Producer
Hydranautics (Nitto Denko Group)
California-based subsidiary of Nitto Denko (Japan); supplied Sorek 2 Israel (worlds largest desalination plant); four major seawater desalination markets globally
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Seawater RO Membranes (SWRO)
40%Brackish Water RO (BWRO)
30%Nanofiltration & Ultrafiltration
20%Industrial & Specialty Membranes
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Did you know2023
Nitto Denko, the Japanese parent of Hydranautics, simultaneously makes: the polarizing optical films that enable LCD screens in every smartphone and flat-panel television (display supply chain); the semiconductor dicing tape that holds silicon wafers during cutting into individual chips (semiconductor supply chain); and reverse osmosis membranes for seawater desalination (water supply chain). The same Nitto Denko polymer chemistry and precision coating expertise that produces a film thin enough to polarize light for an iPhone screen also produces the membrane dense enough to reject 99.8% of salt from seawater. Nitto Denko's optical film division and its water membrane division (Hydranautics) are both precision polymer membrane businesses — the technical core competency is controlling the microstructure of thin polymer films at scales of nanometers to micrometers. A disruption to Nitto Denko's Shiga Prefecture manufacturing complex (the primary optical film and specialty materials production site) would simultaneously affect LCD display film supply for smartphones and Hydranautics' RO membrane production for desalination plants — connecting the consumer electronics supply chain and the global water security supply chain through the same Japanese polymer film company.
Nitto Denko Corporation ↗Origin2023
Hydranautics is a California-based reverse osmosis membrane manufacturer acquired by Nitto Denko Corporation (Osaka, Japan; TSE: 6988) in 1987. Nitto Denko is best known outside Japan as the maker of speciality optical films — particularly the polarizing films and protective films used in LCD displays for smartphones, televisions, and monitors (Nitto Denko supplies optical films to virtually every major LCD panel manufacturer). Through the Hydranautics acquisition, Nitto Denko applied its polymer film chemistry expertise to RO membrane manufacturing, becoming one of the world's four major RO membrane producers alongside DuPont FilmTec, Toray, and LG Chem. Hydranautics is the primary membrane supplier to Sorek 2, the world's largest seawater desalination plant under development in Israel (planned capacity ~200 million cubic meters/year). The Sorek 2 contract positions Hydranautics as the supplier of membranes for the benchmark project that will demonstrate next-generation desalination economics. A Japanese optical film company's water membrane subsidiary will determine whether one of the world's most water-stressed nations can achieve water security through large-scale desalination.
Hydranautics / Nitto Denko ↗