IIT-M & Danfoss Sign Pact for Seawater Desalination

Padmesh Prabhune

Pic & Cap: Seen in the pic Manu Santhanam, Dean (IC&SR), IIT Madras and Ravichandran Purushothaman, President, Danfoss exchange a MOU in the presence of from l to r) S. Krishnan, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Industries, TN Government; Frederik Andre Henrik Christian, Denmark Prince and Lars Aagaard, Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilties, Government of Denmark at an event at IIT Research Park

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Danish company Danfoss for collaborative research into converting sea water into drinking water.

It is learnt that sea water would be converted into drinking potable water with the help of reverse osmosis technology, the energy for which would come from sea waves. The MoU has been signed in pursuance to the Green Strategic Partnership between India and Denmark at a recent event in the IIT Research Park.

According to the pact, both the entities will operate a pilot desalination plant to use ocean waves as an energy source to convert salt water into fresh water using the Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) process. Drinking water will be supplied to coastal hamlets and islands.

Under the Innovation Fund Denmark (IFD) and Department of Science & Technology (DST), Danfoss and IIT Madras are collaborating on an R&D project to develop grid friendly [the EcoGrif], a ‘grid-friendly converter’ for better electrolysis efficiency, in collaboration with the Universities of Southern Denmark and Aalborg.

Prof Manu Santhanam, Associate Dean, Industrial Consultancy & Sponsored Research, IIT-Madras, said that the Danfoss MoU was for developing ‘EcoGrif’, and under these MoUs, the Danish companies will initiate the research projects and IIT Madras will offer technical assistance ‘with clear guidelines and deliverables.’

Marex Media