Using The Sun To Clean Water: Lakewood Solar Co. Wins $1.6M

LAKEWOOD, CO – A Lakewood company that makes solar power collectors has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for technology that uses solar power to desalinate water.

SkyFuel, which employs around 80 people in Lakewood, was granted $1.6 million by the U.S. Department of Energy for their patented membrane-based parabolic solar trough collectors. The company also has sister companies in China, Finland and Canada.

In 2013, Skyfuel worked with a California water agency and a private company WaterFX in 2013 to develop a pilot desalination project outside of Fresno, California. Their 377-foot parabolic solar mirror focuses the sun's rays to heat oil in a tube, which creates steam from briney irrigation runoff water. The steam condenses to pure water, leaving minerals and impurities behind, the Sacramento Bee reported. The system produces approximately 10 gallons per minute for 17 hours a day, yielding roughly 10,000 gallons of distilled water daily.

Condensing and distilling liquid is an ancient technology, used in making whiskey, among other things, but the new twist is using solar power to heat the water to steam level.

In Fresno, the water desalination pilot project with Skyfuel's technology allows farmers to reuse irrigation runoff water that has been polluted with salt, selenium, boron and other minerals, the San Francisco Gate reported.

Skyfuel's project with the DOE will focus on lowering the cost of the parabolic mirrors even more with the company's patented special membrane covering. Under project director Nathan Schuknecht, the company will also design a "an associated heat transfer fluid delivery system and a low-temperature thermal energy storage system," the DOE said. The idea is to make smaller, complete systems that can desalinate water "off the grid" using solar electricity. The company will match the government's $1,598,814 award amount with a cost share of $399,704, the DOE said.

The total amount awarded to 14 different organizations is $21 million.

Image via Skyfuel

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