Abstract
Harmony Desalting is a startup addressing the critical issue of freshwater scarcity through environmentally responsible water solutions. The goal of Harmony desalting is to perfect and effectively scale up the Batch Reverse Osmosis technology (Batch RO). Batch RO presents a feasible and sustainable approach to the increasing demand for fresh water in a world where demand is significantly outgrowing supply. Batch RO is an improvement of the current technology ‘Reverse Osmosis’ by treating the water in batches and precisely matching feed pressure to osmotic pressure we can reduce energy consumption and brine output. Currently, we are developing small-scale remote systems that would enable utilization by groups that would otherwise face barriers to the adoption of desalination technologies because of various capital and operation costs. This will include a 7-gpm seawater Batch RO system in Lockhart, Texas where we aim to treat the saline portion of the Edwards Aquifer for 12 months. This project will be performed in collaboration with Gardners of Eden, the Plums Creek Conservation District, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. This proposal outlines the importance of grant writing for start ups, water desalination and treatment, and how Batch RO may mitigate negative outcomes to the environment by collecting data on downtime, energy consumption, brine amount, and concentration and comparing this to the environmental consequences of more traditional RO systems. We anticipate that this technology will have significantly lower impacts on the terrestrial and marine environment while also addressing the financial and scale limitations of current desalination approaches and thus provide a more environmentally sustainable approach to solving the fresh water crisis.