04/04/2026

BIZ & FINANCE SATURDAY | APR 4, 2026 13 Japan turns wastewater into clean energy with osmosis

FUKUOKA: A Japanese water plant is harnessing the natural process of osmosis to generate renewable energy that could one day become a common power source. The possibility of generating power from osmosis – when water molecules pass from a less salty solution to a more salty one – has long been known. But actually generating energy from that has proved more complicated, in part due the difficulty of designing the membrane through which the molecules pass. Engineers in the city of Fukuoka and their private partners think they might have cracked it, and have opened what is only the world’s second osmotic power plant. It generates power from the transfer of molecules between treated sewage water and concentrated seawater, a waste product from a desalination plant in the city. “If osmotic power generation technology advances to the point where it can be practically used with ordinary seawater... this, in turn, would represent a major contribution to efforts against global warming,” said Kenji Hirokawa, manager at Sea Water Desalination Plant. Osmosis is familiar to most people. It is the process that, for example, causes water to seep out of a cucumber or eggplant when sprinkled with salt. Water molecules move across membranes from an area of low

o Pilot project taps desalination waste and treated sewage, with ambitions for global scale-up

solution concentration to an area of higher concentrated solution. At scale, that movement can be significant enough to turn a turbine and thereby generate electricity. Fukuoka is particularly well placed to benefit from the technology because it has a readily available source of extremely salty water – the brine leftover from desalination. With no major rivers to sufficiently source its water, the city and wider Fukuoka region of 2.6 million people have relied on a major desalination plant to produce drinking water since 2005. That left the city with large quantities of concentrated saline waste water to deal with. Ordinarily it is diluted and released back to the sea. Previous attempts to find alternatives, including salt making, failed to gain traction. Then engineering firm

“We’re convinced drones will greatly enhance the capabilities of helicopters. “It is a solution for the future,“ he told AFP. Tested in Singapore in January, the system lets a copter crew launch a drone, control it from the cockpit and receive live footage to locate an area or a target without putting themselves at risk. The copter-drone symbiosis will also come into effective play in civilian, firefighting or police missions, said Gerin-Roze. Up against US firms Boeing, Sikorsky (Lockheed Martin) and Bell (a subsidiary of Textron), the Airbus approach has the crew pilot drones directly from the helicopter. system’s power costs “a lot more” than either fossil fuel or renewable energy. Pumping the water into the system also uses energy itself, and scaling up osmotic power for grid level energy production has not yet been done anywhere in the world. Still, officials and experts believe the power source has a future, noting that unlike solar and wind, it is not dependent on weather or light. And the current high costs are partly because the company had to build a one-of-a-kind power plant, Ueyama said. Osmotic power has often been seen as primarily useful for estuary areas, where freshwater river flows meet the salty ocean. But Ueyama said the technique being used in Japan could be useful for countries with large desalination facilities like Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations. – AFP

flow, spinning a turbine that generates electricity before the now diluted mixture is discharged to sea. The ¥700 million (RM18 million) power generation system came online last August, and once running at full capacity, it should generate up to 880,000 kilowatts annually, equivalent to the electricity consumption of 300 households. However it will remain devoted to supplying the power-thirsty facility, although it covers just a tiny fraction of its energy needs. The engineers involved, however, are dreaming big. The system will go through a five year test to monitor its performance, including costs and maintenance, particularly for the membrane and other parts exposed to salt. Financial details of the project have not been disclosed, but engineers admitted that for now the

Kyowakiden Industry approached the city about harnessing the salty wastewater for osmotic power. “When our company rolls this out as a business, we aim to build plants roughly five to 10 times the scale of this current facility,” said Tetsuro Ueyama, research and development manager at the Nagasaki-based firm. In Fukuoka’s system, a generator is attached to a local desalination plant located near a sewage treatment facility. It draws in highly saline waste water from the desalination plant and receives treated sewage. The two separate streams of liquid go through a number of chambers separated by semi-permeable membranes through which water molecules travel from the treated sewage towards the salty water. That process increases the volume, pressure and speed of the saline water

Airbus bets on copter capability for tomorrow’s war drones PIERRELATTE: In the heart of southeastern France, aerospace giant Airbus is drawing on its helicopter expertise to develop drones – a core element of modern warfare – and enable them to work in tandem with manned aircraft. division told AFP. The division recently took over management of tactical drones developed by the European aerospace firm. (RM9.3 million) investment in a new hangar, site director Christophe Canguilhem told AFP. Tuesday was to see a hardware demonstration for the media – but strong winds prevented that. large quantities,“ said Huberdeau. But for its hardware, Airbus is focusing “added value” on more complex and integrated systems.

“There’s also a need for certain non-disposable drone missions, capable of operating in challenging environments... that will be able to return or carry out missions further afield,“ he added. “It makes sense for Airbus Helicopters to explore solutions for the armed forces,“ said Pascal Fabre of the AlixPartners consultancy. “It’s easier when you are Airbus than when you’re a start-up.” Airbus’s strategy involves fusing cooperation on drones and copters, said Victor Gerin-Roze, programme director at Airbus Helicopters.

The Pierrelatte site makes Aliaca, a light 25kg drone with six hours of autonomous flight for surveillance and short-range reconnaissance. The model is already in service with the French Navy. A heavier model, the 120-kilo Capa-X – which can operate for 10 hours on similar missions but also alongside manned aircraft – is currently awaiting contracts. Twenty Aliaca and 10 Capa?X are slated for production this year, with 2027 seeing a doubling as staffing rises from 60 to 80 amid a €2 million

“When there’s no wind or storm, not a week goes by without flights taking off from here. The hangar door opens right onto the runway. That’s a real competitive advantage,“ said Canguilhem. Drones have transformed the war in Ukraine, and now in the Middle East, where Western forces are vulnerable to Iranian-made Shahed suicide drones already in extensive use by Russian forces in Ukraine. “Ukraine has shown us it is possible to manufacture low-cost drones in

A small, isolated hangar at Pierrelatte airfield in France’s Drome region bears the name Survey Copter, a French venture integrated into Airbus, which is expanding its facilities to prepare for a doubling of production rates by 2027. “This is a key focus area” given “the lessons learnt from the war in Ukraine and the rearmament drive in Europe. In this context, there is a need for all kinds of drones,“ Emmanuel Huberdeau, spokesman for Airbus Helicopters