20th July 2013

Machine turns sweat into drinking water

UNICEF, in collaboration with Gothia Cup, have developed the world's first sweat machine: a device that extracts moisture from clothes, purifies it and transforms it into water.

This is achieved by spinning and heating the material, then capturing the water vapour through a special technique called membrane distillation. Bacteria, salts, clothing fibres and other substances are filtered out, making the end product cleaner than ordinary tap water.

Swedish engineer Andreas Hammar told the BBC: "They have something similar on the [International] Space Station to treat astronaut's urine – but our machine was cheaper to build. The amount of water it produces depends on how sweaty the person is – but one person's T-shirt typically produces 10ml [0.3oz], roughly a mouthful."

Clean drinking water is a human right, but 775 million people still lack access to it. Every day, thousands of children die because of contagious water, lack of sanitation and poor hygiene practices. UNICEF works in more than 190 countries to improve water supplies and sanitation facilities and to promote safe hygiene practices. It is hoped that this new machine will generate awareness about the issue and raise money for water purification tablets for children in developing nations.

Comments »