The NRF is a department in the Prime Minister's office with the mission to help set the national direction for R&D by developing policies, plans and strategies for research, innovation and enterprise. The grant, administered by the Environment & Water Industry Programme Office (EWI) under the Public Utilities Board (PUB), was awarded to Aquaporin Asia, a joint venture between Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Ventures, DHI Singapore and Danish cleantech company Aquaporin A/S.
Aquaporin Asia commenced the project, titled ‘Aquaporin Based Biomimetic Forward Osmosis Membranes: From lab scale production of membranes to pilot scale production and industrial test bedding of membrane modules’ in November last year. The project will be carried out in close collaboration with numerous industry players.
DHI Singapore’s tasks in this project is to:
• develop a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model that is able to describe flow and concentration profiles in a membrane module
• develop a small scale sensor that is able to measure flow and concentration profile in a region close to membrane structures. The measured results will be used to verify the CFD models.
• design membrane modules on the basis of CFD technology
Said Lars Yde, Chief Engineer, DHI Singapore, ‘This is another of our partnerships with Aquaporin Asia geared towards improving the process of industrial water treatment. We will be supporting this project in the best possible way and we look forward to further collaboration opportunities in future.’