Danish company Danfoss, which has operations in India, today tied-up with the Indian Institute of Madras, Technology, for collaborative research into converting sea water into drinking water with reverse osmosis technology, the energy for which would come from sea waves. 

Danfoss and IIT-M exchanged two agreements for collaboration to promote research in the areas of securing drinking water for coastal regions using renewable energy and green fuels including green hydrogen for value creation in pursuance to the Green Strategic Partnership between India and Denmark. 

Danfoss and IIT-M will operate a pilot desalination plant to use ocean waves as an energy source to convert salt water into fresh water using the Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) process. Drinking water will be supplied to coastal hamlets and islands. 

Under the Innovation Fund Denmark (IFD) and Department of Science & Technology (DST), Danfoss and IIT Madras are collaborating on a R&D project to develop grid friendly [EcoGrif] Power to X [PtX] Converters suited to Indian and the global markets. 

Four MoUs 

IIT Madras today signed four Memoranda of Understanding with Danish companies – two with Danfoss, (including the one about sea water desalination), and two with another Danish company, F L Smidthith operations in India. 

The second Danfoss MoU was for developing ‘EcoGrif’, a ‘grid-friendly converter’ for better electrolysis efficiency, in collaboration with the Universities of Southern Denmark and Aalborg. 

One of the MoUs with FL Smidth was for ‘decarbonization of cement industry’ using pyrolysis of waste fuels. The other was for the Danish company to become a member of IIT Madras’ Energy Consortium. 

Prof Manu Santhanam, Associate Dean, Industrial Consultancy & Sponsored Research, IIT-Madras, told businessline that under these MoUs, the Danish companies will initiate the research projects and IIT Madras will offer technical assistance “with clear guidelines and deliverables.” 

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