The University of Manchester is part of the EU-funded AQUASOLproject, working to address global water scarcity through renewable energy-powered desalination.
Desalination of seawater and brackish water is one of the essential solutions to the increasing global challenge of water scarcity. Yet, widespread deployment of desalination technologies remains limited due to high upfront costs and intensive energy requirements. Moreover, current desalination systems use fossil fuels, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.
To address these challenges, the EU-funded project AQUASOL brings together a multidisciplinary team of seven partners from six countries to explore and develop innovative solutions to facilitate green transition in desalination processes. To achieve this, the consortium will develop a technological platform that will enable the integration of renewable energy sources into desalination technologies and provide disruptive solutions for seawater and wastewater treatment.
Desalination of seawater and brackish water is one of the essential solutions to the increasing global challenge of water scarcity
Professor Rahul Nair, a researcher at Manchester, will develop graphene-based membranes designed to treat seawater and brackish water more efficiently. The goal is to increase membrane durability and reduce energy demands, offering practical improvements over current desalination systems.
The partners, comprising of research institutions, universities and small and medium businesses, met in Barcelona to officially launch the project, which started earlier this month.
AQUASOL, which stands for Advanced Quality Renewable Energy-Powered Solutions For Water Desalination In Agriculture And Wastewater Recycling, has a total budget of over €3.6M and will run for 3 years. The University of Manchester joins six other partners: Instituto Tecnológico de Canarias (Spain), Strane Innovation (France), Ferr-Tech B.V. (Netherlands), farmB (Greece), and Aarhus University (Denmark).
