[Durham, NC, 5 April 2022] – North Carolina-based NALA Membranes has signed a research agreement with Separation Technologies Applied Research and Translation Centre (START), Singapore. START is one of Singapore’s Centers of Excellence, supported by the National Research Foundation through PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency and is hosted by NTUitive, the innovation and enterprise company of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore). START and NALA will collaborate to scale-up the company’s chlorine resistant membrane for pilot testing at municipal water systems.
“Singapore is a global hub for advanced water technologies, and we are delighted to partner with START which has sophisticated testing and scale-up capabilities,” said NALA Membranes CEO Sue Mecham.
Mecham together with her mother, Professor Emerita Judy Riffle, created a new generation of reverse osmosis membranes based on patent pending materials that are resistant to chlorine. Chlorine is commonly used as a cleaning agent and prevents biological growth which clogs membranes in reverse osmosis water systems.
“The water industry has been searching for chlorine resistance, something that is missing from today’s crop of commercial membranes,” said START’s Technical Director Dr Chakravarthy Gudipati, who will co-lead the project.
Almost 1 in 10 people globally don’t have access to clean water, and with the pressure of climate change, municipal water systems have to meet both a low carbon footprint and production volume targets.
“Energy reduction and operational efficiency are two of the most important facets driving innovation in membranes, and are key to developing sustainable technologies. Our collaboration with NALA Membranes is one of our key efforts towards achieving that goal,” said Dr Adil Dhalla, Managing Director of START.
Reverse osmosis systems are used in a variety of settings including drinking water, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, and biomedical manufacturing among others.
“Our close partnership with START allows us to accelerate the creation of unique solutions for many industries. Because of our expertise in polymer science, we can do this with a new generation of materials that are good for the global community that we are all part of,” said NALA co-founder Riffle.
The company has been invited as a Water Leader to Singapore’s International Water Week in April attended by the world’s top 500 water companies, and will be attending the Global Water Summit 2022 in Madrid in May as a presenter in the Tech Idol competition.
For more information contact Sue Mecham, sjmecham@nalamembranes.com, 540-230-5606
