Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Excalibur (Unlocking operational excellence in water desalination plants by nanoscale fouling sensor technology)
Reporting period: 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31
Global water stress currently impacts 40% of the world's population and is even worsening due to climate change. To counteract the devastating consequences, membrane desalination is exponentially booming with over 22,000 plants already operational in 2022. Although membrane desalination has lower energy requirements as compared to thermal processes, membrane fouling significantly jeopardizes the efficiency of these plants worldwide. It results in higher energy consumption and requires frequent, at times aggressive, cleaning cycles. The latter in turn increase process downtimes and expenditure on cleaning agents while drastically reducing membrane lifetime. The consequence is significant economic losses for operators, a detrimental environmental impact and an increased final price of the drinking water produced. Currently, there exist only corrective measures which are entirely insufficient as they are based on indirect measurements. The objective of our sensor system Excalibur (patent granted in the EU) is to detect fouling and cleaning at nano levels directly on a membrane in real-time and non-invasively. This enables a truly predictive process monitoring. Excalibur will surpass existing sensitivity limits by three orders of magnitude and its proprietary AI-based software will provide unique and hitherto unattainable operational flexibility with a strong impact on running costs: membrane lifespan is prolonged up to 20%, process downtimes are reduced up to 60%. By optimizing the use of chemical agents, Excalibur will also enhance the sustainability of membrane processes. It will boost both energy savings (>10%) as well as economic efficiency (decrease cleaning cost by 25%). According to our projections and B2B business model, we anticipate installing our solution in over 666 desalination plants (producing an estimated 25 million m3/day of water) until 2030, ensuring energy-efficient plant productivity and minimizing their environmental impact.
After the first year of the project, the first milestones of EXALIBUR were fully achieved. The sensor system was designed such as to withstand the harsh conditions in membrane desalination plants. Its sensitivity permits monitoring early-stage development of the very first fouling layers on surfaces until fouling becomes critical. The data acquisition and processing has been professionalised incorporating cybersecurity measures that flow industry standards. A user interface was designed according to the needs of plant operators, offering all the information they need on the status of the membrane process but without compromising simplicity and clarity. With these milestones achieved, the sensor system of EXCALIBUR is being tested and then ready for deployment in a relevant industrial environment.
EXCALIBUR surpasses the state of the art by delivering a sensor system that is three orders of magnitude more sensitive than existing technologies. It enables real-time monitoring of both membrane fouling and cleaning processes (or surface conditions), thereby providing operators with continuous, up-to-date insight into the process status. This capability empowers operators to design and optimise the most effective process strategies, while also revealing performance information that has previously been inaccessible. Unlike conventional technologies, EXCALIBUR acquires data directly from the membrane surface, ensuring that predictions of critical fouling scenarios and cleaning efficiency are both reliable and independent of historical data. As a result, EXCALIBUR elevates water production to a new level of energy efficiency and sustainability.