South Korea has launched a public–private coalition to strengthen its seawater desalination industry and expand participation in global projects as climate change intensifies water scarcity worldwide. Led by the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, the initiative brings together about 30 members from government, industry, academia, and research institutions, including companies such as Hyundai Engineering & Construction, Doosan Enerbility, GS Engineering & Construction, Synopex, and Hyosung Goodsprings.
The collaboration aims to promote technology development, overseas market expansion, and regulatory improvements. A key domestic project supporting this effort is the Daesan coastal desalination plant, which will produce 100,000 tonnes of freshwater per day and serve as an operational model for Korean firms competing in international tenders.
Globally, desalination is becoming increasingly important as freshwater shortages grow. Reverse osmosis (RO) technology now dominates the sector, accounting for 87.3% of the global desalination market in 2024, largely due to its significantly lower energy consumption compared with traditional thermal methods. The global desalination market, valued at US$21.7 billion in 2024, is projected to exceed US$58 billion by 2033, driven by rising demand in water-scarce regions such as the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Asia.
Author:  Taejun Kang

Tiny bubbles can create serious challenges in many industrial systems. They block filters, interfere with chemical reactions, slow down production in biomanufacturing, and may even lead to overheating in sensitive technologies such as electronics and nuclear power facilities. Because of these effects, controlling or removing bubbles has become an important challenge across several industries.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have recently made progress in understanding how special bubble-attracting membranes can remove gas bubbles quickly and efficiently. The study, led by Professor Kripa Varanasi together with doctoral researcher Bert Vandereydt and former postdoctoral researcher Saurabh Nath, investigated membranes described as aerophilic, meaning they naturally attract air or gas. These materials are designed to allow gas to escape rapidly from liquids, preventing bubbles from accumulating and disrupting industrial processes.
The researchers focused on understanding how the structure of these membranes affects the speed at which bubbles are removed. Gas generally passes through porous materials more easily than liquids, but it still encounters limits that depend on factors such as the viscosity of both the gas and the surrounding liquid. By identifying these limits, the team was able to establish principles that engineers can use to design membranes capable of removing bubbles as efficiently as possible. Their findings were summarized in a simple design map that allows engineers to evaluate the properties of their systems and determine the most suitable membrane configuration. When applied in a bioreactor commonly used in industries such as pharmaceuticals, food and beverage production, cosmetics, and chemical manufacturing, the approach accelerated bubble removal by up to one thousand times.
Current industrial methods for managing bubbles include mechanical foam breakers, chemical antifoaming agents, and even ultrasound. However, these solutions can cause problems in environments where conditions must remain carefully controlled. Chemical additives may harm biological cells in bioreactors, while mechanical agitation can damage sensitive materials. Because of these limitations, bubbles continue to restrict efficiency in many advanced manufacturing processes.
To better understand how aerophilic membranes interact with bubbles, the researchers fabricated microscopic porous silicon membranes with pore sizes ranging from 10 to 200 microns. These membranes were coated with hydrophobic silica nanoparticles to repel water. The team then released individual bubbles with different gas viscosities into liquids and observed their interactions with the membranes using high-speed imaging. By simplifying the system and examining individual bubbles, the researchers could more clearly identify the mechanisms responsible for bubble removal.
Initial experiments showed that bubbles disappeared faster as the membrane pores became larger. When the gas inside the bubbles was changed from air to hydrogen, which has lower viscosity, the bubbles were removed roughly twice as quickly. However, increasing the pore size eventually stopped improving performance after bubble removal speeds increased about a thousandfold. At that point, another physical limitation was reached.
Further experiments revealed that the viscosity of the surrounding liquid only significantly affected bubble removal when the liquid was extremely thick—about two hundred times more viscous than water. The researchers found that the main factor slowing the process in many situations was the inertia of the liquid itself. Ultimately, the team identified three different physical mechanisms that determine how quickly bubbles can be evacuated: resistance related to the viscosity of the gas, resistance caused by the viscosity of the liquid, and inertial effects within the liquid.
To confirm their findings, the researchers tested the membranes in a working bioreactor and used the results to develop a practical chart that engineers can apply to real systems. By entering key characteristics such as gas viscosity and liquid properties, users can determine both the optimal membrane design and the factor most responsible for limiting bubble removal in their system.
Beyond its industrial applications, the research also contributes to a deeper understanding of the physics governing bubble dynamics. The study shows that bubble removal speed is controlled by a combination of surface tension, inertia, and viscosity, and that different conditions cause systems to shift between these limiting mechanisms. These insights make it possible to predict and optimize bubble behavior in a wide range of technological environments.
Interest in the technology has already emerged from sectors such as healthcare, chemical manufacturing, and brewing. The research team intends to further develop the membranes for commercial use, highlighting that their design can sometimes remove bubbles even faster than what occurs naturally at a liquid–gas interface. In addition to industrial uses, the design principles could help model natural fluid systems or inspire membranes capable of separating liquids, such as removing oil from water or improving hydrogen extraction in water-splitting technologies.
Although bubbles may appear insignificant, they often determine the efficiency limits of many advanced systems. By clarifying the physical principles governing bubble removal and translating them into practical design guidelines, this research offers a pathway to significantly improving the performance of technologies across multiple industries.
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