From the very beginning of civilization, coastal villages and towns have dealt with one common issue: how to provide drinking water to the local population.

In fact, the most scientifically blessed societies began working on desalination techniques more than 2,500 years ago. You are probably familiar with one of these early scientists…

After years of failed attempts by generation after generation, the great philosopher Aristotle became quite interested in the process of removing salt from water. Actually, his interesting technique is more like removing water from salt.

Most scientific breakthroughs in this field have come from various thermal processes. That’s where you heat up the saltwater until it boils and then capture the steam as it separates from the salt.

Unfortunately, every thermal desalination breakthrough still expends far too much energy to make it economical. (Saltwater has a slightly higher boil point than plain old water.)

However, Aristotle was one of the first to try a completely different method…

Instead of boiling, capturing, and cooling the salt water, our philosopher envisioned a filtering process, where the saltwater would pass through one or more materials to screen out the salt. Unfortunately, the technology just wasn’t possible in his time.

The first working filtration model was introduced in the 1950s, when researchers stumbled on various membranes. However, this technique didn’t come cheap. The pumps early filtration de-salters were extraordinarily expensive…

After decades of research, newer, more efficient, and less expensive pumps came to market in the 1990s and early 2000s. Unfortunately, with so many researchers scrambling to put the first efficient pump out, patents were spread thin across the industry.

On top of working through the intellectual properties mess, thermal desalination-based companies have lobbied to keep the filtration – now commonly called “reverse osmosis” – plants at arms length from the major markets (i.e. Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates).

Because of these efforts, as well as more technical restrictions, reverse osmosis plants are primarily just a fraction of the size of their thermal counterparts.

That’s starting to change. Some tightening of intellectual properties, breakthroughs in pump technologies, and rising water prices are creating a renewed interest in Aristotle’s vision.

The few companies in the reverse-osmosis field are very tiny. The largest is Calder AG of Switzerland. Unfortunately for that company, its DWEER products – which were revolutionary a few years back – are falling behind recent shifts in pump technology.

Calder has three major reverse osmosis competitors. Two are private and the third is far too small to mention here. If anything changes, you’ll be the first to know…

Sincerely,
Jim Nelson

April 3, 2009

Jim Nelson

Jim Nelson is the managing editor of Penny Sleuth. He has been playing the stock market since he was 14, always with a preference toward smaller companies. He has honed his stock picking skills at Agora Financial since 2004, effectively combining a growth and value approach. Like Greg Guenthner, Jim also contributes to Penny Stock Fortunes on top of bringing you the Penny Sleuth every weekday.

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