Q. What is IPHROS?
A. IPHROS is the integration (I) of pumped hydro (PH) storage with reverse osmosis (RO) desalination as a system (S).
Q. What is the opportunity for the integration of RO desalination and PH storage?
A. IPHROS has the potential to combine RO desalination and Pumped Hydro storage in one operation thus resulting in clean water, stored energy, and skilled jobs.
Q. Are the operations in IPHROS proven and and in use today?
A. RO desalination has been in commercial operation for decades. Pumped hydro storage has been in commercial operation for decades.
Q. Where is an IPHROS operation best suited?
A. Coastal locations near mountains with an elevation drop of 500-700 meters and near drought prone cities such as southern California or Baja California, Mexico.
Q. Where has IPHROS been built and operational?
A. Oceanus P&W and EDF have teamed up on an IPHROCES project in Latin America. IPHROCES or Integrated Pumped Hydro Reverse Osmosis Clean Energy System is the term used by Oceanus P&W.
Q. What happens to the brine when operating IPHROS?
A. Today, RO desalination processes return the brine to the ocean via off shore pipeline. IPHROS would further dilute effluent brine after the RO process by mixing with a separate stream from energy storage turbines.
Q. What extraction benefit does the effluent brine from an IPHROS process have?
A. The concentrated brine from the IPHROS process is rich in key minerals e.g. lithium, cobalt. Lithium is a key material for electric vehicle batteries.
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