Water from air? Breakthrough nanotech bottle takes cue from African beetle

A scientist is taking a cue from the Namib Desert beetle to make a self-filling water bottle that could be used in Third World countries.

 

Deckard Sorensen, a co-founder of startup NBD Nano, said the beetle lives in a coastal desert in southern Africa where less than 0.5 inch of rain falls per year and draws water from the air.

 

"Every morning this beetle climbs to the top of a sand dune, sticks its back to the wind, and drinks 12 percent of its weight in water. We use nanotechnology to mimic this beetle’s back so that we too can pull water from the air," he said in an interview with Public Radio International.

 

He added that, with more than three quadrillion gallons of water in the air, this could be a boon for areas that need water.

 

"We see this being applicable to anything from marathon runners to people in Third World countries, because we realize that water is such a large issue in the world today, and we want to try to alleviate those problems with a cost-efficient solution," he said.

 

Sorenson hopes to bring his water bottle to market by 2014, PRI said.

 

The energy to be used to power the bottle can be provided by solar cells and a rechargeable battery, he said. But it can potentially also get energy from a car, boat, or even a running human, PRI said.

 

PRI noted water condenses in specific, hydrophilic areas of the beetle's back and flows to a storage area on the beetle. The report said Sorenson coated a surface with hydrophilic and hydrophobic coatings, and used a fan to pass air over the surface. Water then condenses on the surface to make a self-filling water bottle.

 

PRI said Sorenson's company is now looking into how this could be used with plants, boosting the amount of moisture they can pull from the air.

 

"We are looking to incorporate this in greenhouses or green roofs in the immediate future, and then later on, we’re looking to see how far we can really scale this up to supply maybe farms or larger agricultural goals," he said.

 

Sorenson also said the maritime environment as a potential large market because humidity is actually constantly regenerated over a large body of water.

 

"Then we can pull that humidity from the air to support people who possibly take long trips on yachts, or provide a sort of potable water source that can be run off a solar panel while at sea," he said.

 

A separate article on the NBD Nano site said NBD uses a nano-scale surface to enhance water condensation.

 

"Mimicking the Namib Desert Beetle, our nanotechnology can be used to collect water in the most arid regions of the world," NBD said. –KDM, GMA News