A Disruptively Novel Approach to Clean and Safe Water Supply to Off-Grid Communities – SAFEWater-SDCW

ongoing

SolarDew has developed a disruptive, point of use water purification technology. It may look like a solar panel but instead of electricity, produces high quality drinking water, through a process of membrane distillation. The process follows the natural cycle of evaporation and condensation of water; removing salts, heavy metals, bacteria and viruses in a single step. This unique non-porous membrane is low cost (>20x cheaper) and highly resistant to contamination compared to existing membranes. The membrane is integrated into a water purification bag using manufacturing technologies from the packaging industry for high quality and low cost. It is integrated into a single unit and powered exclusively by solar thermal energy, making it robust and easy to use. Compared to bottled water, customers can save up to 20-40 cents/litre The technology is in line with UN SDG 6 ,Green Deal Goals, was financed by the Innowide Program and won the Seal of Excellence in the EIC Accelerator (Dec ‘20).