Nrgtek Inc., based in Yorba Linda with a lab in Orange, has won a highly competitive Small Business Innovation Research grant to build a working prototype of its solar-assisted seawater desalination system.
If the process using forward osmosis succeeds, it will use half the energy of more common reverse osmosis water purification , said Subra Iyer, one of the company founders who formerly worked 14 years with the Metropolitan Water District.
Approximately one in 10 applicants receives SBIR funding that are granted through 11 federal agencies and administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Nrgtek previously won a Phase I SBIR grant from the U.S. Dept. of Energy in which the firm successfully developed a low-cost, low-energy water desalinization system, partly powered by solar energy, that produced 5 gallons a day. The new Phase II SBIR grant will be for $1 million over two years. If successful, the company could apply for a larger, third grant.
"We have a long way to go to build a prototype that can process 100 gallons a day," Iyer said. "A hundred gallons is nothing. A hotel uses 10,000 gallons a day; a small city needs 100,000 gallons a day."
Large scale commercial production would be three to four years away, he estimated. Nrgtek currently is seeking other partners.
Reverse osmosis uses hydraulic pressure to force water through a membrane, which uses a lot of energy. Forward osmosis draws water through a membrane using particle concentrations.
Others have worked on the idea, and Yale University opened a forward osmosis desalination pilot project in 2006. A company, Oasys Water Inc. was spun off to raise $10 million in venture capital in 2009 for what it calls "engineered osmosis."
