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Five journeys from nanotechnology research to successful products in the water industry

Nature Water volume 2, pages 392–396 (2024)Cite this article

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Nanotechnology-based semipermeable membranes have been actively studied for their potential application in the production of clean water. Fundamental nanotechnology research has been turned into award-winning water industry products.

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Fig. 1: Nanotechnology-enabled treatment of fouling wastewater and fouling groundwater.
Fig. 2: A process flow diagram illustrating the process-level value proposition enabled by NX Filtration’s dNF membranes at the Dumai drinking water plant.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank D. Agnihotri for conversations regarding his involvement in the commercial development of Nanostack. The authors would like to thank A. Asatekin for conversations regarding her involvement in the commercial development of ZwitterCo.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. LG Water Solutions, Torrance, CA, USA

    Adrian M. Brozell

  2. AMB Development, Los Gatos, CA, USA

    Adrian M. Brozell

  3. Membrane Science and Technology, University of Twente, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, Enschede, The Netherlands

    Joris de Grooth

  4. NX Filtration, Enschede, The Netherlands

    Joris de Grooth

  5. Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Eric M. V. Hoek

  6. Energy Storage & Distributed Resources Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Eric M. V. Hoek

Authors
  1. Adrian M. Brozell
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  2. Joris de Grooth
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  3. Eric M. V. Hoek
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Adrian M. Brozell.

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Competing interests

A.M.B. holds a position at LG Water Solutions, a membrane manufacturer. J.d.G. holds a position at NX Filtration, a membrane manufacturer. E.M.V.H. does not have any competing interests.

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Brozell, A.M., de Grooth, J. & Hoek, E.M.V. Five journeys from nanotechnology research to successful products in the water industry. Nat Water 2, 392–396 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-024-00244-3

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