Hey Folks,
We have four innovations to share and four important stories from the news this week. Let’s get into it!
Foldable water bottles to tackle plastic waste
A big part of the continued plastic pollution is the disposable drinking water bottles that are created and then trashed across the world. A group of engineers in the Middle East wants to change that behavior by tackling the biggest benefit of the disposable bottles - the convenience of not having to carry it everywhere. How? - Well they have built reusable water bottles that can be folded to fit in less space than a full bottle would need.
Similar to existing foldable/collapsible water bottles you can see on shopping sites, the 'On the Go' bottle that can be easily folded to fit inside a purse or even a pocket, or even repurposed for drinking tea. Not done with that, they designed it such that the bottle cap is designed to change color if there is bacteria present in the water. They are not done, they are working on expanding bottle with variable volume and another bottle that can be edible/ used to make tea. The first design is under development with Nestle right now!
In the past we have talked about elaborate filter screens being built in Switzerland to extract radioactive elements from our water bodies. This week a story making all the rounds is an innovation on the same lines from MIT. If you feel the need to ask, Why is there uranium in my water? - Well it leaches into water resources from mining operations, nuclear waste sites, or from natural subterranean deposits. Yes, even we’re shaking our heads.
Now that we know why, we’re happy to say that the team from MIT have devised a highly efficient method for removing uranium from drinking water. Applying an electric charge to graphene oxide foam, which is dropped in the water. The uranium in solution, precipitates out as a condensed solid crystal. They go on to say that the foam may be reused up to seven times without losing its electrochemical properties. This super foam can capture four times its own weight of uranium. The most impressive part? - they say this technology can be built as a low-cost filters to fit to taps everywhere when commercialized!
Power Plant Vapor collection and reuse
On today’s double header from MIT, is an innovation to capture exhaust vapor at power plant operations. Why? - As they say 40% of all water drawn from public water bodies in the US is used for cooling towers at power plants. The water is used to cool the system and the resulting steam or vapor is just let out into the atmosphere. Now, this startup based on technology recently developed at MIT, is deploying tech to condense these exhaust vapors, condense it, clean it and re-use it in the power plant cooling. Tackling another problem of scaling in the power systems, they say that the water cleaned in the process, is 100 times cleaner than the incoming cooling water.
How does it work? - They first zap the tiny droplets of water in the exhaust steam with a beam of electrically charged particles, or ions, to give each droplet a slight electric charge. Then, the stream of droplets passes through a wire mesh, like a window screen, that has an opposite electrical charge. This causes the droplets to be strongly attracted to the mesh, where they fall away due to gravity and can be collected in trays placed below the mesh. Simple elegant solution.
More Atmospheric Water Generation - For Arid Zones
Now that this technology is out there, it is always heartening to see it being used for those who need it the most. This Spanish company has built a machine to extract drinking water from thin air to supply arid regions. Already deployed in Namibia and Lebanon, this system works on the principle of an air conditioner. The system uses electricity to cool air until it condenses the vapor in the air into water, much like condensation in air-conditioning units.
What sets this type of solution apart is that while other water generators high ambient humidity and low temperatures to function effectively, their machines work in temperatures of up to 40 Celsius (104F) and can handle humidity of between 10% and 15%. They go on to say that a small machine can produce 50-75 liters a day, and be easily carried on a trolley. Kudos and may their tribe grow!
In Other News
First up in this week’s news roundup is this article from the New York Times talking about how the big tech companies in the Silicon Valley are trying to get ahead of the prevailing drought conditions in California by reusing all of their water. We’ll say it again - ALL their water - fresh, grey, and even blackwater! Do give it a read, because it is an clear indicator of which direction things are headed.
Remember Blackberry? Yeah, well the Canadian device manufacturers have pivoted to full security solutions and they are collaborating with the University of Windsor and have built a tool to address flood risk and clean water monitoring in Canada. Acknowledging that flooding inordinately affects indigenous people, this critical event management platform, provides autonomous year-round monitoring and an intelligent early warning system.
A research paper from Beijing Normal University has said that the global urban population facing water scarcity is projected to increase from one third to nearly half of global urban population in 2050, with India projected to be most severely affected in terms of growth in water-scarce urban population (increase of 153–422 million people). Do give it a read to understand what they used to assess this growing problem.
Lastly a consortium of Puma, Xylem and Manchester City have begun to indicate their commitment to clean water, by setting up a clean water tower in Mumbai, India. Producing a safe and long-term supply of fresh drinking water for 1,800 people per day, one hopes this leads to bigger better solutions paid for by those who have the means to do so. Onward & Upward!
That’s all for this week readers!
Until next week, Peace