The Need

Across desalination, water reuse, and other separation markets, operators continue to face a fundamental tradeoff between membrane permeability and selectivity. Existing commercial polyamide membranes often sacrifice water flux to achieve high salt rejection, driving higher energy consumption, increased operating pressure, and larger system footprints. As global demand grows for efficient treatment of brackish, seawater, and challenging process streams, there is a clear need for membranes that deliver higher throughput while maintaining, or improving, separation performance and durability.

The Technology

OSU engineers have developed a next‑generation water‑permeable membrane based on a nanocomposite polyamide selective layer formed on a conventional porous support. The membrane incorporates engineered nanoparticles and a covalently bonded hydrophilic additive within the polyamide layer, enabling faster water transport without compromising selectivity. The approach is compatible with established interfacial polymerization processes, allowing performance gains to be achieved without fundamentally changing membrane manufacturing workflows.

Commercial Applications

• Reverse osmosis membranes for brackish and seawater desalination
• High‑performance membranes for industrial water reuse and wastewater treatment
• Dialysis membranes requiring high permeability and controlled solute rejection
• Pervaporation membranes for selective liquid separations

Benefits/Advantages

• Higher water flux at high salt rejection: reducing energy use per unit of treated water
• Drop‑in compatibility: with existing thin‑film composite membrane manufacturing
• Tunability of performance: via nanoparticle and additive selection for target applications
• Improved productivity and smaller system footprints: compared to conventional polyamide membranes