Articles
In a world where natural resources are strained, it’s surprising to find so many people still take clean drinking water for granted. In developing countries, clean water is a luxury that is often difficult to source.
By 2030, half the world’s population will live in water-stressed areas, the UN estimates. The World Economic Forum has identified a global water crisis as the single biggest resource threat.
One solution to the impending crisis is desalinating the largest global body of water – the sea. However, desalination is costly and requires huge amounts of energy.
What if we could use the power of sunlight to purify water? Desolenator aims to do just that, making it an affordable method of sustainable water purification and desalination. Our patented technology uses only solar energy to purify water from any source by removing 99.99% of contaminants.
The technology – the size of a flat-screen television – uses heat-intensive solar panels, fitted with double glazing and insulated with foam to capture sunlight. The contaminated water is then fed below a photovoltaic solar collector and heated to 95°C.
The water vapour produced is captured in a small boiler vessel so that it constantly produces vapour. This vapour is then fed into a heat exchanger to condense the vapour to liquid water.
Through combining a PV system – which is designed to supply usable solar power by means of PV panels – with thermal energy, there is a significant reduction in heat energy loss, increasing productivity and output. The result is that families can independently purify 15 litres of water a day from any source without energy worries.
Each unit lasts for up to 20 years, requires little maintenance, and has no filters, membranes or chemical pre-treatments – with less carbon dioxide emissions than bottled water. The device uses food-grade materials, with robust casing and alloys, and is ready for use anywhere, including coastal and saline groundwater locations.
We’ve developed this technology with a view to combating the world’s impending water crisis. Existing drinking water and desalination solutions are not viable. More than 97% of the world’s water is in our seas and oceans.
With populations increasing and the effects of climate change growing, water is looking like the critical resource issue. To address the crisis, we must transform seawater into drinking water in a sustainable way.
Key facts
- The Desolenator uses just the power of the sun to convert dirty water or seawater into potable water, and can produce about 15 litres a day without energy worries.
- The solar panel directly converts sunlight into electrical energy, and has a high output because of its additional insulation. To maximise heat, the top of the Desolenator panel is fitted with double glazing and insulated with foam.
- Input water then flows over a solar collector so that it reaches boiling temperature, and the water vapour that’s produced is captured and fed back into the solar collector as condensed, distilled water.
- A small ‘brine line’ filters out salt to avoid build-up and keep the device running smoothly.