In November 2012, Water. Desalination + reuse (Faversham House) presented, in a feature from its August/September 2012 magazine issue, Australian research on capacitive deionisation (CDI) using graphene sheets as electrodes. With backing from the National Centre for Excellence in Desalination, the researcher Professor Linda Zou had, according to the feature, shown CDI to be a workable option for treating brackish water, in particular for remote communities where a large plant needing heavy maintenance is impractical. The feature set this against graphene membrane studies at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
The feature showed that graphene was being studied in two roles in desalination research in 2012, as membrane material and as electrode, with small brackish water units for remote sites in view.