Solar-Thermal Research Facility

PROTEAS

Cyprus

At the Cyprus Institute's PROTEAS facility, Trevi installed a forward-osmosis unit built to draw on adjacent solar-thermal power generation infrastructure. Two containers house the desalination train at a stated project scale of 50 m³/day.

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Project · Site · Scale · Award · Status

What the Published Sources Establish

A Trevi-owned forward-osmosis unit sits in two containers at the Cyprus Institute's PROTEAS facility, with a 2020 SFERA-III demonstration-access award covering the integration.

Testing is ongoing to support a performance dataset.

Site & ownership
Trevi-owned FO equipment sited in two containers at the Cyprus Institute's PROTEAS facility
Project scale
50 m³/day stated project capacity
Solar-thermal integration
Low-grade heat from PROTEAS's adjacent solar-thermal system; molten-salt storage belongs to that solar loop
Access award
SFERA-III / Horizon 2020 recorded a 2020 demonstration-access award under grant agreement 823802

The Cyprus Institute continues performance verification and research using the system.

Trevi forward-osmosis containerized equipment in Cyprus
Trevi FO containers at PROTEAS, Cyprus · Credit: Trevi Systems, Inc. · Source caption: Cyprus Pilot, Desal Skids
Physical System · Two-Container Boundary

Two Containers, One Integrated Train

The two pictured containers hold distinct roles in one FO train.

  1. 01

    Seawater and FO stage

    One container houses the seawater feed and forward-osmosis membrane stage.

  2. 02

    Draw separation and polishing

    The second container handles draw separation and water polishing.

  3. 03

    Solar-thermal connection

    Low-grade heat from PROTEAS's adjacent solar-thermal system drives the regeneration step.

  4. 04

    Continuing verification

    The Cyprus Institute continues verification and research on the system.

Explore Thermal FO Regeneration
Demonstration Sequence · Award to Evaluation

From Access Award to Draw Evaluation

Four stages, from award to evaluation.

  1. 01

    Demonstration access awarded (2020)

    SFERA-III granted transnational access for Demonstration of Solar Thermal Desalination Using Forward Osmosis at CYI/PROTEAS under Horizon 2020 grant agreement 823802.

  2. 02

    Forward-osmosis transfer

    The seawater feed and FO membrane stage move water into Trevi's draw solution.

  3. 03

    Thermal regeneration and heat exchange

    Low-grade heat from PROTEAS's solar-thermal system, which stores energy in molten salt on its high-temperature loop, regenerates the diluted draw.

  4. 04

    Polishing and evaluation

    Recovered water advances to polishing; a later SFERA-III award documents continued heat-exchanger testing at the same site.

Source Triangulation · Institute · SFERA-III · SEC

Published Sources

Three sources corroborate site, ownership, scale, and award timeline.

Corroborated sources

The PROTEAS project

PublishedCyprus Institute
Trevi-owned 50 m³/day FO unit integrated at PROTEAS with adjacent solar-thermal heat
PublishedSFERA-III / Horizon 2020
2020 demonstration-access award and later heat-exchanger testing access at the site
PublishedSEC filing · Trevi FY2023
Participation in a two-year Horizon 2020 project without disclosed commissioning or results
Not publicFinal performance dataset
Measured water quality, recovery, energy, and carbon intensity are not public

Measured performance results for this project have not been published.

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