This year’s Technology Idol included technical and commercial presentations for four new desal-related technologies to a standing-room-only crowd. Following each presentation, the presenter was interviewed by four panelists before the audience voted on the technology that it considered to be most likely to live up to the presenter’s expectations.

Although five companies usually participate in Technology Idol, the first 20 minutes of this year’s event were set aside for Christopher Gasson to introduce GWI’s Top 20 Water and Wastewater Technologies. Gasson prepared the list following a survey recently conducted among WDR and GWI readers. The list is available at: http://tinyurl.com/dyxnat3.

Massachusetts-based Gradiant Corporation garnered 44 percent of the Seville audience’s vote to be named as this year’s Technology Idol. There was a two-way tie for the distinction award between Water Planet Engineering and Watersolutions. The following is a summary of the award-winning technologies:

Carrier Gas Extraction (CGE) Process – Prakash Narayan Govindan developed this novel CGE humidification-dehumidification process, and it was the subject of his recent PhD dissertation at MIT. Gradiant Corporation is now commercializing the CGE system as an affordable zero liquid discharge process that is well-suited for concentrating highly saline brines. Narayan said that the company would initially focus on the oil and gas industry. WDR featured this technology in a December 2012 story (vol 48, issue 48).