There have been many instances of people producing water out of thin air, and technologies assisting them in their novel pursuit have been around for quite some time.
A research and development company in Bengaluru has come up with a newer process of sucking out water from the atmosphere — with a machine it has developed that promises to be a solution for the drinking water shortages, especially during the searing summers. The machine, which functions across all terrains and weather conditions, has but one limitation — it stops working at altitudes higher than 5,000 ft.
Imagine this — a machine that might make you want to disconnect your water supply altogether. No underground pipes, no tapping into Mother Earth — it creates water straight from the atmosphere.
Moreover, the water produced by this machine is clean and pristine, similar to glacier water, and contains natural minerals like calcium and magnesium, which are present in vapour form in the atmosphere.
Dr Rajah Vijay Kumar, Scientist and CEO of De Scalene Foundation, the body that takes up research projects to solve problems faced by people, told The Statesman in an exclusive chat that their machine, which can produce 30 litres of water per day, was the perfect solution for a household, meeting drinking water requirements for a family and a household. With an operating cost of between 70 paise per litre, the only cost is electricity and of course the one-time spending for getting the machine. And then there are larger capacity machines — 1,000 litres per day — that can serve offices and residential buildings. There is another machine, with a capacity of 3,000 litres per day, under development.
These machines use a new technology developed by the foundation, quite by accident, to condense water from the air. It is called hypersonic precipitation — a method that is used to break water into nanoparticles, and they freeze at higher temperatures and then form nano ice cubes or nano ice crystals. These nano ice crystals have the property of vapour absorption. This way, it can absorb the vapour from the air, and then when the size of the water particle goes beyond the nano size, the nano size, which is typically 15 to 20 nanometers, it falls as rain. So, we created this machine to do the whole processing inside, which is called a rain tunnel.
“This is the technology all about, and we have got a patent for it in the United States,” Dr Rajah said and added that “we have christened it Aquarigia.
At the ‘workshop’ in Bengaluru, some 70 engineers, scientists, medical doctors, and nurses are engaged in different research projects aimed at solving problems that are brought to them — by the team at the foundation and or anyone who approaches the organisation, Dr Rajah said.
Some 300 water-producing machines are now working in different parts of India, in the desert and hilly regions, on the sea coast, and even in the deserts – and some of the users are defence forces in remote and inaccessible areas where there is no piped water supply.
“A few of our machines are working in the Middle East – Oman, for example, and even South Africa,” he said. “The only limitation is it can work up to 5,000 feet. Above this, it does not work, as it cannot handle the vapour pressure. Its efficacy is doubtful in mountainous terrain. It is okay, as long as it is not exceeding 5,000 feet above sea level,” Dr Rajah said.
“So it works anywhere in the Western Ghats. It works in the desert, and in Bengaluru, which is 3,000 feet above sea level.
There are many other technologies in use for water condensing, but “ours works on the principle of hyperaccumulation. Next in the pipeline is a small portable backpack water-producing machine — a lightweight device to help people conjure up water where none is available. A backpack can produce five litres of water per day.
“It is pure, pristine water that is produced even in areas that are polluted as water is squeezed out of thin air,” Dr Rajah said, adding that it can be the answer that many parched areas are looking for.
Other than the one-time installation cost, the cost of the operations is what makes this machine attractive – at about 70 paise to Rs 1 per litre. The best thing is that, other than electricity, there are no consumables needed to produce water from the machine. Some maintenance is required for cleaning filters periodically.
The best thing is that all the parts of the machine are 100 percent indigenous, and all parts are fabricated locally.
The moment one switches on the machine, it will study the climatic condition of the area and start working. It uses ultrasound, a very high-frequency sound, as the force that forms nano ice particles. There is a little physics, mathematics, and chemistry involved in the whole process, the good doctor said.
“We were working on some other projects, and we discovered this property of water that if you break water into nano metre size, the water freezes at lower temperature, at room temperature. Once we understood this science, this discovery, we were looking at where we can use this property of the discovery. Then we thought, okay, one of the ways of using this discovery would be to create water, because I have ice or solid water, ice crystals have the property of vapour deposition. So if I take ice crystal, it collects vapour from the atmosphere. So this is one thing which we thought, let us try it out, and then we could fabricate this machine to do the job,” Dr Rajah said.
Though we discovered this ten years ago, only recently we began manufacturing it on a small scale, and through word of mouth publicity we have managed to send the machines across India and some to the Gulf as well.
“Some temples are using the machines because the water is pure, untouched by hand – and for this reason, few temples have installed the machines and use the water for some of their rituals.
The other areas the research and development company works in include healthcare. We work on cancer and neurological disorders and develop systems and equipment needed in regenerative medicine. We are also involved in the early detection of heart diseases and in creating screening tools for cardiovascular conditions,” he said.