Specific Program: M-ERA-Net 3 COFUND 2024

ERA-NET for research and innovation on materials and battery technologies, supporting the European Green Deal

M-ERA.NET is an EU funded network which has been established to support and increase the coordination of European research programmes and related funding in materials science and engineering.

The M-ERA.NET consortium will contribute to the restructuring of the European Research Area (ERA) by operating as a single innovative and flexible network of funding organisations.

Funding Programme: the framework for this funding action is the Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica, Técnica e Innovación 2024-2027. On a national level, the Call will be managed by the Subdivisión de Programas Científico-Técnicos Transversales, Fortalecimiento y Excelencia of the AEI

Project funded by MICIU/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and co-funded by the European Union.

Code: PCI2025-163142

UPV/EHU: Coordinator

IP UPV/EHU: Radmila Tomovska

Project start date: 01/07/2025

Project end date: 30/06/2028

Brief description:

In the pursuit of global efforts to ensure freshwater resources, seawater desalination stands out as a promising solution to expand global freshwater reserves. Even though forward osmosis (FO) offers solutions to multiple challenges of other desalination technologies, it still faces limitations hindering its widespread practical application. To address these challenges, an essential aspect is the development of a draw solution (DS) for the FO cell, capable of generating high osmotic pressures and exhibiting precise thermally-induced transitions across a desired temperature range to facilitate low-energy regeneration, minimizing reverse solute flux and viscosity, enhancing water flux and reducing internal concentration polarization. The semipermeable membrane is another component of FO that has to overcome the current drawbacks of limited selectivity/sensitivity, fouling, mechanical resistance, and upscaling limits.

The deSalSea project is aligned along the entire value chain of FO technology. The interdisciplinary Spanish-French-Czech consortium presents complementary expertise within the individual FO processes and novel ideas to improve sustainability and detach the production dependence on petroleum-based products while simultaneously increasing the performance and minimizing the costs of FO. To achieve this, the first project aim is todesign completely novel polyzwitterionic chains for DS based on sustainable resources, capable of responding to multiple stimuli (thermal, pH changes).

These chains, rich in charges along their backbone, ensure high osmolarity at lower molar concentrations, thereby reducing viscosity, reverse flux,polarization concentration, and regeneration costs. Special efforts will be made to guarantee environmentally friendly end-of-life solutions for DS. Their design is based on systematic computational and experimental studies to deeply understand the complex polyzwitterion responsive behavior and create a guide for molecular design of chains with controlled responsive behavior to ensure negligible costs for DS regeneration, as the second deSalSea aim.

Currently, this solution not technologically ready, however, during the project life it is expected to raise it from TRL1 to TRL3. Within the third project aim, biomimetic Aquaporins AQPs membranes will be implemented in FO cells, based on Artificial Water Channels (AWCs), constructed from artificial molecules defining a water-pore superstructure surrounded by a hydrophobic exterior toward the membrane environment. These membranes are anticipated to increase desalination efficiency by using natural principles by 3 folds of the currently best reverse osmosis membranes while achieving 99.5-99,9% salt rejection. The AWC-based membranes presently have TRL of 4-5, which is expected to be promoted to TRL6. The fourth aim of deSalSea is to integrate the individual components in the FO process and develop a demonstrator device on a laboratory scale, giving rise to TRL4 of the complete process. Finally, the project will evaluate its outcomes in terms of energy efficiency, economic viability, and environmental impact, aligning with the Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6) of "Clean Water and Sanitation." Through comprehensive life assesment study and material circularity strategies, the project aims to minimize waste and carbon emissions while ensuring access to clean water.