Zero Mass Water has launched in South Africa its SOURCE hydropanel, which applies thermodynamics, materials science and controls technology to produce potable drinking water from only sunlight and air.

Powered entirely by solar, the hydropanel extracts pure water vapour from the air and converts it into liquid water similar to distilled water. This water is mineralised with magnesium and calcium before being delivered directly to a tap.

The hydropanel is completely infrastructure-independent and is able to produce water without external electric or water input.

Zero Mass Water founder and CEO Cody Friesen, who is a materials scientist and Arizona State University associate professor, explained at the launch, in Johannesburg, that SOURCE hydropanel used an ultra-absorbent material that collected water from the air around it in even arid conditions.

He compared the absorbency process to that of a sugar, which is hydroscopic, and, when left exposed, becomes clumpy because it absorbs moisture whether in a dry or humid region.

A hydropanel is able to produce between 3 ℓ and 5 ℓ of water a day.

Hydropanels can be built in arrays designed to meet the drinking water needs of each application. The hydropanels can be used in homes, schools, hospitals, hotels and offices, as well as in the wildlife, government and disaster relief sectors, besides others.

“With the high cost and environmental damage associated with bottled water, hotels and attractions need a better choice for their guests. “Our system provides, on a daily basis, high-quality drinking water, while offsetting the carbon footprint of bottled water,” Fiesen said.

He added that the product had a 15-year life span, with relatively low-cost maintenance and that the R35 000 cost per panel paid itself off in water supply after three years.

The reservoir storage component included in the hydropanel’s design can store about 30 ℓ of water.

SOURCE hydropanels have been launched and are available in more than 15 countries across five continents.

On the digital side, SOURCE hydropanels are installed with a wireless communication system, through a second-generation connection, which reports data back to Zero Mass Water’s network operation centre.

This enables the company to monitor the panels’ performance and pH levels (SOURCE maintains a pH of 8.1), for example. This information is also accessible through the SOURCE app, which enables remote production adjustments and user monitoring.

Friesen claimed that each SOURCE hydropanel offset, in its lifetime, the use of 36 500 standard plastic water bottles, 273 750 ℓ of reverse-osmosis water waste, and 7 110 ℓ of water wasted in the treatment, bottling and sanitation of bottled water.

Moreover, reverse-osmosis wastes on average 15 ℓ for every 3.5 ℓ of drinking water filtered; bottled water emits carbon dioxide in the process of production and distribution, resulting in water wasted during filtration, and leaves behind plastic trash; while water coolers waste water in the process of filtration and delivery trucks result in pollution, all of which can effectively be replaced by SOURCE hydropanels.

According to the US Geological Survey, more than 99.7% of the world’s water is unusable by humans and most living organisms, either because it is saline or trapped in glaciers. This leaves a small portion of accessible fresh water for humans to use.

To add to the pressure, South Africa is a semiarid region with a mean yearly precipitation of 497 mm, just more than half the global average of 860 mm, making it the thirtieth-driest country in the world, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Additionally, precipitation in South Africa has been shown to be in decline, owing to climate change amid a rapidly increasing population growth and urbanisation.

“The water crisis in Cape Town is testament to this, with water security hanging in the balance,” noted Friesen.

Zero Mass Water has installed SOURCE hydropanels for schools in South America and Africa, as well as Syria, where war refugees are often left without reasonable means to survive or prosper.

Friesen concluded that Zero Mass Water was in the process of establishing four supersites for future SOURCE manufacturing and distribution, of which South Africa will be one.