nir-vana innovation network

The Dutch SME has developed a solar driven point of use desalination technology that can be used as a permanent source of drinking water for households and communities or can be rapidly deployed as a compact, inflatable product after a natural disaster.
The company’s vision is that the solution to many of the issues in developing countries and developed countries as well, can be achieved by creating sustainable businesses with local partners. Based on innovative social and technical solutions the company wants to create long term social and environmental impact by providing pure and salt free drinking water to those people who have no access thereto and/or want to avoid the use of bottled for either cost, health or environmental reasons.

The system consists of modules (0.3 x 1.8 m) and operates using the process of membrane distillation. Each module contains a water purification bag (WPB) composed of polymer films and a proprietary membrane. The saline/polluted feed water flows into the WPB and is heated by solar radiation, the pure water (H2O) evaporates and passes through the proprietary membrane, leaving salt, pollutants viruses and bacteria behind. The pure water condensates and flows out. The condensation heat is regenerated and used for heating another part of the source water. The concentrated brine flows out and is disposed of. The system has a high fouling and scaling resistance, ensuring that only minimal maintenance is required compared to other technologies. Because of the modular design it is more robust due to the inbuilt redundancy. Modules can be combined to provide anywhere between 4 and 5000 litres of clean drinking water per day.
The company is looking for technology companies and/or distributors or launching customer partners in Southern Europe.
Potential partners should preferably already be active in the solar and/or water market.

Partners are expected to introduce the system in their country/region, assisting in adjusting systems to local needs/tastes, distributing, eventually assembling and partly manufacturing the system if quantities would warrant this.
Cooperation is envisioned within the frame of a distribution services agreement or a joint venture agreement.

Advantages & innovations

The main advantages of membrane technology (directly solar driven without moving parts) is that it provides an affordable (<€0.02/litre), simple and robust solution to produce high quality drinking water regardless of whether the source water is brackish or saline, biologically, or chemically contaminated. For household and small communities’ applications it is more robust, easier to use and maintain and overall lower in cost than technologies developed for large scale applications such as Reverse Osmosis (RO), especially for desalinating seawater. Costwise it easily competes with bottled water and trucked or shipped water.

Stage of development

Prototype available for demonstration

Partner sought

Type of partner: technology company and/or distributor Activity: preferably already active in solar and/or water market. Role: Technology company: eventually assembling and part manufacturing if quantities warrant Distributor: introducing the system in his country/region, assisting in adjusting systems to local needs/tastes , distributing.