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Water
From Air, From Sea, From Waste Water
Technologies that enable the inexpensive obtaining and
purification of potable water through condensation from the air, from salt
water, and from waste water.

We have to get it where we can, right?

Generation
Overview
- Renewable
Energy Brings Water to the World - In addition to providing
pumping stations in remote areas, every day solar and wind energy
systems are saving billions of gallons of clean water around the world
and the opportunity exists to save much more water. (Renewable
Energy Access; Aug. 23, 2005)
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General
- ESP
Water Filter Products - There are multiple technologies
currently used in stationary and portable water treatment, whether for
home/office use or for camping. Some are common and some are
new. Each is used to address a specific contaminant or water
problem.
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From Air
- Top
100:
Max
Whisson's Gust Water Trap Apparatus - The Whisson vertical
windmill cools the air passing through the whirling blades. As it does
so, a proprietary process collects condensate, yielding fresh water
from the air. (PESWiki)
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- Creating
Water from Thin Air - Aqua
Sciences has developed a machine that can extract up to 600
gallons of water a day from thin air even in locations like arid
deserts. The 20 foot machine does this without using or producing
toxic materials or byproducts. The machine works based on the natural
process by which salt absorbs water." (Wired; Oct. 6,
2006) (See Slashdot discussion)
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- Air to H2O (.com.au)
- Australian company provides information and equipment to convert Air
to purified and dehumidified Air, filtering out contamination and
pollutants.
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- Airwater.com.au
- Australian company sells water-from-air devices. They also
sell solar power units for remote signs (e.g. billboard, traffic
lights) as well as for mobile devices such as PDA's, laptops and cell
phones.
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- Making
water from thin air - Two Israeli architects have devised a
low-tech way to turn dew into fresh, usable water. Inspired by the
dew-collecting properties of leaves, a 315 square foot unit can
extract a minimum of 48 liters of fresh water from the air each day,
with no expenditure of electricity. (NewsWise; June 1, 2007)
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Other Sources
- Converting
Tailpipes into Water Fountains - Modified military Humvees,
now in testing, turn diesel exhaust into fresh drinking water for
soldiers. At the core is a heavy-duty carbon filter bed, engineered by
LexCarb,
that filters toxins from the exhaust stream. (Popular Science:
Jan? 2006)
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Desalinization
- Seawater Brine
Recycling Technology - IES Tech's recycling of seawater brine
(industrial waste) eliminates the pollution resulting from
desalination plants, double the drinking water quantity and receive
the valuable minerals as magnesium and high quality table salt.
The technology is fully developed and tested, a demo unit is in
function showing all the aspects of this technology.
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- Better
way to desalinate water discovered - Membrane
distillation process uses waste heat or inexpensive fuel to heat the
water forcing it to evaporate from the salt solution. The cleansed
vapor then travels through nano-sized pore in the membrane to wind up
condensed in the cold water on the membrane's other side. (PhysOrg;
Feb. 9, 2006)
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- Wave-Powered
Desalination - Design harnesses the renewable energy of waves
to produce fresh water. Production versions of the
"desalination ducks" would be about 10 meters in diameter
and 20 meters long. Each would supply water for more than 20,000
people. (New Scientist Tech; Nov. 7, 2006) (See Slashdot
discussion)
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- Cheaper,
better water desalination using 'forward osmosis' - A forward
osmosis system developed at Yale causes water flow through a membrane
with a high-concentration solution of ammonia (NH3) and CO2
on the gathering side, which are then boiled off. (Environmental
Science and Technology; May 3, 2006)
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- Lebanon
may start using the sun to get fresh water - Lebanon might soon look
toward the sky for its freshwater but the drops won't be coming from the
clouds. Project in which a desalination plant will be designed, powered by a
solar pond along the seashore line. (Daily Star,
Lebanon; Jan. 26, 2005)
- Desalination
Taps Geothermal, Solar Thermal - A Phoenix inventor said
he has developed a new way to economically take salt out of water, and
it depends on a readily available resource - hot water. (PESWiki;
Sept. 7, 2004)
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- Sea
Solar Power - Ocean Thermal Electric Conversion company
technology includes a water desalinization byproduct of millions of
gallons per day. (PESWiki)
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- O/U Water Desalinization >
Clean
Water Products - patented technology by Dr.
Cluff can desalinize water without using chemicals at just $300 /
acre-foot, producing 60,000 gallons per day, recovering salt and
minerals valued at up to $600 per acre-foot. |
- Cheap
Drinking Water from the Ocean - Carbon
nanotube-based membranes, being
developed by the U.S.' Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,
will dramatically cut the cost of desalination.
Tiny sieve actually conveys water much faster than science would
predict. (MIT Technology Review; June 12, 2006)
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- Oxen
power desalination unit - Desalination unit in remote India is run
with the help of a pair of oxen using an indigenously developed reverse
osmosis membrane. (NewIndPress.com, Sept. 11, 2004)
Filtration
- Make
A Water Filter From Old Tires - Crumb rubber, chewed up old
tires, is used on athletic tracks, playgrounds, and increasingly as an
alternative to mulch. Now, Dr. Yuefeng Xie, associate professor of
environmental engineering at Penn
State Harrisburg, has found crumb rubber makes an excellent water
filter. The rubber keeps the large particles out on top, and thus
creates a much higher throughput. (TreeHugger; Nov. 21, 2006)
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- Clean
Water with Nanofilters - Water can pass, while bacteria
and viruses are blocked. Filters sturdy enough to be cleaned
repeatedly, sterilized, autoclaved. (MIT Technology Review; Nov.
2004)
Purification
Magnets
Other Purification Methods
- Water
Purification via Nano-Gold - Gold spheres, measuring 15 atoms
in diameter, mixed with Palladium, and acting as a detergent, hold
promise for cleaning up toxic waste more inexpensively and much faster
than present methods. (Smithsonian Magazine; Oct. 2007)
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- New
Plastic to Cut CO2 Emissions and Purify Water - Scientists
have created a plastic material that mimics pores found in plants and
is exceptionally efficient. It can separate carbon dioxide from
natural gas a few hundred times faster than current plastic membranes.
(Slashdot; Oct. 15, 2007)
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- Solaqua.com - SolAqua
offers Solar Water Distillation products. These systems are sized for
applications ranging from individuals to communities.
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- Ray of
light for water industry - University of Aberdeen scientists
developing new technology that uses sunlight to treat dirty water and create
electricity simultaneously. Three industrial partners develop novel
technology for breaking up pollutants found in all types of water supplies.
(PhysOrg; UK; April 28, 2005) (Renewable
Energy Access; May 3, 2005)
- Solar
Mobile Critical Response Water Unit Sent to Mississippi -
WorldWater & Power Corp., developers of proprietary high-powered
solar technology, is sending its trailer-mounted, solar-powered
electrical water pumping and purification system to help the relief
efforts for hurricane victims in the devastated Gulf Coast area. (PrimeZone;
Oct. 12, 2005)
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- Zip
Project - Zero Impact Platform project was
created to handle waste cycle and water cycle management with clean,
renewable technologies available, as well as to support research and
development into the same. (PESWiki; Aug. 5, 2005)
- Invention
Set to Revolutionise Sewage Treatment - Kenya Medical Research
Institute (KEMRI)
has unveiled a simple aerobic sewage treatment plant that recycles
water, odor-free, that they say is certified fit for human
consumption. (AllAfrica.com; June 19, 2006)
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- Segway
creator unveils his next act - Inventor Dean Kamen wants to
put entrepreneurs to work bringing water and electricity to the
world's poor. 1 kW generator uses anything that burns, including cow
dung. Water purifier makes 1,000 liters of water per day. (CNN;
Feb. 16, 2006) (See Slashdot
discussion)
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- New Earth
Systems CentrO3fier
Modular treatment system highly effective at removing wide
range of contaminants including ammonia, arsenic, heavy metals, toxic
organics, phosphates, and many others. Second generation completed;
preparing for market.

Conservation
- Conservation
> 'Air
shower' set to cut water use by 30 per cent - Scientists have
developed a simple 'air shower' device which, when fitted into
existing showerheads, fills the water droplets with a tiny bubble of
air. The shower feels just as wet and just as strong as before, but
now uses much less water. (LiveScience; Nov. 10) (See
manufacturer CSIRO)
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- Air
Conditioning Waste Water Recovery - Stiffler Scientific
is undertaking a research project is to determine the feasibility and
practicality of recovering waste water from residential air
conditioning systems that would otherwise be discarded in a sewer
system. (OSEN; Dec. 30) (See StifflerScientific.org)
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Testing
- Avantis
- "Water facility efficiency is drowning in severe budget cuts,
intensified regulation, health and quality concerns, as well as
outdated equipment and an aging work force. Fortunately, theres
Avantis -- todays most effective enterprise asset management
solution that can reduce the risk of implementation with pre-defined
work processes and best practices."
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Other Innovations
- Scientists Discover How to Make Robots Bounce on Water
- One of the fastest moving insects in the world, the water strider,
which can travel up to 100x its body length in one second, distributes
its weight over a large surface area, but until now science has been
baffled about how they jump onto water without sinking. (Environmental
Graffiti; Dec. 9, 2007) (See Slashdot)
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Magazines
- OnsiteWater.com -
Journal for decentralized wastewater treatment solutions.
See also
Page posted by Sterling
D. Allan, Feb. 26, 2003
Last updated March 16, 2008
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