Aquaporin-Inside™ Membranes for Brackish water Reverse Osmosis Application (AMBROSIA)

Water is a precondition for human, animal and plant life – but climate change poses a threat to the world’s water supply, with many regions at risk of severe drought. An EU-funded project has developed a membrane inspired by nature’s own technology to sustainably secure safe and clean water for all.

To overcome the challenge of water scarcity and make the process of desalination more sustainable, water tech company Aquaporin has developed a biomimetic membrane based on the aquaporin water channel protein to boost standard polymeric membranes with a biological water channel. The company has taken this breakthrough technology to new heights in the EU-funded AMBROSIA project, which produced the world’s first biomimetic brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO) membrane and developed it from lab to industrial scale. With its potential to disrupt the current RO technology, making it more cost-effective, energy and water efficient, AMBROSIA’s biomimetic membrane is an important contribution to the desalination industry.