Descrizione del progetto
Una tecnologia per pulire l’acqua potabile dell’aria
Lo sfruttamento dei 140 quadrilioni di litri di acqua presenti nell’atmosfera potrebbe far fronte all’attuale carenza di acqua potabile. Alcuni recenti sviluppi tecnologici avanzanti consentono di ottenere una tecnologia economicamente sostenibile per la raccolta di questo tipo di acqua. La start-up ThinAir ha sviluppato un materiale ottimizzato per la cattura dell’acqua atmosferica, effettuando una rigorosa dimostrazione di tale tecnologia presso l’Imperial College di Londra. La tecnologia di superficie ThinAirWater è attualmente al livello 6 di maturità tecnologica e prende ispirazione dal coleottero africano Stenocara gracilipes. Il progetto ThinAirWater, finanziato dall’UE, introdurrà la tecnologia come componente materiale negli attuali generatori aria-acqua, migliorando la loro efficienza nel rispondere a una gamma più ampia di mercati e climi, aumentando la loro resa di produzione idrica e riducendo i loro costi al litro.
Obiettivo
Drinking water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource. Of all the options for future drinkable water, harnessing the 140 quadrillion litres of water in the atmosphere represents one of very probable and abundant sources. Clouds and fog in the atmosphere contain more than enough fresh water to sustain every person on earth. With recent cutting-edge developments, an economically viable technology for harvesting this water is becoming available.
ThinAir, a start-up has created a material optimised for capturing atmospheric water by enhancing the ability of water condensation through the surface structure optimisation. The technology has been rigorously proven at Imperial College London and is >94% more efficient at condensing and harnessing water vapour than the best currently available alternatives.
Our founding team consists of Jonathan Risley (CEO) with a background in biotechnology and management. Samuel Bruggen (CTO) is specialized in biochemistry and with a business innovation masters. Ben Kirk (CSO) holds an MBA from the Imperial Business School and is in charge of the business strategy to commercialisation. We are supported by advisors who give us business guidance and connections in the industry.
The ThinAirWater surface technology is currently at a TRL 6 and takes inspiration from the African fogstand beetle. The team have mimicked the beetle to produce a scalable, sustainable and deployable material, which can be implemented within a range of markets to enhance water generation from the atmosphere. The first application is an integration into dehumidifiers to improve on their energy efficiency at water condensation, we later plan to implement this technology to help drive the progression of the atmospheric water generation market for clean drinking water production from the air.
To start commercialization, we will launch our technology as a material component in existing Air-to-Water generators, providing an increase in efficiency that enables them to address a wider array of markets and climates, but most importantly increase their yield of water production, whilst bringing down their cost per litre.
Campo scientifico
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistry
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwater treatment processesdrinking water treatment processes
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyplanetary sciencesplanetary geology
- natural sciencesmathematicspure mathematicstopology
- social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managementbusiness models
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Vedi altri progetti per questo bandoBando secondario
H2020-SMEInst-2018-2020-1
Meccanismo di finanziamento
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinatore
W120BZ LONDON
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