GE and Singapore university agree to study low-energy desalination

New solutions for low-energy seawater desalination will be one area of research resulting from an agreement announced on 19 March 2009 between the National University of Singapore (NUS) and GE Water.

The US$ 100 million center will house GE scientists and engineers who will also develop new solutions for water reclamation and more efficient water reuse.

This will boost fundamental research and industry innovation in water treatment, while also strengthening collaboration with government and industry in Singapore and abroad. The facility and its state-of-the-art equipment are expected to be fully operational by mid-2009.

The NUS-GE Singapore Water Technology Center is the most recent addition in GE’s worldwide technology development efforts. It joins a network of GE’s technology centers located throughout the world, including the China Technology Center in Shanghai.

GE’s ZeeWeed™ hollow fiber ultrafiltration (UF) membrane technology is already used to produce high-quality reclaimed water from treated wastewater at the Bedok NEWater plant in Singapore and the nation’s first large-scale membrane bioreactor plant at Ulu Pandan. Two important drinking water plants, Chestnut Avenue Water Works and Choa Chu Kang Water Works also use GE UF membranes to purify water for potable use.