A young researcher at the University of Ottawa is attracting a lot of attention for his breakthrough in creating drinking water.
Desalination plants tend to be big, expensive and consume huge amounts of energy. The first practical process called reverse-osmosis was developed 50 years ago.
PhD student Mohammed Rasool Qtaishat works with two mentors, high-tech executive David Mann and Professor Takeshi Matsuura, a world expert in thin water filters called membranes. The two advisors are guiding Qtaishat to take his work from the lab to a full-fledged business.
Qtaishat comes from Jordan, where the water supply is often turned off for two or three days per week.
Qtaishat said his prototype has shown that he can produce water 600 to 700 times more efficiently than current plants and use solar power to run the facility.
"There was a theory that this could work and Mohammed has shown that is does work, this is very important," Matsurra said.
"The work done by this young man is something that only comes along once every 10 to 15 years."
A Mideast research centre has already given Qtaishat $250,000. His lab work proves it works and now he must get funding for a pilot plant likely to be built in the Mideast.
The secret to his work is a chemical mixture which is used to create a membrane. Qtaishat is convinced that water - and the lack of it - drives much of the turmoil in the Middle East. He thinks he can make a difference.
"I have pledged my life to this and I am very optimistic that it will work. I think in 10 years it will replace every other technology that is out there, but it needs to have a push to get someone behind it to commercialize it," he said.
