Would you believe it when we say there are nearly four quadrillion gallons of water in the air around us? Scientists have long been trying to develop an advanced technology that will allow them to harvest this atmospheric water as a new supply.
Now a company called NBD Nano has developed a new technology that suggests that the idea is within our reach. The company has developed a water bottle that can refill itself with drinkable water harvested from the atmosphere.
They have developed this idea by studying the survival strategies of an insect called desert beetle. The Namib Desert Beetle has a shell that is covered in bumps.
Humidity in the air gradually accumulates on its back until water droplets form. These droplets roll down the beetle’s back and directly into its mouth. This will allow the insect to survive in environments where there is no ground water.
The desert beetle can survive in an area which gets only 0.5″ of rainfall a year. Researchers have successfully tapped this technology to develop a bottle with the same water collecting effect. The company, NBD Nano, have coated the surface of the bottle in a mix of water-attracting and water-repelling, or hydrophilic and hydrophobic, materials and a fan to make the air pass over the surface.
In today’s world, drinking water has much value and they have tried to produce drinking water in a cost-efficient way. The water bottle is expected to be introduced in the market by 2014.