2025 Product of the Year Award - Emerging Technology

🏆 NEXT Membranes Wins WFI’s 2025 Emerging Technology Award for Ultra-High-Pressure RO Innovation

The World Filtration Institute is proud to honor NEXT Membranes with the 2025 Emerging Technology Award for their groundbreaking Ultra-High-Pressure Reverse Osmosis (UHPRO) membrane, a major advancement in the future of industrial water treatment and critical mineral recovery.

Developed in collaboration with UCLA researchers, the TFX (Thin Film Crosslinked) membrane represents a new class of ultra-robust RO technology engineered to withstand extreme pressures and challenging operating environments—far beyond the limits of conventional TFC membranes.

🚀 What Makes TFX a Breakthrough Technology?

💥 Ultra-High Pressure Capability

• Operates reliably at 120 bar,

• Tested to 200 bar with no major loss in flux or salt rejection.This is a significant leap over standard RO membranes, which often fail under such extreme conditions.

🛡️ Compaction Resistance

• A tightly crosslinked polymer network resists structural collapse,

• Ensuring longer membrane life and greater stability over time.

🌊 High Performance & Energy Efficiency

• Maintains >99% salt rejection

• Delivers ~2× the performance of traditional systems in desalination

• Enables lower energy consumption and reduced operating costs.

🔄 Versatile Applications

• Produces clean water from ultra-saline streams

• Recovers high-value materials—such as lithium—from concentrated brines

• Supports both water scarcity solutions and critical mineral supply chains

🔥 Thermal Robustness

• Thermoset polymers provide resistance to temperature variation,

• Making the membrane suitable for demanding industrial environments.

🌍 Recognized at the WFI 2025 Annual Conference

The award was announced on December 2, 2025, during WFI’s annual conference, themed “Filtration for a Healthy, Resilient, and Sustainable World.” NEXT Membranes’ innovation represents a major step forward in sustainable water treatment and resource recovery technologies.

Congratulations to the entire NEXT Membranes team!