Affordable water purification system for developing nations

Image: (From left) Ms Rachel Yap, Product Engineer, Atera Water; Dr Peter Beshay, Engineering Cluster, SIT; Assistant Professor Elisa Ang, Engineering Cluster, SIT; Ms Tai Kee, COO and Co-Founder, Atera Water; Dr Adrian Yeo, CEO and Co-Founder, Atera Water; Associate Professor Victor Wang, Engineering Cluster, SIT; Associate Professor An Hui, Engineering Cluster, SIT; and Dr Chen Xuelong, former NTU research fellow and Senior Research Scientist, Atera Water. Photo Credit: SIT and Keng Photography/Tan Eng Keng

Local water tech start-up Atera Water and scientists from NTU and the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) have developed a new type of membrane-based water filtration system for large-scale clean water production that is more affordable.

In addition, the new system has only half the carbon footprint of conventional water treatment plants. This is made possible through an efficient nanocomposite membrane named CLARITY, made using common polymers at a fraction of the cost of the more expensive membranes used by developed nations.

It aims to replace the rudimentary sand filter systems used in many regional countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia, which are currently struggling to clean the increasingly polluted groundwater.

The new Made-in-Singapore technology can provide cleaner water at a similar cost and Atera Water has already received a contract to build a large system capable of supplying piped water to 30,000 people in Vietnam.