Fellows Project ChemFinity Technologies

ChemFinity Technologies is developing new porous membrane materials to reduce the energy needed to purify salt water and recover valuable metals.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Desalination—the process of removing salts, minerals, and contaminants from salt water—is an energy-intensive process that increases our dependence on fossil fuels and, in turn, increases our carbon emissions. Desalination and other water purification processes, however, are critical – not only for clean drinking water but also for low-footprint resource recovery and other industrial processes.

ChemFinity Technologies aims to reduce the energy needed for desalination and water purification. Their materials technology leverages new chemical design methods to create specialized, highly-selective adsorbents and membranes that avoid energy-intensive water treatment processes, reduce brine waste volumes and toxicity, and efficiently recover valuable metals.

By increasing the efficiency of separation and purification, ChemFinity’s membrane materials have the potential to accelerate energy-efficient desalination across sectors.