THE WATER CHALLENGE
- Two thirds of the world’s population live in areas plagued by water scarcity. 1 Billion people do not have access to clean water and over 8.5 million people die annually from the consequences of water-related diseases
- The water crisis is the number 1 global risk based on impact to society
- We are fast approaching a world in which the most hotly-contested resource for development and survival is not oil, but water
- The world needs a solution to the water crisis. Conventional desalination technologies are prohibitively expensive, primarily powered by fossil fuels and with significant environmental impact
SubseaRO Wind - Solution 1
We have developed a simple but highly innovative technology that combines the power of altitude wind and subsea pressure to desalinate seawater into freshwater. Combining the power of subsea oceanic pressure and altitude wind to solve one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century: low cost clean fresh water.
The largest cost component in conventional desalination is the energy input required to pressurize seawater through a reverse osmosis membrane at between 5500 kPa to 7000 kPa. Energy is the largest single expense for desalination plants, accounting for over 60% of the total costs of desalinating seawater into potable fresh water. The solution to this challenge is to use subsea pressure at depths of 600m (6132 kPa) to desalinate seawater using a submerged pressure vessel with attached reverse osmosis membranes. Utilizing natural pressure differentials due to ocean depth, a submerged pressure vessel, combined with reverse osmosis membranes and low altitude kites, we have developed a simple, cost effective and efficient way to desalinate seawater into potable water in significant volumes. What we are developing is a novel zero carbon emissions technology with the lowest capital cost to deploy, the most efficient and the most accelerated route to full commercialisation.
- Rapid technology development cycle
- Simple technology, easy to build, deploy, scale and decommission
- Volume capacities to match demand
- Sustainable and 100% renewable
- Low Capital and Maintenance costs
- Cost per cubic metre below $0.003 (conventional desalination technologies cost over $0.80 per cubic metre)
- Based on proven technology – reverse osmosis membranes
- Zero Carbon emissions technology
- Elimination of discharge concentrate
- Security of supply
This technology is easily scalable, completely eliminates carbon emissions and the use of fossil fuels in water desalination, avoids the negative environmental impacts of conventional desalination technologies, and significantly reduces costs. Around 100 devices can produce 500 MIG per day (2.3 million cubic metres per day) sufficient to provide a city like Dubai in the United Arab Emirates with all of its water needs per day at a fraction of current costs.
OceanSolar Stil - Solution 2
Solar stills operate on the same principle as rainwater through the phase transition of evaporation and condensation. The water from the oceans evaporates, only to cool, condense, and return to earth as rain. During the process of evaporation, pure water is produced and salts and contaminants are left behind. Solar stills are a simple and proven technology to distill seawater/brackish water. The challenge has been the slow process that produces around 2 to 4 litres per square metre. We have developed an ocean floating solar still that de-stills seawater into potable water using solely the radiation of the sun. The technology we have developed mimics the rain cycle but in addition utilises Fresnel lenses in the shape of a hemisphere (replicating the curved surface of the earth) for intense focal solar concentration and in addition to other active components to produce over 10 litres per square meter per day.
OceanRain Catcher - Solution 3
The harvesting of rainwater simply involves the collection of water from surfaces on which rain falls, and subsequently storing this water for later usage. Rain harvesting has solely been land based. Most precipitation falls as rain, and most rain falls on the oceans. Meteorologists estimate that 75 per cent of the world’s precipitation falls in the ocean. Oceans cover 71% of the planet’s surface, contain 97% of the water, and contribute, through evaporation, 85% of the water vapor to the atmosphere and water cycle.
We are developing a simple technology that is based on rain harvesting in the ocean; collecting fresh potable rainwater at economies of scale in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea and shipping the collected rain water by sail power using specially manufactured water carriers. The Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean combined have the highest oceanic precipitation in the world, estimated at over 100,000 cubic kilometers per year.
The Indian Ocean, which is in close proximity to the UAE, has the highest precipitation rates in the world. Capturing and collecting fresh potable rain water at sea, where 75% of the world’s rain water falls, is an area within water policy and security that has never been researched or commercialised. A very simple yet extremely feasible way for securing fresh water supplies, rain harvesting in the ocean has the potential to alleviate the world’s water shortages.