Dear Friends and Students
Do you know an adult produces 500 liters of urine & 50 liters of feces in a 12-month period, enough nutrients to produce around 250 kg of cereal! Interesting thought Right!
Danish Company Aquaporin A/S has developed a new system that uses proteins called aquaporins. “The Aquaporin Inside® Drinking-Water Membranes are the only membrane in the industry to use aquaporins – nature’s own water filters – to filter drinking water. The result? Great tasting drinking water that’s healthy, refreshing, and filtered naturally.” (https://aquaporin.com/company/).
Water Filter Technology
Aquaporins were discovered by Peter Agre in 1992, won a Nobel Prize in 2003. This company is using aquaporins to purify water on a large scale – in industries, in homes, and even in space.
Now NASA is seriously considering this technology to use in International Space Station (ISS). As you know, “in ISS, every drop of moisture, from humidity to urine, has to be filtered and reused. But the current system is very heavy, has to be replaced every 90 days, and fails to filter out certain contaminants, according to NASA”.
In nature, these proteins allow plant roots to absorb water from the soil. The same proteins help to filter about 170 liters of fluid per day. How beautiful God's creation! Nature’s Potential?
More than 2 billion population do not have clean drinking access. More than 55% in Europe directly take water from the Tap. Every year 37.7 million people in India are affected by waterborne diseases. It is found that aquaporins remove over 95% of microplastics and micro pollutants in wastewater, using much less energy than traditional systems.
Innovative Toilets
On the other hand, EcoSan (Ecological Sanitation) Toilet-Urine Diversion (UD) and Composting Toilets are promising. The EcoSan toilet is a closed system that does not need water, so is an alternative to leach pit toilets in places where water is scarce or where the water table is high and the risk of groundwater contamination is increased. One advantage of separating urine from feces is to reduce potential odors as well as prolonging latrine life.
Please watch the video by UNICEF https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV-1To9DkJQ
The third potential innovation is the Arborloo system. An arborloo is a simple type of composting toilet in which feces are collected in a shallow pit and a fruit tree is later planted in the fertile soil of the full pit. Currently, they are experimenting with moving the Arborloo system so that once the pit is full, the tree can be planted. Later again after some time, the same system can be moved back there.
These innovations are necessary to make World sustainable. There is a lot of scope for startups in this space. Hope more innovations are on the way!!
Will, you contribute either in research, business, or awareness?
Your well-wisher
Ravi Saripalle
Join Inspire to Innovate Storytelling Movement (http://i2itm.blogspot.com)
Source Inspiration: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/15/tech/space-tech-aquaporin-filter-spc-intl/index.html
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