WRITER: Tiffany Acosta, 575-646-3929, tfrank@nmsu.edu
CONTACT: Pei Xu, 575-646-5870, pxu@nmsu.edu
As a leader in water treatment research, the College of Engineering at New Mexico State University is a part of a team preparing a proposal for a new U.S. Department of Energy grant to create an Energy-Water Desalination Hub. The award for the hub will be approximately $100 million, $20 million per year for five years, with a five-year renewal possibility.
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Civil engineering professor Pei Xu, center, works with graduate students Guanyu Ma, left, and Xuesong Xu in her laboratory. (Photo by Darren Phillips)
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As a member of the National Alliance for Water Innovation team, Civil Engineering Associate Professor Pei Xu is leading NMSU’s effort in a consortium that includes Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and National Renewable Energy Laboratory along with several universities and industry partners.
“We aim to develop cost-effective and energy efficient availability of clean water reclaimed from a variety of traditional and non-traditional sources such as brackish water, seawater, wastewater and produced water for a range of applications including municipal drinking water, agricultural uses, manufacturing and other industrial needs,” Xu said
“Results from this research and development would advance economic competitiveness, energy and water security and responsible environmental stewardship of the nation. NMSU’s participation in the hub would benefit the state of New Mexico, which faces water scarcity and severe droughts.”
Proposals for the hub are due in May with an announcement slated for August.
“We have a very unique expertise we can bring to the hub,” she said. “We are developing innovative technologies for selective removal of contaminants from water, and high-efficiency, renewable energy driven desalination processes.”
