#211 - Rainwater Harvesting Tiles, Ship-to-Shore, Static Electricity, & AWG for disaster relief
Water Water Everywhere...
Hey Readers,
This week we’re going to focus on innovations only, and stay away from news. Let’s get into it!
A water filter powered by your static electricity
There’s no need to bury the lede here - a research team from South Korea and China took a reusable water bottle and installed a polymer electrode inside that incorporates an array of nanorods made from the conducting polymer Polypyrrole. Those nanorods concentrate the electrostatic charges that accumulate on the human body during walking to create electric fields strong enough to kill or otherwise inactivate bacteria and viruses. A small piece of aluminium foil attached to the outside of the bottle serves as a gripping point, while also collecting static electricity from the person’s hand, which then flows along a copper wire to reach the electrode inside the bottle.
Testing showed that this walking-powered method can completely disinfect river water containing both bacteria and viruses within 10 minutes – and sometimes faster if the person holding the bottle picks up the walking pace. Low humidity as well as shoes made from polycarbonate, rubber and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) enabled significantly higher electrical output than shoes made from leather. Now they’re working on making these polypyrrole nanorods cheaper to produce.
With island nations everywhere dealing with increasing fresh water scarcity, a shipping behemoth has undertaken an innovative project that could store and deliver fresh water from vessels to ports. First the current system - Cargo ships undertaking global trade are equipped with fresh water generator systems that produce clean drinking water by distilling sea water using heat energy harnessed from their engines. Traditionally, this system has been used to generate water for consumption only onboard the vessels. However, the excess water produced has been overlooked. Their solution? - storing the excess water in tank containers before delivering it to ports.
They say that each vessel can fill two tank containers on an average sea voyage between two ports. With the process optimised and tank containers stored at the right location onboard, two tank containers with a combined capacity of 50,000 litres can be filled with fresh water. They go on to say that they will also ensure the water meets rigorous standards for water quality based on the global bodies that have a say on such matters.
We love it when an idea gets built out to address extreme situations, because this includes the implicit understanding that it will be able to serve all people in all situations. Atmospheric water generators (AWG) while a wonderful growing field, are a combination of complex equipment that requires a somewhat stable environment (or in some cases a detailed installation process). Enter this Florida-based AWG builder who have a range of AWG machines (but in anticipation of the hurricane season that affects the coastal southeast of the US), built a disaster relief trailer fitted with AWGs, to go serve communities disconnected from traditional sources of clean water during the natural disaster.
This trailer will be equipped with an atmospheric water generator, a storage tank of 370 gallons, a generator to power the system and then some. This way the trailer will fulfill the immediate water, electricity, Wi-Fi, and cell phone service needs people face in the wake of disasters. More power to them!
A french designer has come up with a designer tile which, in addition to covering the roofs so that water does not enter the homes, is capable of collecting, filtering and storing rainwater efficiently. According to its creators, it is capable of collecting up to 96% of rainwater that flows over the roof surfaces, preventing other types of debris such as leaves and mud from passing through thanks to the design of its upper inlets.
The tiles are manufactured in Galvanised steel and its storage capacity is around 40 liters of water per square meter of roof surface covered. Then through a subsequent distribution system that comes down from the roof, it is possible to reuse rainwater to watering and other housework, improving household self-sufficiency and reducing tap water consumption. It will need a further tertiary step to get this water to drinking water standards. But given how little we do to collect rainwater, this has huge potential.
That is it for this Friday, until next week,
Peace!