What is the purpose of the summit?

Developing innovative membrane technologies provides a foundation for the creation of new methods for water treatment at lower cost than current methods offer today and concurrently offer an opportunity to produce new sources of renewable energy. The 3rd Osmosis Membrane Summit will allow attendees to gain the most recent knowledge that will contribute to a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities of forward osmosis and pressure retarded osmosis. The attendees will also learn about the current status of research and commercialization efforts of these exciting new technologies.

Who should attend?

Scientists, engineers, planners, regulators, manufacturers, venture capitalists, water purveyors and utilities operations will be able to attend and learn about the latest developments of osmotic membrane technologies. The Summit will serve as information ‘hub’ and provide opportunity to explore the latest development of membranes and membrane systems for forward osmosis and pressure retarded osmosis. Topics such as membrane chemistry, membrane fouling, element design, system development, as well as operation and maintenance will be discussed during the one and a half day program.

What will be offered?

The program will be designed to give a deep dive into both technical and commercial issues, as well as allowing for extensive networking. This is an international meeting where key representatives and organizations will come together and discuss the future of membrane applications.

Since the last Osmosis Membrane Summit in July 2010 in San Diego progress has been accomplished in a number of areas covering the osmosis process technologies. Scientific work has been published on osmosis processes, including forward osmosis and pressure retarded osmosis, as potential new and cost efficient methods of purifying water and generating renewable energy. The potential for utilizing these processes for water purification and power generation has attracted increasing interest, and there are currently a number of initiatives to demonstrate in pilot scale as well as in commercial scale the vast potential of these processes.

To enable the participants in the industry and among the scientific community to steer investments in the right direction, detailed assessments of the potential markets is needed.