October 25, 2007 9:00 AM PDT
Joe Suriano, the manager of GE's membranes and separations technologies lab, shows the three-layer structure of membranes used to purify water.
GE is one of the largest providers of water purification products. Demand is only expected to go up. Suriano said that by 2025, 3 billion people in 40 countries will be in areas with a scarcity of fresh water.
In addition to developing better membranes, researchers are working on ways to reduce the amount of energy used by water treatment plants.
Photo by Martin LaMonica/CNET News.com
Caption by Martin LaMonica
