New Water Treatment Technology Goes Global

A COATING that transforms steel or plastic mesh into a water filter is being commercially developed by a South Australian university and a Singaporean company.

The University of South Australia’s commercialisation company ITEK Ventures Pty Ltd (ITEK) has entered into a licence agreement with Hyflux International Pte Ltd to apply and commercialise its unique coating technology in the global water treatment market.

The coating technology transforms standard stainless steel or plastic mesh into a highly effective filter.

The treated mesh stops the flow of oil, a mixture found in many contaminated water treatment situations, but allows the water to pass easily through.

“This technology can be used to separate oil and water at very low pressures,” saysProfessor Dayang Wang, a professor at UniSA’s Ian Wark Research Institute and one of the inventors of the technology.

“The mesh filters are produced through an easily accessible coating process, which allows large-scale production.”

Hyflux intends to further develop this coating technology, integrate it with their water treatment membrane manufacturing processes, and market the end products globally.

ITEK CEO Dr Stephen Rodda says the effectiveness of the technology has attracted the attention of several global water companies.

“It is also another great example of UniSA research being targeted at finding solutions for industry”, Dr Rodda says.

ITEK is also seeking industry partners to apply the underlying technology to oil spill remediation, so it could ultimately be used in situations such as the 2010 BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.