STW valorisation grant

The STW valorisation grant is a financial program for high-tech innovations attached to promising entrepreneurs. Technology Foundation STW realises the transfer of knowledge between the technical sciences and end-users through funding. A selection panel of experts from different industries judged the innovative technology Renewable Driven Desalination developed by Sid Vollebregt and Reinoud Feenstra from Elemental Water Makers suitable to be granted the second phase of the STW valorisation grant. The financial impulse will be used to bring the technology successfully into the market and to grow as a company to the next level.

Sid Vollebregt and Reinoud Feenstra are two engineers that graduated at the University of Technology Delft in 2012. They developed an idea that was born during their MSc thesis into a mature design for Renewable Driven Desalination. In close collaboration with the TU Delft (Professor Luuk Rietveld and Bas Heijman), Yes!Delft, with the guidance of Climate-KIC acceleration program and with the financial support of the STW valorisation grant II , they tested the design and are bringing the technology into the market.

Renewable Driven Desalination

Desalination of seawater and brackish (ground)water is a common solution for the increasing demand for fresh water and the limited availability of renewable water resources, particularly in coastal areas and islands. The best known and most energy efficient technology for desalination, today, is reverse osmosis that accounts for 60% of the global demand for desalination technologies. Despite being most efficient, reverse osmosis is still an energy intensive process and depends on energy supply from fossil fuels. Access to these fuels depend on the global market prices and logistic supply chains. The next logical step is therefore the coupling of renewable energy and desalination. However, there is one main barrier. Reverse osmosis is designed for continuous operation, while renewable energy sources might fluctuate over time.

Elemental Water Makers has developed a solution that enables a constant reverse osmosis process and runs only on fluctuating renewable energy. Through constant and energy efficient operation and with minimized maintenance by avoiding the use of batteries, it enables a lower water price than currently available alternatives. The innovative Renewable Driven Desalination design uses mature technology and can be easily scaled for different capacities. It offers an eco-friendly solution by avoiding the use of fossil fuels and is suitable for stand-alone operation.