Fall 2021 – Softlight: Chemical free technology for water softening
Project Director Paul Westerhoff
The team recently secured a $50K grant from healthcare giant Baxter International to perform a Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) of their innovative Softlight chemical-free water softening technology for in-home dialysis units with integrated water treatment. The TEA model subsequently developed by the team showed that Softlight has a ~5x lower cost than commercially-available ion exchange or membrane technologies. In addition, the model revealed the key cost drivers in the new novel technology; this insight ensures that future development work will focus on economically-relevant improvements.