Extract pure drinking water from air using solar energy.
Get water independence. 100 % renewable.
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Extract pure drinking water from air using solar energy.
Get water independence. 100 % renewable.
In non-coastal regions with little rainfall, where seawater desalination is not available and lakes, rivers and groundwater wells are depleted, extracting water from the air can help house owners and businesses to become water independent. Especially if they are not connected to a public water network.
Aquahara is offering the most efficient solar atmospheric water generator, producing water through all seasons. If you purchase an Aquahara generator including 50 m² (500 sq. ft.) of solar collectors you will get 100 liters (25 gallons) of water per sunny day. Combine this with rainwater collection and wastewater recycling to cover all water needs for a single family home: drinking, cooking, washing, sanitation and gardening.
The Aquahara system uses a fully renewable and highly efficient process with a concentrated salt solution to extract water from the air even in a dry desert climate. It does not require any external power. And the best: the water is pure and tastes great.
Instead of wasting energy to cool the air like conventional devices, we absorb moisture from the air in a salty liquid. Just like in a saltshaker that gets sticky, salt pulls water out of the air without cooling it, even if the air is very dry. The salty liquid is pumped from the absorber into a distillation unit, where it is heated using solar energy to extract water vapor and is then returned to the absorber to restart the cycle.
So, we built a liquid desiccant dehumidifier. What is so special about our system?
The salty liquid needs to be heated to extract pure water vapor. We use heat from solar thermal collectors because this is more cost-effective than solar electricity and most importantly: solar thermal collectors need less space for the same amount of power, and they do not make noise because there is no compressor.
We pump our salt solution in a closed cycle with dual use: once to absorb moisture out of the air and once as cooling liquid for a heat exchanger that cools our condenser and turns the water vapor into liquid water. This eliminates the need for a separate cooling system and reduces the system cost. Aquahara has been awarded an international patent for this approach.
Because we use a liquid instead of a solid absorber, we can pump it through liquid heat exchangers to recover 90 % of the heat between the absorption and the distillation stage. And we also use an air heat exchanger to recover 90 % of the heat from the air flow between the evaporator and the condenser stage.
Even if air humidity levels are below 20 % during hot summer afternoons, the Aquahara Water Generator can absorb water during the night, when it is slightly cooler and humidity rises. Our liquid absorber makes it easy to store the water in salt solution tanks and run the distillation process using solar heat during the day. So, we do not need a large and expensive battery because we only run one small pump and a ventilator at night. Competitors using solid absorbers cannot store much water.
Yes! The Aquahara Water Generator uses a distillation process to extract pure water vapor out of a salty solution. The very high salt concentration kills bacteria and viruses, and pollutants that may have been in the air stay in the liquid and are not condensed with the water vapor. We add minerals to the distilled water to achieve an excellent taste, just like mineral water. Once the mineralized water is in our storage tank, we use UV light to keep it sterile until you drink it.
Yes, it is! Aquahara Water Generators are not meant to replace seawater desalination systems. But we offer a solution for house owners and communities who live in a region where seawater desalination is not available.
Yes, in many regions, it is! But in many other regions, drilling a new well is prohibited or ground water levels are depleted such that wells are no longer a sustainable water source.
You could, but this is not economic. Our water is better used for the purpose of drinking and sanitation and to supply water to your house or your community.
Aquahara Water Generators are completely autonomous and do not need any external power supply. The solar thermal collectors and photovoltaic modules are part of our system and included in the price.
Even very dry desert air still contains at least 7 ml of water per cubic meter of air. The process developed by Aquahara extracts about 1 ml of water per cubic meter of air under desert conditions. To put this into perspective: if you spread your arms and walk for 1 minute, enough air will have flown around your body to extract one glass of water. This is thanks to the highly concentrated and environmentally friendly salt solution we are using. Salt ions are charged particles and their electrical force attracts the water molecules out of the air. By the way, the salt solution flows in a closed circuit and is not leaving the system, so we do not have to replenish nor replace nor discard the salt and the system is completely autonomous.
See here.
An Aquahara Water Generator needs 50 m² of space for the solar collectors plus an outside surface area of 3 x 6 meters (9 ft x 18 ft) for the generator itself. It produces around 100 liters (25 gallons) of water per day. This is the standard system size that we are currently offering. If you want to produce more water, you can just buy multiple such units. If you need a smaller system, please check our website in the future.
Aquahara is now accepting reservations from customers from Southern Europe and the USA. We will produce and ship systems in the order in which we receive the reservations.
Manufacturing will start as soon as enough reservations have been registered and after we have obtained formal product approvals from federal and state authorities.
You should have a need for at least 100 liters of water per day, for example to supply water to your house if you have no connection to the public water network and your current water well is no longer providing enough water.
An Aquahara Water Generator requires at least 50 m² (500 sq. ft) of free unshaded space for the solar collectors, which are included in the price.
If you are interested, please complete the pricing information form here below. You will receive an automated email with more detailed information including pricing and including a link to our online reservation form. If you decide to make a reservation, this will be non-binding and free of charge. When our production starts, we will send you a formal purchase contract; at that point, you will have to make your binding purchase decision within 3 weeks.
Yes , we will offer a product warranty according to federal and local regulations.
During the last 4 years, we have built and tested multiple prototypes with a relentless focus on reducing the cost of atmospheric water production under dry air conditions. We are now testing the first 2 pilot customer systems with a water production capacity of 200 liters per day in a children’s village south of Marrakech in Morocco and at a remote site in Mali. After obtaining official approval from the Moroccan authorities, the village will use the water for drinking and cooking, which will reduce their monthly costs of purchasing mineral water in plastic bottles. You can see the system in the video on the “Learn more” page of this website.
After launching our Aquahara Water Pavilion in Southern Europe and the USA, we want to continue reducing the cost of our system with series manufacturing, volume contracts with our suppliers, and additional engineering improvements. When we have sufficiently lowered the cost, we will launch our system in development countries (the “Global South”). People will be able to buy clean water using a prepaid tag or card. The Aquahara water will cost less than their current alternatives. Customers will not need a smartphone or an internet connection. They can recharge their prepaid tag or card using cash at a local shop; the shop owner uses her/his smartphone to credit the money to the account of the company operating the Aquahara system.
Chief Executive Officer & Founder
Philippe studied electrical engineering and after completing his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in 1996 he worked as a senior consultant at McKinsey & Company.
Prior to founding Aquahara Technology GmbH in 2017, Philippe has founded two start-ups. One of them, XClinical, is an international software company in the biopharmaceutical industry successfully operating in the market since 2002 and continuing to grow in Europe, USA and Japan.
Chief Technology Officer
With a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Stuttgart, Ilyes was a development engineer at Bosch and a research associate at Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences for seven years. There he was involved in the development of systems for solar process heat and solar cold and found his passion for working with renewable energy. Ilyes joined Aquahara at the beginning of 2018.
Finance Manager
After completing her studies in economics, Cordula Krüsmann was initially managing director of a state-subsidized private hospital in Germany.
Cordula is very familiar with Asia through more than a decade of residence in China. For several years she represented the interests of Austrian companies in China at the Austrian Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.
Chief Marketing Officer
Rinalds is a serial entrepreneur, manager and investor in several technology start-ups. He is experienced in enterprise technology consulting, international business development, post-merger integration and organizational transformation programs. Outside the ‘business world’, Rinalds is a passionate triathlete and winner of multiple international long-distance triathlon competitions.
Managing Director at MWN Equity Investment GmbH
MWN Equitiy Investment GmbH has financed Aquahara Technology GmbH as a business angel. A main focus of the company is on start-ups with above-average growth potential in the field of renewable energies and the development of innovative technologies.
Aquahara Technology is eligible under the Guidelines of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy for the “INVEST Grant for Venture Capital” program and has also received public funding from the Bavarian Ministry of Economics via the “BayTOU” program.
Pricing information
Please complete this form to receive an automated email with pricing information.
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