This morning it was announced that Morrisville’s NALA Membranes has been selected as a semifinalist in the XPRIZE Water Scarcity Competition.
For more than 30 years, XPRIZE has designed large-scale, global competitions to identify and support scalable solutions to humanity’s greatest challenges. With a $119M total purse on hand, the current competition is the largest in the foundation’s history.
This edition of the competition specifically aims to identify innovative solutions to water scarcity—an increasingly pressing global issue. Per the official release, 80% of people across all continents already suffer from serious threats to water security, and by 2030, worldwide demand for freshwater is projected to “exceed supply by 40%.”
With its next-generation membranes, NALA is advancing in Track B of the competition, designated for “novel materials and methods to saltwater separation technologies.” NALA’s chlorine-tolerant reverse osmosis membranes are built to address the freshwater scarcity by redefining reverse osmosis (RO).
As things stand, NALA Membranes CEO Sue Mecham noted that RO is a preferred method of purification across industries ranging from desalination, to agriculture, food and beverage, and more.
“However,” she said, “the traditional membranes used in RO—polyamide thin-film composite (PA-TFC) membranes—degrade when exposed to chlorine and other common water-treatment chemicals.” This, she explained, means that operators often have to rely on costly treatments and frequent membrane replacements.
According to Mecham, the global RO membrane market is valued at $8B, but dependence on chlorine-sensitive membranes “is believed to add an additional $2-3B in annual costs across the water treatment sector.”
Through its development of chlorine-tolerant membranes, NALA can bring about 30-40% more productivity in systems, reducing costs and producing billions of gallons more freshwater.
Road to the semifinals
The XPRIZE competition kicked off in 2024 with an initial pool featuring 674 teams from 86 countries across two tracks. Today, NALA revealed that it now stands among only 17 of those teams—spread across nine countries—to reach the semifinals in the aforementioned Track B. Seven remaining teams hail from the U.S., with NALA being the sole representative from North Carolina.
Noting in the release that the achievement highlights “years of innovation meeting a clear and growing global need,” Mecham shared with GrepBeat that NALA was initially encouraged to apply by leading seawater reverse osmosis experts “who recognized the industry’s urgent need for chlorine-tolerant membranes in desalination applications.”
NALA then partnered with Concord Enviro Systems to evaluate the NALA membranes and develop a pilot system for seawater desalination. (The two companies ultimately signed a multimillion-dollar supply agreement, and this year Concord contributed $2M in seed investment.)
From there, Mecham described the evaluation process as having been “exceptionally rigorous.”
The process involved the submission of an initial testing plan; a series of laboratory and pilot-scale tests using real and simulated seawater; and the generation of performance data across various operating environments.
Mecham noted that a key focus of the XPRIZE evaluation is on membrane durability, with the competition seeking technologies that can last “approximately three times longer” than conventional membranes.
“Testing confirmed that NALA’s chlorine-tolerant membranes are capable of meeting this milestone,” she said. “The strength of these results—the demonstrated performance and durability of NALA’s technology—ultimately advanced the company to the semifinalist stage.”
Mecham also stressed that it is not only performance but also scalability that has begun to set NALA apart. Last year, NALA demonstrated an ability to manufacture more than 80,000 square meters of its membrane sheet—and with a new facility opening in Zebulon this year, that capacity will scale to over one million square meters annually.
“That level of production matters, said Mecham. “Large-scale desalination plants—including those operating across the Middle East—typically require tens of thousands of membrane elements each year.”
She cited the “combination of breakthrough performance and scalable manufacturing” as a key reason NALA was previously awarded the Grand Prize in the Global Prize for Innovation in Desalination by the Saudi Water Authority, as well as why it’s now advancing in the XPRIZE Water Scarcity competition.
Rewards of recognition
The XPRIZE competition is ongoing. Per XPRIZE, further testing for semifinalists will take place in Q4 2026, with finals testing to follow in Q3 2027 and winners to be announced in Q4 2027.
Already, NALA has received a $10K prize designated for Track B semifinalists. Should the company advance, it could be eligible for a $220K “Milestone Award” set aside for finalists, and beyond that, $500K for third place, $1M for second, or $8M for first overall.
Cash prizes aside, the recognition announced today carries significant benefits.
“XPRIZE is a proven standard-bearer for excellent, high-integrity innovation,” Mecham said, “and it’s therefore impossible to overstate the positive impact of an XPRIZE thumbs up.
“The incremental vetting-of-concept inherent in the XPRIZE process has given us the rare and priceless opportunity to demonstrate and validate our membranes in a competitive, semi-public forum among industry peers. Participation in and recognition by the XPRIZE mission is absolutely an honor.”
She added that NALA’s own expansion helps to position North Carolina as a powerful hub for next-generation water innovation—even as Goldman Sachs describes water as “the petroleum of the next century.”
As to how her team feels about the honor, Mecham was straight and to the point:
“We’re grateful and emboldened. Eight years ago, this technology existed only as an ambitious idea. Today, it has evolved into a breakthrough platform with the potential to fundamentally reshape desalination and water treatment. The performance speaks for itself — and the industry is beginning to take notice.”
See some of GrepBeat’s past coverage of NALA Membranes here and here.
