This presentation will frame the water/energy nexus challenges and opportunities and provide a glimpse of potential paths forward to supply the world with low energy, abundant access to clean water.

Membrane science and technology for water and energy applications

2019 Fall National Meeting

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