Singapore – September 12, 2024 – Gradiant, a global solutions provider for advanced water and wastewater treatment, has been awarded a two-year, $6 million USD grant from PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency, and the National Research Foundation (NRF), under the Living Lab, Centre of Excellence and PUB R&D funding schemes. The grant will be utilized to design, build, and operate a demonstration-scale low-energy desalination process facility, which will be implemented and tested at PUB’s Desalination Integrated Validation Plant (D-IVP).

While substantial research has been directed to improve energy consumption at the individual unit process level, such as ceramic membranes for pretreatment and ultra-permeable membranes for seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) and brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO), there is a gap in integrating the technologies and optimizing them at system-level. Gradiant’s process facility at PUB’s D-IVP will feature Gradiant’s SmartOps AI technology to achieve system-level improvements to energy consumption, targeting to achieve a consumption level below 2 kWh/m³, a significant reduction from the current 3.5 kWh/m³ benchmark.

SmartOpsAI is an integrated platform for plant performance optimization and asset management that uses machine learning AI algorithms to optimize and predict plant operations. The efficiency and productivity of facilities are improved by identifying areas needing attention and proactively predicting the likelihood of future events, such as the need for cleaning or replacement of membranes and equipment. SmartOps AI is already installed and operating at industrial and municipal sites around the world, including the United States, Australia, and Singapore, and is proven to deliver immediate cost savings and productivity improvements.

“Gradiant is honored to work with PUB, an innovating pioneer in water and wastewater treatment and management, to address this global challenge,” said Govind Alagappan, President of Gradiant. “Singapore is home of our Global Innovation Center for Water Technologies and the natural location to lead this ground-breaking work in collaboration with PUB. Our AI-powered SmartOps technology will serve as the blueprint for future full-scale desalination in Singapore and beyond.”

Partnering with the National University of Singapore (NUS), Hydroleap, and collaborating with Separation Technologies Applied Research and Translation (START), Gradiant will lead the development of a comprehensive system solution encompassing the entire desalination process from the individual unit processes through to plant operations and maintenance. The demonstration scale low-energy desalination process facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2025. 

About Gradiant

Gradiant is a Different Kind of Water Company. With a full suite of differentiated and proprietary end-to-end solutions for advanced water and wastewater treatment powered by the top minds in water, the company serves its clients’ mission-critical operations in the world’s essential industries, including semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, food & beverage, lithium and critical minerals, and renewable energy. Gradiant’s innovative solutions reduce water used and wastewater discharged, reclaim valuable resources, and renew wastewater into freshwater. The Boston-headquartered company was founded at MIT and has over 1,000 employees worldwide. Learn more at gradiant.com.