Here's how a membrane created at Sandia National Labs may aid the oil and gas industry

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories turned to nature in an effort to create new technology that can turn saltwater and wastewater into freshwater.

Susan Rempe and Stephen Percival, a material scientist at Sandia, developed a new membrane using a structure inspired by a protein from algae. Through their research, Rempe and Percival found that positive ions like sodium are better captured when the amino acid phenylalanine and an electrodialysis membrane are combined.

If scaled up properly,…

Source: The Business Journal