Chementator Briefs

Forward Osmosis Last month, Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC; Sarnia, Ont.; www.bincanada.ca), Forward Water Technologies (FWT; www.forwardwater.com) and GreenCentre Canada (GCC; Kingston, Ont.; www.greencentrecanada.com) announced a private investment into FWT, supporting the commercial scaleup of a proprietary forward-osmosis technology. The initial technology behind FWT — a patented method using switchable solvents — originated from the laboratory of professor Philip Jessop at Queen’s University (Chem. Eng., November 2015, p. 13: www.chemengonline.com/switchable-solvent-technology-promising-development-advancing-forward-osmosis), and was further developed and launched as a spin-off company by GCC in 2012. This proprietary forward-osmosis system is said to be a highly energy-efficient process that has been successfully demonstrated for the treatment of many challenging high total-dissolved-solids wastewater streams that return fresh water for re-use in operations or discharge to either sewer or surface systems. FWT has been engaged in the commercial development of this technology and has brought it from the laboratory to almost commercial readiness.