PROJECT DETAILS

Brief Description
 

The project of Techno Services Engineering Systems Pvt, led by Abhijit Das and Nilanjan Das, aims at developing a very affordable, portable, solar-powered water purifier, (Aqua Solar), that could revolutionize the provision of drinking water for the world’s poorest two billion people and make a great contribution to the prevention of water-borne disease.

The aim is to develop a solar-powered water purifier that only weighs 5 kilograms, would cost euro 160-200 in serial production and can produce 1 litre of pure drinking water in a minute when the sun is shining, meaning 400 – 500 litres during an average day.

In other words, the device could provide at least 200 people with pure drinking water (the need of which depends on the prevailing temperature range). Aqua Solar would have a four-stage purification process based on three different filters and ”sodis” (solar disinfection), meaning the use of solar ultraviolet radiation to kill viruses and microbes.

According to WHO there are still 2.2 billion people without safe drinking water and the lack of it causes or contributes to 1.6 million premature deaths, every year. Aqua Solar would make it possible to provide clean drinking water for these 2.2 billion people with minor costs, with much lesser expenditure than any other prior solution . It would also be very useful in all kinds of crises situations caused by typhoons, cyclones and hurricanes, droughts, other natural disasters and wars.

Besides, the new technology could save the poor households a lot of money they can use to other purposes like healthier food or better health care.  At the moment, world’s poorest people have to spend 10-20 times and in some cases 100 times more money on drinking water than the wealthier people, who can typically get a cubic meter of pure household water from a tap with the price of 4 or 5 euros. In Madagaskar people spend 45 per cent of their income on drinking water, in Papua New Guinea more than one half.

Aqua Solar would also cause much smaller greenhouse gas emissions than our present methods of providing safe drinking water for the people.

Project budget: 4050 euros

Name of the Principal Investigator: Mr. Abhijit Das

Name of the Co-Principal Investigator: Mr. Nilanjan Das

Project Achievements & Outcomes: