Ben Sparrow was doodling on a train in China when he had his Eureka moment.
He had been ruminating on problems related to desalination when he had a counterintuitive flash of insight: desalination could be accomplished by making saltwater saltier.
Evaporate saltwater to make it more dense, he realized, and you could stream it past regular saltwater – separated by a special membrane – and salt ions from the more concentrated water would be pulled into the less salty water, creating voltage. That voltage would then pull salt ions out of a third stream of water, creating fresh water.
Back home, he went to work on his invention and built a prototype in his living room. On a May long weekend in 2008, Sparrow successfully removed salt from saltwater using his Thermo-Ionic process.
“I decided the next day I’d quit my job,” said Sparrow, who had been working for Plutonic Power as director of projects.
Prior to working for Plutonic, Sparrow had worked for BC Hydro rebuilding large hydroelectric turbines – a job he got after earning a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Alberta.
He later earned an MBA from SFU, where he met Joshua Zoshi.
In 2008, the duo formed Saltworks Technologies Inc. Now the company employs 22 people, has 20 patents and is generating revenue. Cenovus Energy and Teck Resources Ltd. have both invested in the company.
Although Sparrow believes there is potential for Saltworks’ technology to be used in arid regions of the world to make drinking water from saltwater, the company is currently focusing on industrial applications.
“The vast majority of desalination is actually needed in industry,” Sparrow said. •
