Aqua Membranes Named Semifinalist in $119 Million XPRIZE Water Scarcity Competition

The company's patented Printed Spacer Technology® advances in global race to revolutionize seawater desalination.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., May 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Aqua Membranes, the inventor of Printed Spacer Technology® for spiral-wound reverse osmosis (RO) membranes, announced today its selection as a semifinalist in Track A: System-Level Innovation of the XPRIZE Water Scarcity competition. This $119 million, five-year global competition, sponsored by the Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative, is designed to drive widespread access to clean water by creating reliable, sustainable, and affordable seawater desalination systems.

Aqua Membranes is one of 20 Track A Semifinalists teams across 10 countries advancing in the competition. Semifinalists were selected following the competition's "Qualified Teams Testing" phase, which rigorously assessed the strength and feasibility of each team's technical solution.

"Being selected as an XPRIZE Semifinalist is a powerful validation of what our team has been building for years," said Craig Beckman, CEO of Aqua Membranes. "The world urgently needs more sustainable, affordable, and scalable desalination, and our Printed Spacer Technology® delivers a step-change improvement to a critical part of the reverse osmosis element — the feed channel — without disrupting the systems plant operators already rely on. We're honored to advance alongside this remarkable global cohort and grateful to XPRIZE and the Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative for their leadership in driving the next generation of clean-water solutions."

A New Approach to a Decades-Old Bottleneck
For decades, advances in reverse osmosis have focused almost exclusively on membrane chemistry, while the mesh feed spacer has remained essentially unchanged since the 1970s. Aqua Membranes' patented Printed Spacer Technology® replaces this legacy mesh by printing precisely engineered features directly onto the membrane surface. The result: a feed-channel with more active area, minimizing stagnant zones that drive fouling and biological growth.

Modeled against identical seawater RO systems using conventional mesh elements, Printed Spacer Technology® is projected to deliver measurable system-level energy reductions. In commercial brackish-water installations, the technology has demonstrated energy savings of up to 30% and cleaning-interval extensions of up to 4x.

Because Printed Spacer Technology® preserves the standard spiral-wound form factor, it can be deployed both in new builds and as a drop-in retrofit for existing plants, making it one of the few desalination innovations capable of scaling within the infrastructure operators already trust.

Built to Scale
Aqua Membranes already has thousands of elements deployed in commercial brackish-water systems, some in continuous operation for more than three years. The company is now scaling production at a 200,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in Knoxville, Tennessee, with planned capacity to supply seawater desalination plants on commercial timelines. As global demand for desalinated water accelerates, Aqua Membranes is positioning Printed Spacer Technology® to become a default building block for the next generation of seawater RO plants worldwide.

About Aqua Membranes
Aqua Membranes manufactures spiral-wound membrane elements using its groundbreaking Printed Spacer Technology®, replacing legacy feed spacer mesh. By directly printing the feed channel spacer onto the membrane surface, Aqua Membranes significantly enhances membrane performance. The company's technology saves energy, increases output, and reduces cleaning frequency, optimizing both system design and operation. Headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with high-throughput manufacturing in Knoxville, Tennessee, Aqua Membranes is bringing the next generation of reverse osmosis to global water markets. Learn more at aquamembranes.com.

About XPRIZE
XPRIZE is the recognized global leader in designing and executing large-scale competitions to solve humanity's greatest challenges. For over 30 years, our unique model has democratized crowd-sourced innovation and scientifically scalable solutions that accelerate a more equitable and abundant future. Donate, learn more, and co-architect a world of abundance with us at xprize.org.

About the Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative
The Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative is dedicated to addressing global water scarcity by enabling the development and application of breakthrough technologies, raising the importance of water scarcity on the international agenda, and deploying needed water solutions to benefit people and communities around the world. In its first priority project, in March 2024, the Initiative partnered with XPRIZE Foundation to launch XPRIZE Water Scarcity – a five-year, $119 million prize. The competition is designed to drive widespread access to clean water by creating more reliable, sustainable, and affordable seawater desalination systems and membranes. In April 2025, The Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative launched the Al Miyah Challenge for Agriculture, an AED 8 million competition to accelerate innovation in the development of technological solutions that can reduce the consumption of water in agriculture while maintaining and improving crop yield. The Challenge is open to international participants and will require aspiring teams to test and demonstrate their technology's applicability in the UAE, with potential for deployment in other locations with similar weather and climate conditions. For more information about The Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative, please visit https://www.mohamedbinzayedwi.ae/

Media Contact
Ellie Moesta
Director of Marketing, Aqua Membranes Inc.
[email protected]

SOURCE Aqua Membranes LLC