Clean water from the waves
One in five people do not have regular access to clean water. One third of the world’s population live in areas where fresh water is scarce. Based on the latest UN figures, up to three quarters of the world’s population could be facing water scarcity by 20501.
Shortages have driven rapid growth in the global desalination industry. Reverse Osmosis (RO) desalination is rapidly outpacing alternatives, due to its relatively low cost. Most of the world’s RO desalination plants are powered by fossil fuels. These fuels produce CO2 and are increasingly expensive.
The technology behind Oyster® can be used to generate clean, fresh water by directly powering reverse osmosis desalination plant. The techniques are designed to eliminate the need for intermediate electricity, as currently required in wind or diesel powered desalination. This reduces complexity and increases performance. It will also eliminate dependence on imported fuel and cut carbon emissions.
The value of the RO desalination market is expected to be over $80bn by 2015. Given Oyster’s potential to cut both the cost and emissions associated with fossil fuel powered RO plant, this application represents a very promising solution to global water shortages.
1 United Nations, 2003, "World Water Development Report”.
