Program Manager: Cindy Daniell, Ph.D.
 The Materials with Novel Transport Properties
(MANTRA) program will develop revolutionary
technologies that greatly reduce the energy
consumption and maintenance of desalination
systems while at the same time supporting high
rates of potable water production. The ultimate
goal of the program is to integrate these technologies
into a man-portable, backpack-sized system. Successful
completion of the program will provide potable
water for the troops with minimal logistical
footprint, allowing decentralized water sustainment
for increased troop agility and mobility.
The MANTRA program has two phases. Successful
systems will achieve approximately 97 percent
and 99 percent salt rejection from seawater
in Phases I and II, respectively. The goal
of Phase I is to develop requisite component
technologies and demonstrate the production
of 30 gph potable output from seawater using
these integrated separation technologies. The
goal of Phase II is to demonstrate greater
than a 100-fold increase in water permeability
over existing desalination systems, yielding
the production of 75 gph potable output from
seawater in a compact, portable prototype desalination
system.
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