The market
The global market for drinking water production was estimated in 2007 at 400 billion dollars and is expected to reach 533 billion in 2013. Growth forecasts in the global market for disinfection of drinking water by ultraviolet and ozone rays and ozone indicate an increase of $ 4.6 to 10 billion over the same period. However, the cost for the company is not limited to the production and treatment of drinking water, it also requires the infrastructure necessary to capture and distribute water. The United States has laid more than 700,000 miles of water pipes, four times more than the length of all national roads. The cost of expansion and improvement was estimated at $ 250 billion over the next decade. The United States is not alone, the Chinese government has announced a budget of $ 128 billion to distribute water, especially in urban areas. Global consumption of drinking water has multiplied by six during the last century. Water production has barely been able to follow the trend, which has led to worrying data according to which 1.2 billion citizens in the world do not have access to drinking water and 2.4 billion people do not do not have adequate sanitation. The water supply is aggravated by the fact that water and soil are increasingly contaminated. Our production systems, especially in agriculture, are large consumers of water. A hamburger requires 2,400 liters of water (one kilogram of beef requires 15m3 of water); A pair of shoes requires 8,000 liters of water and a cotton t-shirt (organic too) swallows 4,000 liters of water. While 70 % of the planet consists of water, only 2.5 % consists of fresh water and the majority is captured in the glacial caps. One of the least exploited resources are the 12,900 cubic kilometers of water in suspension in the form of steam in the atmosphere. A cubic kilometer of clouds could contain up to 3000 m3 of water. This highly distributed water source, easily accessible on more than 70 % of the territory, represents one of the unique opportunities to respond to the spectacular increase in demand.
Innovation
The cycle of evaporation, condensation and precipitation is known as the water cycle. It is a natural system that has been widely described and studied. Several inventors have concentrated on the capture of vapors by controlling the dew point. In fact, air appliances water uses refrigeration techniques to condense air vapors. This system operates at ambient temperatures between 21 and 32 degrees with water humidity in the air between 40 and 100 %. The Atmospheric Water Technologies (USA) conceded this technology under license to the Katgara group in India, which installed the first system guaranteeing a permanent supply of drinking water to 350 villagers in Jalimundi, a small village near Rajahmundry (East Godavari). However, the biggest challenge is the cost of energy for refrigeration. Most places that lack water also lack electricity and the enormous demand in electricity makes them inadequate to any practical application of solar energy. Curt Hallberg, the naval marine engineer who then founded Watreco in Malmö, Sweden, with his colleagues, acknowledged that one of the main potential applications of vortex technology (see Case 1) is the production of Clean water. While working on filtration systems already, pressing impurities out of the water, which then emerged by a tip, making clean water ready to be consumed, it was aware that the main challenge was not Only to purify, but rather to produce water first. Air/water systems rely on the decrease in temperature to control the dew point. He saw an opportunity to use another key physical parameter: increased pressure. When the air is sucked in a tube, forming a whirlwind, the pressure increases. Thanks to the swirling movement, the water is "pressed" out of the air. The energy necessary to suck up wet air through the swirl generator is a fraction of the energy necessary to reduce the temperature of the cooling agents.
The first cash flow
Curt has already successfully demonstrated that it can extract the air from and that it can press the air in the water until critical saturation using the vortex whirlwind forces. His knowledge has already made it possible to create a portfolio of a dozen potential business applications, three of which have already reached the marketing phase. This includes the manufacture of ice, descaling and improving irrigation. Now, he is ready to use the same logic, but instead of changing the air content of the water, he changes the water content of the air. After all, the same principles apply and instead of putting pressure to obtain water through high energy costs, he rather looks at water production with very low energy needs. It was estimated that the engine of a vacuum cleaner would be sufficient to supply the water capture device which could be powered by small solar units, a feat that would not work for refrigeration.
The opportunity
The logic applied by Curt is not very different from the revolutionary ideas that James Dyson applied to make vacuum cleaners more effective. Dyson obtained a better suction of 45 % by adding smaller cyclones thanks to smaller diameter tubes generating larger centrifugal forces. The combination of technologies established in Sweden and the United Kingdom could provide an economical and sustainable solution for water production from air, to a fraction of energy that the current market standard requires.
