Singapore-based membrane distillation (MD) specialist memsys clearwater Pte Ltd has entered into an agreement with GE to jointly develop the technology for the fast-growing oil and gas market.
Under the terms of the agreement, GE will invest in testing the desalination technology and in return receive an exclusive license for the use of the technology in these applications.
GE has extensive experience in thermal and membrane system design, and an extended research capability through GE Global Research. For both companies, this agreement is spurred by the belief that the memsys MD technology is ideally positioned to support the rapid development of unconventional resource projects around the world and meet the rising demand for cost-effective water treatment technologies to reduce the environmental impacts of these types of projects.
MD is a low-cost brine concentration technology that can replicate the conventional thermal evaporation process while using less energy and lowering the cost and the carbon footprint of evaporation. Decreasing energy consumption not only saves money and increases efficiency but also reduces emissions and has less of an impact on the environment.
“We are excited to work with GE in the unconventional resources segment,” said Götz Lange, CEO of memsys. “GE is a technical innovator in the global water and power generation industries, which makes them a great partner to commercialize our MD technology for unconventional resource applications.”
His company has developed a multi-effect MD process in which conventional thermal process engineering has been transferred into an industrial design. As a thermal technology, memsys’ MD technology is suited to treat high saline produced waters found in unconventional resources production.
Additionally, as a membrane technology, it is compact, modular and energy efficient. “memsys is the first company to develop a commercially viable, scalable solution for large projects using MD technology,” said Jeff Connelly, vice president, engineered systems–water and process technologies for GE Power & Water. “Their technical expertise, combined with our own water technology leadership and business presence in the unconventional resource segment, make our agreement with memsys a unique, exciting collaboration.”