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Spinoff story
Membranes Mimic Kidneys to Filter Water
A real-world story of NASA technology finding a life beyond the mission.
About this technology
Overview
Aquaporin A/S, based in Copenhagen, Denmark, approached Ames Research Center in 2007 with a proposal to create filters by infusing membranes with aquaporins, the proteins that let water in and out of living cells. With Ames funding and testing and eight years of development, the company released under-sink reverse-osmosis filters that clean water twice as fast as existing technology, with twice the recovery rate. Aquaporin sees a bigger future market for filtering industrial wastewater using highly efficient forward osmosis.