The project is jointly funded by the Australian Government ($420,000) and the Western Australian Government ($188,000). Australian Government funding is provided through the National Water Grid Fund.
The project will couple Sonication (by HydroVolta), an emerging desalination technology, with a mature and proven Electrodialysis Reversal technology.
Project overview
Groundwater in inland Western Australia is typically brackish with a high silica and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) concentration. These high concentrations make conventional Reverse Osmosis (RO) desalination less favourable due to the build-up of precipitate and scale and associated ongoing maintenance costs.
The project is a practical pilot to test water desalination technology under a range of conditions. It will also test how suitable the water is for use at the remote locations of Cue and Meekatharra.
Research will look at how the water could be used under a range of conditions in regional and remote areas for:
- small communities
- industries
- enterprises
- farms.
The project will couple Sonication (by HydroVolta), an emerging desalination technology, with a mature and proven Electrodialysis Reversal technology.
Sonication produces high water recovery with lower energy consumption and waste (brine) output uses a unique combination of electrodialysis, ultrasound technology and other membrane technologies (low pressure osmosis) to achieve high water recovery with considerably lower energy consumption and waste (brine) output).
Electrodialysis Reversal technology is a mature, proven method of desalination. It has been demonstrated to achieve high recoveries from groundwaters with high silica concentrations.
Electrodialysis Reversal technology reduces fouling and increases water recovery. It enhances performance of brackish water desalination applications.
The project will provide a technology and system template for the challenges which currently limit the use of brackish and saline groundwater across much of Australia.
The Western Australian Government is also contributing $232,000 through in-kind contributions*.
*In-kind contributions are contributions of goods and services and do not contribute to the total project cost.