Recovery Act - Carbon Nanotube Based Water Purification

The need for pure water is a global challenge that encompasses manufacturing, home consumption and desalination. Current filtration technologies that are used to purify water are too energy intensive.Nanotrons proposes an innovative carbon nanotube based water filtration membrane technology that will drastically outperform all the conventional filtration membranes. This new category of carbon nanotubeenabled filtration membrane provides drastically increased purification flux output, resulting in substantial reduction in filter size and operation energy consumption. In Phase I, we have successfully demonstrated the feasibility of our solution-based fabrication technology for producing the carbon nanotube based filtration membranes. The success achieved during Phase I has paved the way for practical fabrication of this breakthrough water filtration membrane.In Phase II, we will test a feasible roll-to-roll mass production methodology for the filtration membranes, work with leading water filter producers such as Pall and Millipore to develop a prototype filtration cartridge, and evaluate its performance. At the end of the project, a prototype filtration cartridge with excellent performance will be demonstrated. The success of this Phase II will lay the foundation for the Phase III commercialization. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: Success of this Phase II effort will pave the road for mass production and commercialization of these high performance carbon nanotube based filtration membranes through a roll-to-roll manufacture line. The adoption of this novel ultra-high flux carbon nanotube based filtration membrane will have profound impact on dozens of multi-billion industries, including water purification, medical, chemical, pharmaceuticals, food processing, and environmental remediation. Rapid growth of emerging opportunities will also result from successful development, such as miniaturized portable filtration/desalination devices for use by ships, aircraft and spacecraft crews and passengers, soldiers, recreational hikers and explorers.