Water. Desalination + reuse
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/513849
WHILE IT'S never going to console the people in drought-blighted regions of the world, the fact remains that water scarcity is an investment opportunity. The simple truth is that demand for water is an ever-rising tide in keeping with burgeoning populations and developing economies. At the same time, resources are only ever going to deplete relative to rising demand: a recipe for fruitful business and investment. Desalination technology is growing at a searing pace with, for example, a typical forecast putting global membrane market growth at more than 10% from 2013 to some US$ 39 billion in 2019. So this, from greentech investment analyst Jeff Siegel, was provoking: "It's rare to find folks, particularly investors, who understand just how valuable water is. Most investors find it to be a boring subject, and unless there's a drought, no one's really interested." True, water is never going to be alluring but there are plenty in the investment community who are not going to be put off by a dull and dirty business if there is money (brass* – old English saying) to be made. And as Siegel rightly says, for its long-term returns, desalination is a sector that investors should be "drooling over." Less than appetizing to investors is the costly and time-consuming regulation needed to ensure the environmental impacts of desalination projects are curbed. But regulation too creates investment opportunities because the need to improve efficiency and clean up effluent is fuelling innovation – a theme for this edition of D&WR – particularly innovation in sustainability. Recent arrivals to the desalination sector have ploughed in with strong venture capital support. Examples include Desalitech, Oasys and NanoH2O (prior to its acquisition by LG). And at the prototype/market interface there are exciting developments. In this issue we report Cerahelix's intriguing use of DNA to produce ceramic membranes. Other items include energy-producing water treatment of oil and gas effluent, crop-tailored reuse in agriculture, and a huge renewable project in the Middle East. And we report some promising research into means to stem biofouling by blocking chemical messages between the offending microorganisms. Opportunities for pilots are emerging alongside openings for mainstream projects. We cover Dow's forays in industrial reuse and LG NanoH2O's ambitions to do the same. And there are growing regional opportunities in developing and developed countries worldwide – where Hyflux, IDE and Rosatom among others have signalled ambitions to expand. Innovation is, and for some time will remain, a driving force in the desalination industry which has much latitude for progress in becoming leaner and cleaner. In membranes and thermal technologies, improved energy efficiency as well as greater resilience and less effluent are – alongside existing technologies – worthwhile bets for anyone looking for a return. Dr Trevor Loveday COMMENT Where there's muck there's brass* editor'scorner | 6 | desalination & Water reuse | May-June 2015