Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), operated by Battelle Memorial Institute under contract to the U.S. Department of Energy, solicits interest from companies interested in obtaining license rights to commercialize, manufacture and market the following technology. License rights may be issued on an exclusive or nonexclusive basis and may include specific fields of use. PNNL may also be available to licensee(s) to assist in further research and development of the technology under a SPP agreement, ACT agreement, or CRADA agreement.

THE TECHNOLOGY:

Desalination is an important solution to increase water supplies for municipal water and agriculture, and is an essential technology to purify water produced from various industrial processes, as well as from oil and gas exploration. Reverse osmosis (RO) is the commercial reference standard for desalination technology but: 1) Depends on cheap and uninterrupted electric power to run the process, 2) RO membranes are susceptible to biofouling requiring regular maintenance that increases operating costs, and 3) Produced water at oil and gas well sites can have particularly high salt content and is often generated away from grid infrastructure – both factors are poor fits for RO systems. An advanced desalination system operating off solar thermal or industrial waste heat can potentially produce water at substantially lower cost than RO, is deployable at more locations, and can treat even high salinity produced waters.

PNNL’s concept is a continuous, scalable, and low-cost process to desalinate seawater and higher salinity produced waters. The concept centers on exploiting the salt exclusion properties of certain compounds and incorporates two other PNNL-patented technologies into a renewable-energy-powered desalination system. The system requires one-fifth the energy as compared with many thermal desalination systems. No sensitive membranes are used that are susceptible to biofouling or need to maintain positive fluid flow during shutdowns as is required with RO systems.

For all inquiries, please reference Battelle IPID 31306-E.

NOTE: THIS IS NOT A PROCUREMENT. Any company interested in licensing this technology must respond with a letter of interest (may be submitted by e-mail) no later than thirty (30) days from the publication date of this Notice summarizing the company’s business and technical expertise and motivation for pursuing this opportunity. Companies deemed appropriate will be provided with further information on the technology. Such information may require an executed Nondisclosure Agreement. Respondents wishing to enter into negotiations for a commercial license will be required to submit a business plan for the commercialization of the technology prior to licensee(s) selection and negotiations. Please send letters of interest to the attention of the POC identified within this Notice, referencing Battelle IPID 31306-E.