Waterhelm Desalination trial

The Salinity Department are developing a programme of short trails to research technologies which may be of use when seeking solutions to the problems posed by rising saline mine water.

Waterwhelm is a start up company based in the UK, Waterwhelm have designed and developed an efficient "Forward Osmosis" technology which has the potential to deliver large savings when compared against existing "Reverse Osmosis" technology.

The prototype they have developed is highly mobile and can be deployed from shipping containers. Following a site visit in June this year, the Salinity team believe this technology is worthy of inclusion in the trials programme.

Due to a gap in Waterwhelm's scheduling, a window of opportunity has opened for us to launch the first of these trials.

The availability is from October to December of this year

The MRA have identified Lynemouth Mine Water Treatment Scheme (MWTS) as the site most suitable to run a Waterwhelm-operated pilot project. Waterwhelm's pilot plant deployed at Lynemouth MWTS will consist of two 20ft stacked shipping containers. These items of plant had previously operated at a capacity of 5m3/day, equivalent to reusing and processing 5,000 litres of wastewater or brackish water per day This award has been made via the Direct Award route. A UK5 Transparency notice reference 2025/S 000-057402 has also been published.