Haman Technology, a Tokyo-based research institute, has developed an energy-saving water purification technology that produces clean water from seawater or wastewater, and also recovers useful substances from waste liquids.
Haman's newly-patented reduced pressure distillation technology can produce 3.7 litres of fresh water from 10 litres of source water. And the company says that it can desalinate seawater at less than one fifth the cost of conventional processes with equipment about one third the size of conventional systems.
The new system is based on reduced pressure distillation technology, which typically lowers the boiling point of water by reducing pressure, enabling the production of a large amount of distilled water at a lower temperature, with correspondingly less energy.
The technology is expected to be used in numerous applications, ranging from portable water purification systems to water purification equipment for emergency use at public facilities, in areas with underdeveloped infrastructures, and for use at medical institutions as well as on ocean vessels.
The new purification system is covered by Japanese Patent 3434238 (2003), US Patent 6,506,284 B1 (2003), and EU Patent 1062995 (2004).
MOF captures hot CO2 from industrial exhaust streams
How much so-called "hot" exhaust could be usefully captured for other heating purposes (domestic/commercial) or for growing crops?