A natural filter designed to desalinate seawater, using very little energy, is being developed by a University of WA scientist in the hope of reducing energy costs currently associated with reverse osmosis desalination plants.
Associate Professor Ben Corry said the theory was born out of his study of nerves in human muscles and how cell membranes allowed certain chemical neurotransmitters through and not others to make muscles contract.
By taking a solid membrane material and depositing dots of catalyst and putting gas over the top, he was able to grow pores like a tubular “forest”.
Associate-Professor Corry found that in order to filter out larger salt molecules in seawater the size of each pore had to be exactly one nanometre in diameter.
Yet the smallest he had produced successively was two nanometres which was “close but not good enough” he said.
He said it was possible to make them smaller with alterations to the environment the pores grow in, since they had made pores smaller but not repeatedly.
If successful the semi-permeable membrane could be rolled out at a commercial level, Associate-Professor Cory said there was no doubt it would reduce energy costs and could be applied to already existent desalination plants.
He had yet to approach the state government about his work but through the Australian Research Council he received about $400,000 over three years in Commonwealth funding to help develop the idea.
His idea has been recognised by the 2011 Annual Australian Museum Eureka Prizes, which has named him a finalist in the prestigious scientific research and innovation award.
The Eureka Prize offers more than $240,000 to the winners and will be announced at the largest national celebration of Australian science on September 6 in Sydney’s Hordern Pavillion.
Associate-Professor Corry was the 2008 Young Scientist of the Year in the Premier’s Science Awards.
