EPA awards P3 grant to Mississippi State for low-cost desalination system project

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently awarded a People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) grant to Mississippi State University (MSU), located in Starkville, which will use the funding to work on a low-cost desalination process.

The MSU team plans to build upon an existing low-temperature thermal desalination system, also developed at the school, which utilizes process waste heat and solar collectors in a natural vacuum. The team hopes that the desalination system will allow communities in rural and coastal areas to derive drinking water from sea and brackish sources in a sustainable and affordable way.

“This year’s P3 teams have created innovative research projects that tackle some of our most pressing environmental and public health challenges,” EPA Science Advisor and Office of Research and Development Deputy Assistant Administrator Dr. Thomas A. Burke said. “These students have the opportunity to bring their exciting new ideas for innovation in sustainability to life, by expanding their learning experience beyond the classroom.”

The MSU grant is one of 38 recently awarded to universities throughout the country, which will see their projects compete for phase two funding in the P3 competition at the National Sustainable Design Expo this spring.