About a year ago Lockheed Martin announced a new graphene membrane material they called Perforene which they said would do reverse osmosis with 99% less energy then current processes. Popular Mehanics: Lockheed's Better, Faster Way to Desalinate Water
But the rub was this statement: "But working with such a thin material presents new problems, and engineers are still trying to find the best way to produce nanometer-wide holes in the membranes quickly and on a large scale without tearing the product."
So I'd guess the 3d graphene printing technology could make this existing technology feasible for mass production. If so, it would likely make big impact and be a possible game changer.
I was thinking the same thing. Were the Lockheed filters the ones which could be swapped out for the present technology filters without changing the rest of the plant equipment, or were those produced by someone else?
It was suggested by a Freeper that if Cornyfornia spent its money on desal plants instead of choo choos, they wouldn’t have a water problem. This technology could make that work.
The prototype expected by the end of this year will be a drop-in replacement for filters currently in use.