Solar Water Pasteuriser Testing

Pleased to say that testing has now started at a European lab!

JAMEBI – The Solar Water Pasteuriser is Launched – Video & Specification

Working Full Size Prototype Solar Water Pasteurizer capable of producing water at £ 1-2 per 1000 litres (ie 1-2 pence per 10 litres) over its 20 year lifetime, when installed in a sunny part of the tropical world.

I’d like to send 250 of these to help to save lives in the near future.

Do you know who could fund such a project? Help to save lives now!

Here is some technical information of the solar water pasteurizer, which is called Jamebi.

1.   Description Jamebi a solar thermal water pasteurizer. The technology is a flow-through (not batch operation) solar thermal water pasteurizer, comprising solar thermal panel, thermostatic control valve and heat exchanger.   Product mission   Our mission for this manufactured product is: (a)   to supply clean affordable water for suitable sunny tropical countries on a long term basis, with a lifetime water cost at or lower than UD $2 per 1000 litres and (b)  to supply a robust and easily set up emergency or disaster relief technology for rapid but temporary deployment, and having a 20 year shelf-life. (c)   If appropriate, and only after some years of controlled production, eventually to deploy these as low cost, home made systems, so that they become common household items. Performance objectives   Our low carbon healthcare product is designed with the aim of having excellent biocidal properties across four biological categories of waterborne pathogens (disease-causing organisms), these being: 1.     Viruses, such as Rotavirus, Norovirus, Hepatitis A, 2.     Bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, Campylobacter jejuni, Vibrio cholera, Aeromonas hydrophila, Yersinia enterocolitica, Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus. 3.     Protozoa, such as Cryptosporidium, Entamoeba, Giardia, 4.     Multicellular pathogens, such as microscopic worms and flukes, or their eggs. It is designed to kill pathogens by at least 99.99% by using solar heating pasteurization. ·      This works, typically at solar radiation levels of 500-1000 W/sqm incident perpendicular, by conveying water through the solar panel for three or more minutes at a temperature of 75C or higher. ·      For most pathogens, this combined exposure of time with temperature will kill them by at least 99.99% by a process of thermal protein denaturation. ·      At the outlet of the panel, a thermostatically controlled safety valve opens, but only above 75C in order to release the water. ·      If the water is not hot enough, this safety valve will not open, thus preventing untreated untreated or only partially treated water from entering the safe water store.   How it works. There are three thermally significant stages in the device. Understanding each helps us understand its operation. Here is a description of what typically happens when the device is running in full perpendicular sun, ie at solar noon on a sunny day, with a blue sky and little or no clouds.   1.     Heating. Dirty water enters the device at, for example 25C. It is then heated to 75C in the heat exchanger’s outer pipe. Here, it captures what would otherwise be wasted heat, from the water leaving the panel during stage 3. 2.     Pasteurizing. This pre-heated water then enters the solar thermal panel, where it is heated to at over 75C, and typically 80C. For safety reasons, a spring-loaded thermostatic valve will close and prevent the water from exiting the panel if it ever becomes cooler than 75C. This heating, for example, lasting 4 minutes at an average of 80C, pasteurizes the water. 3.     Cooling. Finally, this hot pasteurized water enters the inner pipe of the heat exchanger where it is cooled to within 5-20C of its original temperature, in this example, to 41C. The clean, cool water is then released, either for appropriate storage or for immediate drinking. Why use a heat exchanger? The heat exchanger typically allows up to 80%-90% of the heat energy, energy which would otherwise be wasted, to be recycled back into the solar panel, with its consequently warmer inlet water allowing water to pass through the solar panel around five to ten times faster. This faster flow occurs because the panel only has to deliver only around ten degrees of final heating instead of over 50 degrees (ie from 25C to over 75C). In addition, the heat exchanger allows water to be delivered cooler, and not hot, which makes it safer to handle and store as well as making it immediately drinkable. The solar thermal pasteurization concept is not new and for example, has been illustrated in 1998 (see diagram below) by Jay Burch and Karen E Thomas in their valuable paper “An Overview of Water Disinfection in Developing Countries and the Potential for Solar Thermal Pasteurization” (NREL TP550-23110). Solar Water Pasteurizartion is also being successfully deployed, however using a different solar thermal technology, by existing NGO’s such as SwissWaterKiosk. However our technology aims to make advances in suitability, in terms of size, cost, portability and convenience, as explained latter.   What about void volume and delivery capability? The water volume contained in each one of its three stages (ie two heat exchanger voids and one solar panel) is around two litres, thus making the total volume of the device as 6 litres. In full sun, passing the water through each one of these three stages takes around three minutes, so the total entry-to-exit time it takes for the water to heat up, pasteurize and then cool back down again is around nine minutes, before it is clean enough to drink. That is the case in full perpendicular sunlight, when the system delivers around 40 litres of clean water per hour.   What about at lower light levels? How does it perform then? If the sunlight levels fall to as low as 50% of full sunlight, the system may still operate, at similar temperatures, but, however, at lower water flow speeds. Further details of operation at lower light levels are described later, in E3 on Field Effectiveness, with reference to its final graph.   Why use solar thermal pasteurization? The process of using heat to kill pathogens is similar to the traditional water-boiling process using fuels such as kerosene or wood, which makes the pasteurization concept understood and accepted by rural and urban communities alike.   Pedigree and credentials. This product has a strong pedigree. The product design team incorporates engineers across three UK universities: Napier University in Scotland, where the solar thermal panel was originally conceived and designed, Glyndwr University in Wales where the first two solar water prototypes were built, and Liverpool University in England, where final pre-production models were created. The product development process is led by Barry Johnston, a entrepreneur in medical and greentech applications. Barry has a track record of developing successful low carbon products including the Solartwin / Thermatwin solar water heating system, an off-grid technology, global sales of which, to date, total over £20 million.
2.   Operation of technology Please provide a step-by-step explanation of the how the technology is expected to be used. Separate user manuals are available on request.
Instructions included: ☒Yes				File name of the user instruction: Jamebi – manuals. These are appended.
3.   Image of technology Jamebi Solar Water Pasteurizer Diagram   Note: We reserve the right to make visual or presentational changes in ways which do not reduce performance significantly.
4.   What is the capacity (lifetime) of the system (days, liters treated, etc.)?	Life expectancy is 20 years minimum.   Explanation. All components have been carefully selected to be long life, durable and lightweight. Details follow.   This long life expectancy makes the water available at surprisingly low cost. Here are two example calculations:   1/ For a relatively cloudy and rainy location, using the lower range of the assumed daily production average, given below, of 100 litres of water per day, and the retail price given below of USD $1600 or less, this equates to paying $2.00 or less per cubic metre of clean water.   2/ For a near-desert location with low rainfall and plenty of sunny clear skies, using the higher range of the assumed daily production average, given below, of 200 litres of water per day, and the retail price given below of USD $1600 or less, this equates to paying $1.00 or less per cubic metre of clean water.   Therefore, expressed another way, depending on location, five to ten one-litre bottles can be filled with clean water at a cost of only one one cent.   In terms of its lifetime water delivery capacity, the 20-year total figure is expected to be slightly in excess of one million litres, assuming that the technology typically delivers an average of 150 litres per day.
5.   What is the daily production of the system? (L)	Per day when used in the tropics: ·      250 litres: peak.·      100-200 litres: range.·      150 litres: average.Explanation. Although this technology can deliver, at peak, 250 litres of clean water per fully sunny day in the tropics, indeed, during summer rooftop tests at Liverpool University in UK it has demonstrated capability of delivering this figure, it would be reasonable to assume that a range, representing an average output daily of 100-200 litres would be expected in most tropical areas, with the higher of this range of volumes being delivered in desert or near-desert areas where there are relatively low levels of cloud cover.Thus, by delivering, on average, well over 40 litres per day, the technology is generously suitable for domestic use, either for one household on its own or, alternatively, for a small number of households together. In the latter case, they may share the technology, or individually owned by one household who, in turn, may either donate or sell to others, the surplus water which it delivers.
6.   What is the product’s flow when new, if appropriate? (L/min.)	Measured typical instantaneous flows in UK:   ·      0.17 l/min, ie 10 l/hour at 0840H (if started by then) and 1520H ·      0.33 l/min, ie. 20 l/hour with sun angle at 0930H and 1430H. ·      0.5 l/min, ie. 30 l/hour with sun angle at 1000H and 1400H. ·      0.67 l/min, ie. 40 l/hour, in full perpendicular sun 1200H (peak flow)   These are typical results from tests on the production version of the device at Liverpool University in UK. They took place when the range of air temperature was 15C – 25C and when the range of incoming water temperature was 20C – 25C.   Performance may be higher by 10-20%, in the tropics, assuming air temperature at 30C and water at 25C.
7.   Does the product’s system flow slow (clog) with use?	☒Yes ☒No   Both answers are possible, depending on water conditions. Here is an explanation. If used is in ideal condition, which is what we would strongly prefer, it will not clog. However, we need to consider all eventualities.   ☒Yes.   The product may clog if the water is sub-optimal, ie either (i) hard, or if (ii) it contains significant amounts of waterborne particulates, such as clay, then it may scale or sediment up. In these cases, regular cleaning is essential, with the frequency dependant on the severity of the hardness or the concentration of and size of particulates.   For this important reason of maintenance, we recommend that the technology is not normally deployed in such circumstances, unless it is (a) only for a short period of a few weeks, such as emergency relief, or (b) for longer periods of routine use where a rigorous and appropriate cleaning regime can be defined and will definitely be adhered to.   It is important to be able to assess the possibility of impending clogging before the system blocks up. Temperature assessment may be used as an indicator. The clogging test is described earlier.   ☒No.   When the water is (a) soft (ie low in thermally deposited minerals such as calcium and magnesium) and also (b) if it contains minimal particulates or turbidity, then it will not clog. This reliability supported by evidence that the the solar thermal panel on which the technology is based has been used for over 15 years in such conditions in UK without any clogging. Therefore, this soft, clear water supply specification is our preferred normal operational water condition.   In summary, given the wide geographic range over which the technology could potentially be deployed usefully, due to the wide need for clean water, and our aim to supply goods which deliver maximum user satisfaction, we would suggest that it is only deployed in areas where soft, clear water is the usual condition, with, if turbidity is a problem, where clear water potentially being created by a suitable, reliable, low maintenance and low cost pre-treatment process.
8.   Does the product have an ‘end of life’ indicator?	☒N/A
9.      Does the product use a chemical disinfectant?	☒No		There is no chemical disinfectant. Water treatment is thermal only.
10.   Does the product require other treatment for certain source waters? (Pre-filters, etc.)?	☒Yes ☒No   As explained in response to Q7, both answers may be possible, depending on water conditions.   However it would be preferable to specify the device for use only in areas where no pre-treatment is required at all.   That said, it may be helpful if you were to challenge the technology using various increasing levels of hard or turbid water in your tests, in order to reassess or define more accurately our stated suitability range.
11.   If yes, please describe:	To take the replies to Q7 and Q10 reply further, if used, against our recommended deployment, in areas where water is turbid, it may be prudent, in some applications, to use, for example, physical pre-treatment, such as filters, strainers or settlement tanks before putting the water into the device.   In such circumstances, while suitable pre-treatment may need to be identified and deployed on a site-specific basis, there could be an option to have generic versions of any pre-treatment technologies pre-specified and delivered as an integral part of the kit, for reasons of convenience.
12.   Does the technology require electricity?	☒No ☒Solar thermal power only. –       All of the solar power required by the device is solar thermal power, which generated by the solar thermal panel, which forms an integral part of the device. –       There is no electricity used at all and there are no electronics in the standard unit. However, the device could be supplied with, for example, a PV powered digital thermometer to display panel temperature (as a reassurance or confidence booster for users) if specially requested.
13.   Requirements of the setting in which the product will be used. What infrastructure is required to use your product? This may include a stable power supply, line pressure, minimum average solar radiation, specific temperature and humidity, specific training, access to supply chains and repair personnel, other (please specify).   1.     A stable electrical power supply is not needed. This technology is off-grid. 2.     A mains line water supply is not necessary. 3.     Water line pressure is to be reduced to 0.3 bar by using a pressure reducing valve, or simply a header tank at the correct height. 4.     The minimum instantaneous solar radiation is: 600 watts per square metre perpendicular, to start the system and 500 watts per square metre perpendicular, to operate the system assuming that the air temperature is 30C. (Alternative ratings are, approx (a) at 20C air temperature start irradiance min 700 W/sqm, and operation min 600 W /sqm and (b) at air 40C start irradiance min 500 W/sqm, and operation min 400 W /sqm. 5.     The technology is designed to operate in a wide range temperatures and humidity 6.     Specific training is available if needed, but it is expected not to be needed. 7.     Supply chains and support are currently all UK based with 5 days per week opening times, Monday-Friday, 0900-1700H with other days and times available by prior arrangement. 8.     Repair personnel are not needed. This is a simple system. Any spare parts, if they were required, would be sent by courier, with clear instructions. 9.     Other requirements are given in section D6 – Conditions: applications and constraints.
14.   Does the technology use software?		☒No			It is a simple analogue product.
15.   Weight of the product (kg):		50kg. The standard product is supplied at this weight in one single package, which is typically a robust, triple-ply hardboard box. For manual handling safety reasons, if this is viewed as being too heavy, it can also be supplied in two separate boxes, one weighing 30kg (solar panel) and the other weighing 20 kg (heat exchanger, interconnecting pipes and legs). The downside of splitting it into two is, unfortunately that paired packages sometimes get separated in transit. So our default is to send one, single, heavier package, but you can choose what you want.
16.   Dimension of the product (mm3):		Please see the figures in section 17 for the volumes of solar volume of panel and heat exchanger. (The extra size attributable to the cardboard box is negligible.)
17.   Provide the void volume of the system.		When filled with water, the whole device contains approximately 6 litres of water.   This volume is apportioned in its three compartments as follows: ·      2 litres, heat exchanger in ·      2 litres, solar thermal panel ·      2 litres, heat exchanger out. Note: The interconnecting pipes to and from the panel and heat exchanger have negligible volume. When flat-packed in a single cardboard box, the dimensions are: 2.5m x 1.75m x 0.1m.   Transit and storage volume – minimised by design. To reduce volume during transport, the system folds up flat. There is a hinge between the collector and the heat exchanger. Two options for box size. Both parts are delivered attached to each other in the single-boxed arrangement, but in the following two-box arrangement it is unscrewed on one side. When flat-packed in two smaller boxes (typically for easier manual handling weight reasons), the large 30 kg panel box measures 2.5m x 1.3m x 0.1 m, the 20 kg second box containing the heat exchanger, pipes and legs measures 2.5m x 0.45m x 0.1 m. Unit volume. When packed, unit volume is approx. 0.6875 cubic metres. The technology and its standard cardboard packaging boxes are deliberately designed to be economical with space, in order to allow transport containers to be packed with as many as possible. Container packing. For packing full a 40-foot sea container, we calculate that 96 units can be packed as single-box packs, or 100 units if they are sent as 2-box packs. Not included. Please note that water storage tanks and interconnecting pipes to and from the device are not included in the above figures, because these may be locally sourced.
18.   Is the product portable?		☒Installed stationary. The reader is not sure what is meant by portable, and so hopes that this reply is acceptable. While, yes, it can be lifted and carried by hand; no, it is too large to be carried bodily on the person like a water bottle. However, it could be attached to the roof of an inland boat, or an intermittent or slow moving vehicle such as a caravan, mobile home or mobile canteen, where its minimum footprint of at least 2.5m x 1.3 m approx. and wind loadings (which are not fully calculated yet) might suitably be accommodated.
20.  Type of use:		☒Reusable capital equipment.

 

 

D:        Use, maintenance and disposal
1.   Who is the intended user?	1/ Householders and extended households. 2/ Potentially also: micro-businesses, offices and institutional users such as communities, schools, clinics, hospitals; users of portable, temporary, off-grid or remote habitation, or camps; operators of small, portable or roadside food and drink stalls.
2.   Is training required in addition to the expected skill level of the intended user?	☒No. However, we would your feedback on this important issue. Our hope is for deployers, users (and packers-away) of the technology not to require formal training, but this is not a final position. We say this because it is intended that eventually all instructions will be clear enough to require no further training: that IKEA-style language-free instructions will be produced to complement and eventually displace our current English language written instructions. Ideally to assist with mobile phone aided deployment, low-bandwidth, online and possibly language-free graphics and videos of setup and cleaning are also under consideration.
3.   Does the device require maintenance?	☒Yes, see 5.
4.   If maintenance is required, can it be done on-site?	☒Yes, see 5.
5.   If requires maintenance, please specify type/frequency (days/months/years)	1/ Weekly visual maintenance checks are required, these taking only a few minutes, to check for drips from the clean outlet pipe at night: the first part is to hang up a cup and the second to inspect it at least six hours later. These checks must always happen when there is no sun, and can only take place at least two hours after sunset and before sunrise, in other words only after the device has fully cooled down. If you see drips during such a check, these may indicate a leak, such as from the valve or across the heat exchanger. In such an eventuality, the device should not be used until it is repaired. It is recommended to place a cup, making sure that is protected from collecting rain, under the outlet pipe for six hours minimum between the hours of two hours after sunset and sunrise. If, by sunrise, this cup contains 1 ml or more of water, then it is possible that the device’s intended 99.999% reduction threshold for viruses will not be met due to a leak, when averaged across a day of operation. 2/ Maintenance at a technical level is required at least annually. This mainly involves taking the heat exchanger apart and cleaning it. Maintenance will be more frequent if the product is used with sub-optimal water, this being water which is not clear or not soft.
6.   Under which conditions can be product be used	☒Must have minimum amount of sunlight ☒Ideally should have non-turbid water     Here is a wider discussion of application, followed by constraints on use and deployment. Applications.   1.     Is primarily intended for operation in (a) sunny parts of the (b) tropics, in both rapid-response emergency or relief applications, as well as in regular day-to-day uses. Here is a discussion of the meaning of (a) sunny. By sunny, it is meant that it is generally suitable for use where Annual Direct Normal Irradiance exceeds 2000 kWh/sqm, as mapped in places such as here: http://solargis.info/doc/free-solar-radiation-maps-DNI. Thus, it can be seen that, for example, much of Southeast Asia is not a suitable area for deployment, but that many parts of North Africa are suitable. However, its use where Annual Direct Normal Irradiance as low as to 1500 kWh/sqm may sometimes be appropriate, provided that in those locations the solar radiation levels are fairly steady across the year, typically where the darkest month of a year receives at least half of the light levels of a year’s brightest month. However, in such areas the average annual water delivery of the system will be considerably lower. Here is a discussion of the meaning of (b) tropics. While the tropics are defined as between the equator and 23.27 degrees north or south of it, in terms of acceptable performance, this limit is is not set in stone, either. Subtropical areas (within parallels up to 28 degrees) and even areas up to 30 degrees may also be possible, provided that the seasonal variation of radiation levels is not extreme as mentioned earlier. *** Think about two heights of legs. Low angle of tilt for near equator and steeper for near tropics. But shading probs??? How about overlapping legs? 2 bits of meccano… 2.     For emergency or relief applications it can be deployed for rapid response by being robust, flat-packed, box-shaped and quickly set up (and packed away for re-use) without a technician being present. 3.     Although it is supply with simply labelled parts and designed to set up using a 10-30 minute self-assembly approach, technical and educational support is available. 4.     Operates entirely off-grid and independently, without any need to be connected to formal services such as mains electricity or mains pressure water. 5.     Needs no material inputs, apart from energy in the form of direct sunlight and water, which can be microbiologically (but not chemically) contaminated. 6.     Typical water supplies are soft, non-turbid water from a variety of sources, such as rain, rivers, stores, ponds or underground. Constraints. The constraints section is divided into three sections: A.   solar constraints B.    inlet water constraints C.    other constraints. Discussion of these three areas of constraints now follow. A – Solar constraints on use and deployment. This device: 1.     It is not intended for use outside sunny parts of the tropics unless it is for summer or sunny weather use, since outside the tropics the seasonal availability of sunlight is generally too variable, being much lower in winter months. For example, because in UK the energy available from the midwinter winter sun is only 10% to 20% of the midsummer levels, this large difference makes it wholly unsuitable for year round use in UK. This device is intended for use in the tropics where there is plenty of direct sun all year round. What is direct sun? Direct sun shines out of a blue sky and casts a clear-edged shadow. 2.     Should face the sun at noon. This means the solar collector should face S in the N hemisphere and N in the S hemisphere. The collector is tilted at 18 degrees off the horizontal in order to optimise its performance near the tropics of cancer and Capricorn. Being positioned over 15 degrees tilt helps to allow rain to wash dust off the collector. Varying the tilt will have minimal effect on performance. 3.     Must be positioned in sunlight, at least for the sunniest six hours of the day, these being 0900H – 1500H solar time. Using solar time the sun is highest in the sky at noon, 1200H. This is because it is a solar device which inherently works best when the shadow that is perpendicular to the solar collector is largest. The panel must located in a sunny place at all times of day and all times of year. It does not operate in the shade or under cloudy conditions, so it is not suitable for locations where there is seasonal shade, such as from trees which are in leaf, or if it is usually cloudy for weeks at a time. 4.     Should be positioned on a level surface. There is axis-sensitivity. It does not matter much whether the panel is tilted 10 degrees back or forwards, ie steeper or shallower, but it its top frame edge does need to be as horizontal as possible. If there is more than 2 degrees off level, this can cause significant airlocks. These mean that flow could be reduced and it may be difficult to start the panel. This sensitivity is because the device contains sixteen horizontal pipe runs, all of which are over 2m long. Eight are in the panel and the other eight in the heat exchanger. Therefore across over a total of more than 32m of horizontal pipes, a even small deviation from horizontal adds up to a long potential air bubble which has to be pushed out. B – Inlet water quality constraints on use and deployment. This device: 1.     Is not a water desalinator: being a water pasteurizer, it delivers almost the same chemical output as you put in to it. Do not use it with, for example, osmotically undrinkable saline or brackish water. 2.     Does not remove particulates, so do not use it with unsedimented, muddy or silty water. However it is compatible with most appropriately chosen and simple physical pre-treatments. For example, screens, gravity settlement, sand filters or fabric bags, either used individually or in combination themselves may remove such particulates before the water enters the device. 3.     Is not intended for use with water containing non-living chemical, contaminants such as bluegreen algae toxins, arsenic or pesticides. All toxins will need removal before entering the device. 4.     Is not intended for use with hard water which is over 160 ppm CaCO3 equivalent and will need regular descaling where water is harder than 100 ppm CaCO3 equivalent. It is intended primarily for soft water use below 100 ppm CaCO3 equivalent. 5.     Delivers water which should be used promptly. Typical maximum interval between pasteurization and use is likely to be [2-10 days], depending on storage means and local risk assessment. 6.     In terms of water pressure, operates at a maximum head above the lowest point in the panel of 5 metres (0.5 bar). At ground level, this is the vertical height between the highest possible water level in the header tank and the lowest part of the solar collector.   C – Other constraints on use and deployment:   1.     All associated materials in the feed tanks and storage tanks, also in interconnecting piping should be suitable for drinking water use. 2.     A suitable hygiene or cleaning regime should be used for inlet (dirty) water header / container(s). 3.     A suitable hygiene or cleaning regime should be used for pasterurised outlet (clean) water containers. 4.     Do not mix stored pasteurized clean water from one day to the next. Always use a new clean, dry water container at the start of each day. 5.     Do not modify or tamper with the technology apart from cleaning the heat exchanger if necessary. 6.     Observe all required safety requirements when commissioning the technology and after a period of non-use. 7.     Out of use for a time. If technology is not to be used for more than 3 days, then shade the whole solar panel completely, for example by using the original cardboard cover or a sheet of plywood. Shading extends the life of the solar panel when it is hot and dry. 8.     Use in cold tropical altitudes. While normal installation applications are expected where air temperatures are over 25C, colder installation are also feasible, although performance will be significantly less. The solar thermal panel has been tested to -20C and is specifically designed freeze-tolerant by using flexible polymer pipes. This design feature allows it to cope with nights below 10C, which (for black-body radiation thermodynamics reasons) can cause the water to freeze inside the collector even when the air is warmer than 0C. The interconnecting pipes also have some also freeze-tolerant capability, but this is not certified. However, the copper heat exchanger is not able to tolerate freezing. Therefore if the device is to be used in cold areas, where air temperatures may fall below 0C, typically at night, such in mountainous areas, while the solar panel can be left outdoors, the heat exchanger must be protected from freezing by being located in a space, such as a home, where its temperature will be maintained at over 0C.
7.   User satisfaction and appropriateness Please provide a description of any evaluations that have been conducted to determine if users like the product, are able to be trained and appropriately use the product and if it meets their water treatment needs.   The pathogen-killing process of pasteurization is very similar to traditional water-boiling with fuels such as wood. This similarity makes the pasteurization concept well understood and accepted by rural and urban communities alike. It appears that our newer technology is at least as appropriate as an existing technology. We think this because our technology’s… 1.     peak output is around half, (250 litres per day peak vs 500 litres per day) making it more suited to domestic applications 2.     easier of portability (in two packs weighing a total of 50 kg, vs 160 kg) 3.     capability to be set up easily, flat-packed, stored and re-used 4.     safety and robustness, because no glass is used 5.     longer life expectancy (20 years minimum v 15 year minimum) 6.     lower capital cost ($1600-$1200, retail, depending on quantity, vs $3300, ie 3000 Euros) 7.     consequently has a somewhat lower lifetime cost per litre of water. …which all suggest that this newer technology may be more acceptable and be more appropriate for a wider range of applications.   Until a broad anti-pathogen / microbiological study of our technology has been carried out by WHO or similar agency, we do not propose to replicate their deployment work. However, after this is complete, we intend to do so systematically, across several applications, continents and cultures.   However we have done desk study and have had discussions with academics and researchers in development at Liverpool University. This work suggests that the technology may bring special benefits to women, health and the environment. Below illustrates some work we have done on these issues. Jamebi Solar Water Pasteurizer Diagram
Are there any special requirements in regards to disposal of the device/consumable after the lifetime of use? If so, please describe.   There are no special requirements because there are no parts of the product that are notably hazardous, from a chemical or health point of view. For example, it does not add chlorine to the water, also it contains is no asbestos in the insulation, nor any lead solder. There appear to be no statutory requirements for electronics recycling applicable in EU because it contains no electronics: The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive does not apply. Here follows a brief discussion of recyclability and sustainability.   A – Recycling.   1.     Packaging is typically made mainly of recyclable cardboard plus some plastics, these being mainly polyethylene wrapping and bags. The instructions and other documentation are on recyclable paper. 2.     The solar thermal panel’s frame absorber plates and legs are mainly made of aluminium, which is recyclable, however three different, generally unrecyclable polymers are used for its glazing, internal pipes and insulation, these polymers being polycarbonate, silicone rubber and polyurethane foam, respectively. 3.     The pipes and fittings in the heat exchanger unit are mainly copper and brass. Its casing is mainly aluminium. All these metals are fully recyclable. The control valve is mainly brass and stainless spring steel, which are both recyclable.   Excluding packaging, which is likely to vary depending on user requirements, fully recyclable metals comprise over 76% of the product, by weight. B – Sustainability.   In terms of doing a systematic sustainability analysis, we may be able to perform and supply an environmental life cycle analysis of this product, (or of any others, if requested) using SimaPro or similar software if given around 4-6 months notice, because this area of work forms part of our professional expertise.

 

 

E:        Product existing data and approvals

1.   Technical evaluation of technology Please provide existing data on the performance or safety of your technology. For products which utilize a chemical disinfectant (such as chlorine, iodine, etc.), provide available data on the release of chemical with temperature.   No chemicals or other inputs, apart from water and solar radiation, are used. The other issues are addressed in sections E2 and E3 below.

2.   Regulatory status of technology Please provide information about the regulatory approval of your technology in country of origin and/or country of distribution.)   At present, regulatory compliance is extensive, but only at a key component or key material level, not currently at a system level. This is detailed below: 1.     The solar thermal panel has over 15 years of proven use. from which it is made has Solar Keymark, which allows it to be used in EU. See enclosed Solar Keymark Certificate. Please note that, we have added a thermostatic safety valve inside the panel, and that neither this modification, nor the valve, are covered by Solar Keymark. 2.     The wetted silicone pipe material within the panel itself complies with (a) FDA (Food and Drug Administration, United States) Code of Federal Regulation, 177.2600 “Rubber Articles Intended for Repeated Use” and (b) The UK Water Regulations Advisory Scheme, WRAS, allowing its use in plumbing systems in UK. See enclosed United Silicones Data Sheet. This type of silicone rubber is commonly used in pipes for food use such as conveying milk in dairy parlours. 3.     The thermostatic safety valve is a version of an existing safety valve of an Automatic-Reseating Combination Type Temperature and Pressure Relief Valve, however, only the temperature relief function is used. Millions of this type are is use attached to the top of domestic hot water stores across the world. Ours has one bespoke variation being that it is set to open at a lower temperature, this being 75C, instead of 99C. The original product (ie with the 99C opening) is listed under the Compressed gas Association of the USA and Canada, also that it is ASME Rated, Meet FHA Specifications, Military Spec, MIL-V-13612C, Rated by AGA for Heaters Up to 100000 Btu/HR Input ANSI Z21.22 Standard and UL listed. Approvals for a product sold by the same factory are available here: http://www.watts.com/pages/_products_details.asp?pid=6961 4.     Other plumbing components in contact with water comprise (a) small amounts of polymers including PTFE pipe sealant tape and silicone rubber or nitrile O-rings which are all suitable for high temperature food grade use, the main plumbing fittings are (b) all made of standard plumbing materials, these being brass and copper, materials which are commonly accepted for drinking water and hot water use across the world. No single reference is appropriate here.

If attachment included, please specify file name:   ·      Solar Keymark Certificate – available on request ·      United Silicones Data Sheet – available on request

3.   Field effectiveness of technology Please provide information and references about any field and/or health impact studies your technology has undergone. This could include epidemiological trials, utility/safety studies, information about where and when, how many users were involved, etc. Field testing so far has addressed robustness, convenience and, in particular, thermal performance: we are awaiting tests on microbiological efficacy. Extensive thermal performance testing using full size models has taken place mainly in secure rooftop settings at Liverpool University’s Department of Engineering, as part of a 2 year Capstone Project for M.Eng Students, a project which was directed by Barry Johnston, using a prototype which has the same solar thermal panel, but a 10% larger heat exchanger than currently. During the Liverpool University Capstone Project, the heat exchanger was slightly longer than the solar panel’s longest dimension, but for reasons of space economy it was subsequently reduced in size by 10% in order to make the boxes the same length. Subsequent testing using a new full size device with a 10% smaller heat exchanger, one which does not protrude beyond the panel’s edges, has shown less than 5% reduction in water delivery performance because of nonlinearities in how heat exchangers operate and because the hottest water now flows on the inside rather than on the outside, thus reducing conductive losses to the environment.   Performance characterisation and theoretical safety assessment.   Based on trials of the final configuration, the following graph indicates typical performance of the final product.   Jamebi – Typical temperature v time graph at three different flow rates at 3 brightnesses   The above is a typical temperature v time graph for three different flow rates caused by three different irradiances, assuming that the temperature of the ambient air is 30C and that of the incoming water is at 25C.   What is happening? It can be noted from the graph that in higher light levels, the time spent at in the system temperatures over 70C is lower but that the peak temperature is higher, thus compensating for this lower dwell time in the system. It can also be noted that the lines have three gradients each. 1.     Up-Fast. The first positive gradient is the temperature rise through the heat exchanger, where the incoming dirty water becomes heated by the exiting clean water. 2.     Up-Slow. The second, again positive, but less steep, gradient is the temperature rise through the heat exchanger. Energy from the sun causes this rise. Time zero (0 on the horizontal axis) is the peak temperature. It occurs when water exits the valve, which is closed at 75C and opens approximately linearly with temperature above this temperature. 3.     Down-Fast. The third and final gradient is a steep rate of temperature fall through the heat exchanger. In terms of the temperature difference between incoming dirty water and the clean water leaving the system, the slower the water flows, in other words the duller the light, the more time it has to fall closer to its original incoming temperature. Illustrating this the graph above also shows that at the water leaves the system warmer by a temperature of:   ·      6C – at lower flows of: 10 l/h: at 600 W/sqm (at 0840H (if running by then) & 1520H) ·      10C – at medium flows: 20 l/h: at 750 W/sqm (at 0930H & 1430H) ·      16C – at higher flows of: 40 l/h: at 1000 W/sqm (this occurs at solar noon). Again while these figures are approximate, and generally conservative in what they show, they do indicate typical performance in full sun at different irradiances and times of day compared to solar noon. It is worth noting the close linkage and inter-conversion between: ·      Temperature difference ·      Flow rate ·      Sunlight level ·      Time of day All are assuming that there is full sun and that water is at 25C and air at 30C.   Is this technology safe? According to this typical performance data, the time/temperature exposure of pathogens (when exposed to heat over 75C) here is: ·      10 l/h: 13 minutes at a mean temperature of 77C ·      20 l/h: 7 minutes at a mean temperature of 78C ·      40 l/h: 4 minutes at a mean temperature of 80C Most of this time is spent in the solar panel, with, on each case, only one minute spent outside it, this time being spent in the heat exchanger.   We understand that these exposures are likely to exceed the 99.99% lethality requirements for most significant pathogens, according to widely available data on time/temperature exposure data such as in WHO Guidelines for drinking-water quality – 4th edition.   Please note that the above temperature/time figures only takes into account the average of exposure at temperatures which are over 75C. In fact some of the lower temperatures below 75C will also help to kill pathogens. Thus, the figures shown above are actually somewhat conservative because these lower temperatures are not taken into account here.   Of course, we are keen to have this assumption assessed empirically and independently. If these exposures do not meet these lethality requirements, then, of course, we will look at product redesign options. These options could range from simple approaches, such as raising the actuation temperature of the thermostatic safety valve, to more complex redesign approaches. However, we hope that this will not be necessary.

 

 

F:        Market
1.   Date of initial commercialization (dd/mm/yyyy)		01/07/2015
2.   Annual production (number of units)		Note to the above (formatting does not allow text): Regulatory approval of the solar thermal panel for use in the EU as a solar water heater to Solar Keymark has existed since 04/07/2008. Three pasteurizer units have been manufactured and used for testing in the UK. The system is commercially available from 01/07/2015. The key component is the solar thermal panel, on which the technology is based, has sold between 1000 and 1200 units per year, depending in the year over the last 15 years. Manufacture capability is up to 10,000 units per year from existing factory, if production increases to 24 hours, 7 days per week working. We are currently working 8h, 5d. See later for details.
3.   Countries in which the technology is currently sold. None at present, because we are awaiting microbiological validation. Other than the need for quantifying this vital safety issue, the product is market-ready. We aim to deploy the technology in: (a) tropical countries (b) with soft water supplies (c) which may contain pathogens (d) but does not contain toxins.		4.   Distributors: none at present. Route to market may very, depending on application and country. Here are our current thoughts. Your feedback would be welcome. – Temporary use by disaster relief / NGO / government client, bulk sales orders may be handled directly from UK. – Continuous use, also domestic sale options include (a) via local resellers or (b) direct sell via the web, which may be lower cost. Further details are in section G.
5.   Retail Price:	Please ask us.	6.   List Price (USD)	Please ask us.
7.   Shelf life of product	20 years minimum.	If stored boxed, unused, in the dark, kept dry, with humidity below 60% and cooler than 40C.

 

G:        Marketing strategy

Please provide information on your marketing strategy and foreseen challenges making your technology available and accessible to your intended user group, including scalability.

Marketing strategy: There are two, somewhat separate, intended markets, both tropical, depending on whether the application is for continuous use, or for temporary use. As mentioned in F4 above, these are: 1/ Temporary use by disaster relief / NGO / government client. Bulk sales will initially be handled directly from UK, unless rights are passed to another party. Here we are looking at a temporary water-treatment system market for emergency aid or disaster relief or refugee management camp NGO or similar or government clients, working in the tropics where the features, such as the following, are sought: ·      rapid-response: flat-pack, portable, easily set up, reusable, easily stored, long shelf-life ·      simple reliable technology – “fit and forget” in the short term ·      zero material input, apart from water Initially, for reasons of resource constraints, this market may comprise the main area marketing, not only because of the opportunities for feedback leading to further marketing opportunities, but also because we need bulk orders in order to help to drive down costs for the second part of the market where the lower unit sales, and therefore higher unit cost of sale are likely. Awareness and accessibility of the product to potential buyers may be achieved by a number of means, including: (a)   technical case studies and videos online (b)  installations in frequently visited locations and (c)   emergency deployment in high profile situations where a significant and quantifiable number of lives might be saved as a result.   2/ Continuous use and domestic sale options. Distributed via (a) via local resellers or (b) direct sell via the web. This relatively permanent and geographically static water-treatment system market will include homes, and possibly also schools, hospitals, small communities, water-selling entrepreneurs and governments in the tropics where features, such as the following, are sought: ·      high reliability ·      low maintenance ·      low user intervention ·      low lifetime water cost per litre ·      zero material input, apart from water Because of likely lower unit sales, plus the extra layering of distributor costs, this part of the business plan may have to wait until significant cost-reductions come in with volume, ie after several thousand units are made per year, an eventuality which may make a network of regional or local production hubs become economically viable. Awareness and accessibility of the product to potential buyers may be achieved by a number of means, including: (d)  branding, case studies and videos online (e)   installations in frequently visited locations, these leading to referral sales, and (f)   endorsement by government or community health organisations / NGO’s.   3/ Viral DIY deployment: a third long term goal which is currently on hold Long term, there may be a third non-profit route to wide uptake: with the market being local home made DIY. A viral, ie self-copying, deployment model has been developed for this. In summary, this technology is also intended, at some stage after what we hope will be successful microbiological testing, to be adapted and redesigned for home production in the tropics by micro-businesses or DIY users. In this radically different alternative deployment model, apart from a specialist valve costing about $5, which, perhaps, might be supplied free by donors, it could be manufactured, using low cost, easily obtained materials either as a free-standing unit, or integrated into a metal roof. The instructions for this version would be locally relevant, and as simple and text-free as possible. Mobile phones may be used to “viralise” the growth of this home-grown solar water pasteurizer. This separate project is mentioned again later in this document. There are some videos about this long term vision on youtube’s solaryes channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59pJveIJy64 Please note that while the heat exchange technology illustrated in the video has now been superseded, the deployment model remains as a major social goal of our business. The social aims of this form of deployment address many NGO organisations’ aims, such as those of Care International, for example, in terms of: a.     Improving health (by providing clean water while also reducing smoke emissions). b.     Empowering women (who may no longer need to boil water) c.     Strengthening capacity for self-help (via local manufacture) d.     Providing small scale economic opportunity (by individuals selling clean water) e.     Delivering wider economic benefits (by stopping fuel costs from leaving communities) f.      Ensuring environmental sustainability (by reducing firewood demand and deforestation) Please ask for more details, if you are interested.   Foreseen Challenges.   This section does not address route to market number 3, ie viral deployment, because this approach is not in development, at present.   1.     People wanting this solar device to work on cloudy days or in the dark. It will never do so, because the panel has to heat up to over 75C in order for its safety valve to open. In the warm tropics, this process requires at least 50% of peak sunlight. Potential users need to know that this is a solar device and that it only works when there is direct sun. It must not be mis-specified or mis-sold. For example, if a season when water contamination is the biggest problem is a when it the sky overcast for most of the time, then this technology is unlikely to help. Being a solar technology, it should be marketed and specified honestly, realistically and with caution, never by over-promising performance. 2.     Capital cost: upfront price objection, particularly from non-corporate buyers. Unfortunately the initial cost is relatively steep, but this should be set against the benefit of a very low lifetime cost per litre. The lifetime water cost is actually lower than the marginal cost of water UK supplied by water utilities, ie the watercost excluding distribution costs. For comparison, piped drinking quality water in UK costs around £1 to £2 per cubic metre (eg Anglian Water, South West Water, Wessex Water) ie approximately $1.50 to $3 per cubic metre. These UK water costs come on top of fixed annual connection charges, which are not factored in to the prices, which would otherwise be higher. Thus, provided that finance costs are reasonable, also that benchmarking against domestic UK water prices is a reasonable comparison, which arguably, however, may not be the case, then capitalising the device upfront via loans or microfinance may be viable as a business case. Now let us take the cost analysis to a local level, and for relatively poor households living on, say, $2 per day. Supplying them with 150 litres of water would cost them 15 US cents per day, which amounts to 7.5% of household income. If finance costs were to add 33% to the cost of the device, then their daily water supply costs would rise to 2 US cents, which is 10% of household income, which would may still be regarded as reasonable in some circumstances. Furthermore, it may also be possible to fully offset the cost of the device by selling surplus water, as discussed next. 3.     Too much water: over-performance for one household. There are two responses to this: income and confidence. Here is the income analysis. Based on conservative assumptions that the device costs $1600 (but falling to $1200 if bought retail in volume) and delivers an average of 150 litres of clean water per system per day, which is half of its peak performance, and if a typical household actually only needs 40 litres, then its oversupply of 110 litres amounts to almost three times what is actually used. So, what if most of this excess water were sold? If, every day, most (say, 100 litres) of this water were to be sold to others, at a price of 0.5 US cent per litre, then owning a device, even if bought using a loan which added 33% to the cost, it would pay for itself in eight years. It is pleasing to nbote that this is less than half of the expected 20 year life of the device, also that if the device were bought without using finance, then the breakeven would be reduced to six years, or even 4 years if all the water were to be sold and the purely as a business venture. A second argument to counter the oversupply objection is, simply, confidence: the comfort of knowing that you can get several days (250 litres) of water from fully one sunny day: that you will have plenty of clean water to spare, in most circumstances. 4.     Product credibility damage due to either (a) use in the wrong settings or (b) misuse in correct settings. The way to minimise this would be to deploy an initial handful in a supervised context across a variety of continents in optimal or near-optimal applications, and cultural settings, to be scrupulous about seeking and acting on critical feedback. Feedback from this primary rollout can could feed into all areas, such as manufacture, design, instructions, and rescoping its recommended usage application. Thus it is important to use this device in correct settings and not where water challenge (such as from hardness or sediment) or solar performance (such as from shading) issues are expected.   Regarding scaleabilty, the technology could be scaled down in size, but probably only in a way which impacts negatively, and steeply against cost-performance. It is easily and simply scaled up by unit replication. However, scaling up and scaling down the product in terms of unit size, such as making the solar panel larger or smaller, would require a formal re-engineering approach. Thank you for reading about the Jamebi Solar Water Pasteurizer. I hope it will go mainstream and that it will save many lives. Best regards from Barry Johnston.

UPDATE – Solar Water Pasteurizer – Now Commercially Available

The solar water pasteuriser is now available. Details to follow.

 

 

Solar Water Pasteuriser – Liverpool University Capstone Project

The Solar Water Pasteuriser has been accepted as a Capstone Project at Liverpool University’s Department of Engineering.

Capstone Projects are major academic research projects. They involve a team of Masters in Engineering students partnering with industry over two years, in order to design, prototype and test technologies which may have practical or commercial potential.

Barry Johnston commented: “The solar water pasteuriser is now an R&D project with four dedicated students working on it, over a period of two years. We are about to enter year two of this project and our team expect at least one working prototype later in 2014. I’m delighted to be part of this bold vision – one which may eventually save thousands of lives.”

Solar Water Pasteuriser: Proof of Concept Soon?

It may be a bit premature to claim a full success, because many questions remain unanswered, but here is one that can be answered.

Question. Can you make a working flow-through solar water pasteuriser, partly out of scrap and reclaimed materials in three hours?

Answer. Yes!

Solar Thermal Water Pasteurizer Pre Prototype during the manufacture process showing thermostatic valve and silicone pipe laid out as a counterflow heat exchanger.

This is what happened.

My friends, David, Eduard and I made one together on Friday afternoon of 24 May 2013. It was a bit of a lash-up, because we lacked tools and a budget. And we only made a very small one. It only had a 0.375 sqm solar collector plate, since this was the size we were stuck with: two domestic cooker side panels, reclaimed from the nearly scrap heap and zip tied together, while sandwiching the pipe and valve between them.

But it really worked when we tested it in my garden, where the midday air temperature measures between 15C and 20C. The valve, which opens at approx 80C, did indeed open to deliver water. Inside the air temperature in the solar collector, just above this valve, briefly exceeded 110C. Amazing – and all in chilly NW England!

The following day, and on several days since, it has delivered about a litre of water in an hour.

There is a lot to do now:

• try making several other versions,
• aim to get 100 litres from a 3 sqm system
• check how well it disinfects water against WHO guidance
• see whether single, double or triple glazing is best
• trail different types of insulation (foams, wool, fabrics, straw, etc)
• obtain dataloggers and sensors (temperatures, flow, irradiance, etc)
• and so on…

To do things properly, we now need to get substantial funding.

Here is an edited copy of a celebratory email which I sent on the first afternoon of successful testing:

Hi David and Eduard.

Solar Thermal Water Pasteurizer Pre-Prototype – Initial Test Sat 25 May 2013.

Thanks for such a productive day yesterday. We have made several compromises, but it does work! Here is a photo.

Solar Thermal Water Pasteurizer Pre Prototype. It delivers water which we expect is safe to drink.

At 1230, with my two sons’, help I taped the pasteuriser together and then leant it against the sunny corner of our garden at 1300. It gets a lot of shade, so at best it only catches a few hours of direct sun. I placed a digital thermometer sensor in the air space between the valve bulge and the glazing.

You can see the feed water container at the top and the clean pasteuriser water container lower down, on the ground. You can also see the 10mm twinwall polycarbonate glazing, some foam insulation and, inside it, the steel pipe-sandwich solar collector we had painted black using a spray can of barbecue paint.

Despite occasional clouds, the temperature rose to 70-80C all without any flow in or out. There it stopped rising. No water emerged. Whoops! This turned out to be because the twinwall polycarbonate glazing sheet changed shape in response to hotter on the lower surface than the upper, making it distort and and creating ventilation gaps at the edges, while tearing off the tape. So we tied it all tight shut this time, using 4 loops of string, plus sticks as wedges, to hold the edges down. This gimcrack modification process ended at 1330. (Solar noon in Chester is at 1310H in the summer.)

Then, in full sun, the temperature gradually rose to 100-110C, during which time the water level of the supply bottle fell three times over 10-30 sec as the water displaced the air inside the tubing, but at this stage no water emerged from the delivery pipe.

Finally, at 1400, intermittent trickles of water for 5-15 sec, started filling up the lower bottle with no-flow pauses of 1-3 minutes between them. We cheered!

This intermittency is good news, in that it shows that the thermal inertia of the thermostatic valve temperature sensor that we are using is low and that unsafe cool water overruns are not a problem. That is one safety concern on the way to being settled!

I did not have a thermometer measuring the exit water but I estimate it is at 60-70C. So at this scale of operation, ie at 0.375 sqm panel and a relatively low length of heat exchanger, the heat exchanger part of it is not very effective becaus ethe water leaving should be cooler: closer intemperature to the incoming water. Therefore this small scale pre-prototype is wasting heat energy and is performing much too slowly.

Making a 3 sqm collector would offer an 8x better heat exchanger is next when we can budget for it. That is one reason why it is important to scale up quite soon.

40 mins later the lower (pint volume) bottle was overflowing. This is a rather low flow, but it least it works. It would be useful  to scale this up from its current small size (0.375 sqm) to 2-3 sqm. As discussed, I would expect disproportionately more water, but cooler.

Also it would be vital to add sensors to test at what temp the current valve actually opens and shuts. And to insulate the valve better, since it feels warm to touch behind where the insulation was scooped out – in order to fit it in, because it was wider than the main silicone tube, and incompressible.

Every 30-60 minutes I repositioned the panel to be perpendicular, within about 15 deg, to the sun’s rays.

It is now 1510 and the second pint has just been delivered, in a total of 70 minutes, despite tree shade covering 1/4 of the panel. I will stop soon, since the shade is becoming limiting.

Are we getting closer to “proof of concept”? What are your thoughts?

Regards, Barry.

Solar Water Pasteurisation

Pasteurisation using Solar Water Heating is an overlooked way to save thousands of lives.

Here’s a Proposed Project Profile

Appropriate Solar Water Pasteuriser – Plus Viral Deployment

Problem
•    Drinking dirty water kills 2.2 million people annually, mainly in the tropics.

•    Water pathogen treatment systems can be expensive, or require unavailable
time and skills to set up and operate. Few are broad-spectrum.

Solution
•    Kill most pathogens using…

•    flow-through solar water pasteurization technology…

•    simple, reliable, local, affordable, zero operating cost.

•    Copy it virally, via internet and cellphones.

Impact (5y)
•    Protect 1 million •    Save 2,200 lives.

Appropriate Solar Water Pasteuriser – Plus Viral Deployment

Problem Identification: Context: WHO risk factors, standards and goals on safe drinking water.

WHO have identified 10 leading risk factors to world health…

Which are: underweight at birth and during childhood; unsafe sex; alcohol use; unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene; high blood pressure; tobacco use; suboptimal breastfeeding; high blood glucose; indoor smoke from solid fuels; and being overweight or obese.

This project addresses WHO’s “unsafe water” factor, by providing clean water, so, in close linkage with sanitation and hygiene, this is the challenge which will be mainly addressed. However, the project may also secondarily address the “indoor smoke from solid fuels” factor, by reducing the use of these being burnt indoors to boil water to make it safe, by, instead, using heat from solar energy.

WHO has robust drinking water standards. This project and its solar water pasteurization technology, including materials and delivered water quality will, of course, comply. The project aligns with Millennium Development Goals to provide water and sanitation to poor communities.

Clean water is globally recognized as being vital to human health.
World-wide, around 1.1 billion people lack access to clean drinking water. WHO reports that dirty water kills more people than war and violence…
•    War and violence together kill 1.6 million people per year.

•    Drinking dirty water kills 2.2 million, mainly from diarrhoea.

•    80% of those deaths are of children under the age of five.

•    Mortality from dirty water is approximately one per 500 exposed per year.

•    Drinking pathogen-contaminated surface-water is the main killer.

•    Diarrhoea is a symptom of infection caused by a host of pathogens.

•    Diarrhoea pathogens are mainly spread via contaminated water.
•    Diarrhoea occurs world-wide and causes 4% of all global deaths.

•    Diarrhoea causes 8% of all deaths in Southeast Asia and Africa

•    Most deaths from dirty water take place in the tropics.

But…
•    Small-scale or community-scale water pathogen treatment systems can require unavailable time / skills / components to set up and operate.
•    Also, not all systems are broad-spectrum in operation.

So..

•    Is there a global need for low cost, reliable pathogen-free, clean drinking water? Yes, a demonstrably huge need.

•    Where is this need the greatest? In the tropics.

•    Where does all solar technology perform most consistently? In the tropics, due
to relatively stable sunlight levels arriving there.

Is this an upstream or downstream solution?
This project operates fully upstream, as preventative, rather than curative health. Of course, it is vital to immunize as well as to treat, curatively, the many people who become ill via contaminated. But it is even more sustainable to decontaminate water, in conjunction with these and supporting sanitation / hygiene measures.

Technology and deployment in close combination.
This project is about developing and promoting a low cost, locally made and installed, and crucially, “virally deployed” solar thermal water pasteuriser. It delivers clean drinking water in tropical areas. But success is also about getting the technology accepted, fabricated and locally deployed – virally.

Deliberately holding back on naming deployment sites.

At this stage the three planned deployment sites in three continents have not been finally selected, because their selection decision must be optimal, in terms of delivering successful operation and high levels of viralisation. The project will these sites as objectively as possible.

“Prior art” offers huge potential for improvement.
Around 30 existing solar water pasteurisers, are already successfully deployed by the excellent SwissWaterKiosk NGO, in that the technology of flow-through solar water pasteurisation is already clearly proven to protect and improve human health.

However, By redesigning this imported technology into a new, appropriatised and virally deployed technology, its health benefits will be multiplied many times due to easy local copying.

In addition, this renewable energy technology, offers environmental benefits, while the local nature of its viral deployment route offers local education opportunities in addition to the economic development benefits, such as micromanufacture, which are identified later.

Here is a major global problem which is just waiting to be solved!
•    Today, flow-through solar water pasteurisation is a proven, yet virtually unrecognised, clean-water technology in the tropics.
•    However, it is currently being introduced as an imported and virtually uncopyable “black box”.
•    The huge opportunity is: to make it simpler, get it properly understood and then copied locally, again, again and again.

This solution is waiting to be implemented – in a novel viral way – one which will save many more lives.

Appropriate Solar Water Pasteuriser – Plus Viral Deployment Technology Innovation Solution, in summary.

Kill all pathogens at zero operating cost. Use a “flow-through” solar water pasteurisation technology: simple, reliable, local, affordable. Let people copy it virally, via internet and cellphones.

This project is a double innovation: a very special combination.

1.    Innovative appropriate solar technology, coupled with…

2.    Innovative viral homegrown manufacture and deployment

This combined innovation offers the potential to deliver massive health benefits, and several other benefits, including work opportunities, by using renewable energy.

Technically.

Glazed flow-through solar-thermal water pasteuriser, incorporating counter-flow heat-recovery heat-exchanger, which may or may not be internal to the solar collector, a simple bi-metal or wax-actuated thermostatic valve, & two large water tanks, one for dirty water, one for clean.

•    Solar: zero running cost.

•    Thermal: uses solar heat, not electricity or ultraviolet.

•    Pasteurises: kills pathogens, makes water reliably safe to drink.

•    Made locally: minimal skills & materials barriers.

•    Low cost: minimal cost barrier to deployment.
Background: what is pasteurization?

•    Kill almost all pathogens by heating them to over 75C for a time, for example.

•    72C at 15 seconds can be used for milk.

•    Pasteurisation reduces disease from infection and extends milk storage life.

•    Louis Pasteur invented pasteurisation.

•    His thermal disinfection processes can be used for water.

Kills almost all pathogens.

Unlike some approaches, this innovation reliably heats bio-contaminated water to over 75C and holds it there for a required time. Using a thermally actuated flow- controller (rather like a radiator valve), it inactivates pathogens, which include:

•    Viruses (eg Rotavirus, Norovirus, Hepatitis A)

•    Bacteria (eg Colifiorms, Vibrio cholerae, Shigella, Salmonella)

•    Protozoa or their cysts (eg Cryptosporidium, Giardia, Entamoeba)

•    Helminths (parasitic worms and flukes).

The pasteurization time/temperature lethality factor varies from pathogen to pathogen, and has been extensively studied for waterborne pathogens.

Distinctiveness. Many approaches to making clean water. Each has pros and cons.

Do alternative “drinking water quality” aid or development projects exist?

Yes, many. Some are non-solar, eg.

•    Sand filters need high levels of skill in the maintenance team to maintain performance, and may also need continuous pumping.
•    Household ceramic filters are only a small batch approach, need regular maintenance, and can be poor against viruses.
•    Ultraviolet lamps use electrical power, require maintenance and bulbs can fail, they can be poor against helminths and protozoa.
•    Chlorine treatment has a recurrent cost, may have taste and supply challenges and can also be poor against helminths and protozoa.
They all have constraints. Non-solar approaches will not be discussed further.
Means of making safe water using solar include:
Solar PV electricity for chlorine manufacture.
•    As above, chlorine may have taste and supply challenges and can also be poor against helminths and protozoa.

Solar UV batch approach.
•    Swiss “SODIS”. Multiple transparent polymer bottles placed in the sun. Simple and safe, but low-volume and labour intensive. May be poor against helminths and protozoa.
Solar thermal batch approach.
•    Versions of solar cookers with reflectors. Uses heat only. Effective but batch approach.
Flow-through solar water pasteurisation technologies
•    SwissWaterKiosk offers a flow-through solar thermal water disinfection technology, but it relies on costly and high-tech exports.
•    A similar, proprietory, US-made technology was identified in the past by NREL but largely failed to deploy, for cost reasons.

Brief critique of current flow-through solar water pasteuriser approaches.
Individual installations of these technologies are indeed effective, but why have flow- through solar water pasteurizers which are made outside the host country failed to be copied and deployed locally in large numbers? The answer lies in its cost, context and copying constraints.

Delivered cost per litre of safe water may be too high.

•    Cost of making it abroad and transporting it to the recipient.

•    Complex logistics of transporting a large, heavy, fragile (glass) technology.

•    Importing from Switzerland: import = delays, hassle, corruption.

Social context may need further optimization.

•    There seem to be no host state incentive via new local jobs in manufacture.

•    A top-down donation, rather than facilitation approach is taking place.

Communication and copying constraints of the SwissWaterKiosk model.

•    Design is secret, not a free-for-all. Needs website, blogs, videos, manuals.

•    Manufacture is secret. Again a need for website, blogs, videos and manuals.

•    How well explained to others is its installation? Again a communication need.

•    Deployment channels (churches & hospitals) may not attract the most copiers.

Today, around 30 excellent units of relatively expensive high-tech imported solar thermal water pasteurisers have been successfully installed in Asia and Africa by SwissWaterKiosk. But it’s an imported, one-off “magic black box”, delivered and installed by a First World NGO. Such top down non-viral deployment models inevitably constrain uptake (a) to low levels, and (b) to externally deemed “suitable” institutions. This top-down model fundamentally lacks momentum. The technology is not copied or adapted in the host community. The “spark” dies.

So while this technology is already in the field and has demonstrated measurable benefits over five years, there is simply no capability to go viral with a costly imported product.
Viral deployment of this refined and appropriatised existing technology promises a substantial contribution that surpasses today’s solutions.

Introduction to the viralisation innovation.

 

 

While the concept of a new appropriate-technology version of a solar water pasteuriser is itself highly innovative, its “viral deployment” is also a vital and complementary innovation.

A massive scale of success can only come from facilitating and encouraging accurate local copying, ie: viral deployment, of a simpler design of solar water pasteuriser.
The goal of viral deployment is ultimately to supervise the local manufacture of no more than a few tens of installations, and this to trigger a well-publicised self- sustaining chain-reaction of self-manufacture and self-installations in homes and communities.

This crucial viralisation concept will be expanded and modelled numerically under “scaling and replication”.

This double innovation is summarised as:

appropriate technology PLUS appropriate viralisation…
•    Appropriate Technology. Kill virtually all pathogens at zero operating cost. Use appropriatised “flow-through” solar water pasteurisation technology. Make this simple, reliable, local, affordable.
•    Appropriate Viralisation. Let people copy it virally, via the internet, using cellphones as a portal.

Thus save many more lives than today’s imported high tech technology can do, especially when it not deployed virally at all.

Appropriate Solar Water Pasteuriser – Plus Viral Deployment

Impact: Intended positive impacts.

Protect one million people and save 2,200 lives after five years.

A serious global health problem of pathogen-contaminated drinking making people ill or even die can be addressed by using solar water pasteurising technology.
These numbers are calculated under replication and scaling, but if 1 million people can be protected, the project would be a huge success, and market penetration of cellphones in the tropics has been faster. But if viralisation does not happen, then growth will be slow, with an inital hundred or so people protected, it may only extend to a few thousand. If viralisation happens, and the rate of this depends on the technology being highly desired, very simple & locally replicable, then suitable global press & PR coverage could radically shorten even this timescale.

Saving lives and reducing illness is the main impact. Further health benefits may accrue from a reduction of scalds and asthma due to less smoke from indoor fuel use, if less is used to boil water to make it clean. Besides human health, the technology will bring further benefits in two other vital areas: environmental and socio- economic. Thus many wider outcomes are also expected, including: improved air quality, preservation of local scrub or forest biomass, strengthened community confidence, local recycling and micro-enterprise, wealth and community resilience.

Sustainability.
Not only does this project use renewable energy (the sun) to pasteurize water, using a low cost and locally-appropriatised sustainable energy technology, but also, where it stops people from burning fuels, there will be fuel-specific sustainability benefits. Burning less fossil fuel, such as kerosene, reduces carbon dioxide emissions, thus cutting global warming. Where firewood use is reduced, sustainability benefits may include not only reduced smoke emissions, but also reduced deforestation. The project will, in conjunction with wider sanitation and hygiene measures, reduce local environmental pathogen density.

Recycling.
Manufacturing will use mainly locally made, low tech products. Re-used corrugated iron roofing panels may comprise the back plate of a solar collector, even if they contain small holes. Silicone water hoses may be available for re-use from local dairies: this bacterially-resistant food-grade hose is used for piping milk.

Autonomy.
This project will be highly scaleable by replication, due to viral deployment, so significant autonomy from third party input, apart from some technical performance and developing a monitored, diverse marketing input, is a key ambition of the projects, as is independence from western benefactors. Excellent costs-benefits are also expected.

Improved technology & deployment.

Solar water pasteurization technology will be substantially improved because it will now be appropriate, not imported high-tech. It will retain full safety performance & reliability features of the few existing imported products now being successfully deployed as one-off donations. The new appropriate technology will cost little to make, use local labour &, crucially, be easily copied, reducing dependency on external input. Thanks to its simplicity, cheapness, success & popularity, it will self- replicate locally & appropriately.

Stakeholders & advocates.
Self-supporting community momentum from a wide range of stakeholders with different, positive motivations is expected. While it will particularly empower mothers, many others also benefit. Here’s who & why.

Primary beneficiaries.
Everyone without access to provision of clean water will benefit from reliable access to good quality drinking water, in particular, children, older or immunosuppressed (eg HIV-infected) people. Women & carers (of fewer sick people), will gain time for more productive activities, eg social, educational or economic.

Other beneficiaries.
Where water was boiled to kill pathogens, the scalding of women who boil it, & of their children, will decline, since less will be boiled. This is a health benefit, in addition to clean water. Where fossil fuels were used to boil water, communities will gain economically: less wealth will leave to buy them. Where firewood was used to boil water, its collectors, eg women & children, will gain time for more productive activities. Less smoke will help asthmatics, another significant health benefit.

Long term local community-level engagement is absolutely vital to success.

To deliver the project’s full health potential, the pasteuriser must be used in a closed sanitation loop: covering germ theory & practical hygiene in contexts such as latrines & food preparation. Open access teaching & consultations on design, construction, use & maintenance (which is low) will take place. Key project members have teaching experience. The processes of consultation, & of people actually making them will deliver community benefits, including autonomy. Viralisation, by showing others how to manufacture, will deliver local empowerment, build reciprocal bonds of obligation, & stimulate the informal economy.

Saving lives is the top goal.

•    Clearly, other groups of people will benefit, in various ways.

•    But will mothers be the project’s leading advocates, since 80% of the lives
saved will be the lives of children under five?
Unintended consequences or constraints.
There appear to be no unintended consequences, on the horizon, but, however, it is important to list all potential limitations of solar water pasteurization of surface water and to deploy it in situations where these do not become real limitations.
•    Safe performance of the technology depends on a low cost thermostatic valve which must not leak when it is has to be shut. While these valves are common and reliable, nevertheless, daily visual checking for drips will be required.
•    Solar technology depends on sunlight. So deploying it in the tropics, which experiences the planet’s lowest seasonal variations. Storing adequate “dull days” volumes of pasteurised water is essential, although dull days tend to be in the rainy season, when clean, safe rainwater is available, anyway.
•    Very hard water can block hot water pipes, so it is wise to deploy in soft water areas, but most surface water is soft, anyway.
•    Pasteurisation kills most pathogens, but it does not remove particulates, mud, taste or smell. It does not remove toxic chemicals, such as arsenic or lead (typically from underground water, however) or pesticides or blue-green bacteria algal bloom toxins (from surface water). So, while extra pre- treatment may be needed, initial site selection will be carefully done to minimise this need.
Besides these technical issues, the wider social and sanitation context must also be fully engaged, as discussed earlier.

Appropriate Solar Water Pasteuriser – Plus Viral Deployment

Scaling and Replication Potential
Massive potential of this application as a local day-to-day water pasteuriser.
The potential for this technology to be used to serve a large number of people is massive. Here’s why…

Viral deployment is the multiplier.

While one important innovation is appropriatisation of the pasteuriser, the vital innovation is its intended viral deployment, ie local copying.
Assuming the pasteuriser works well, & it almost certainly will, its usefulness & appropriateness will mean a good chance that viral deployment will take off, saving many lives.

Non-viral deployment does not self replicate sustainably:
•    where each installation is successful but they are not copied. •    where there are 10 successful installations but only 9 are copied.
However, viral deployment self replicates sustainably:
•    where, for example, 10 installations succeed and generate 11 or more successful copies.
•    in viral circumstances, the seeded projects succeeds to grows without much further input: huge numbers of lives may be saved.

Viralisation depends on:
•    How many years of viral deployment that you look at •    How many installations are initially deployed: “seeded” •    How many months that number takes to be doubled •    Ultimately, viralisation gets capped by the size of total “eligible” population.
Shortening this doubling time is vital (as shown the calculations later)!
•    Mathematically, viralisation is an exponential growth equation. Mathematically, one can simulate the number of:
•    Installations (omitted from the next slide, for simplicity)

•    People protected, and

•    Lives    saved    since    the    project’ s    start.

Key assumptions can then be added to a simulation or extrapolation.

So what viralisation extrapolations are possible?

Here are three key simulations on how fast viralisation could happen. The (conservative) starting assumptions are: 10 people are protected per installation, three installations are deployed, and 0.2% of people die from contaminated water per year, then, after 5 years…
•    if doubling time is 6 months, 30,000 people are protected and 80 lives saved •    if doubling time is 4 months, 1 million people are protected and 2,200 lives
saved •    if doubling time is 3 months, 30 million people are protected and 67,000 lives
saved The 4 month doubling time is taken as this project’s target. A copy of the full viralisation simulation calculations are available on request.

It remains to be seen for certain whether viralisation will happen, and if so, at what rate. However, this project’s objective is to deliver a 4 month doubling time, thus protecting a million people and saving 2,200 lives. Cellphones as gateways to the internet, will be the dominant instrument in communicating, and thus, delivering, the required viralisation.

A powerful mix of viral replication delivery factors are to be used and the vital role of cellphone technology in communicating photos, queries, local design tweaks, advice and videos about this health innovation cannot be overemphasized.

Besides inclusive and multi-sector engagement in the community, populations which are identified earlier, in conjunction with their respective motivations for the project’s success, participatory design and manufacture, in addition, the marketing approaches will include instructional youtube videos, web pages and paper instructions, in both local languages and internationalized-language free formats, all of which will be primarily designed for small screen and cellphone viewing.

A possible second (currently non-exploited) application.
There is also a second life-saving context in which this technology could be put to use, that of disaster relief, and a brief discussion of this now follows.
Within the aim to save thousands of lives using an overlooked, but simple solar technology to make pathogen-free drinking water, there are in fact two distinct market segments, with radically different technological and deployment approaches for each. However, in both cases, use would be mainly in the tropics.

The two potential applications now follow:
1/ Day-to-day use in many communities (including riverside and lakeside) where water purification is not rigorously done or where fuel such as firewood (which depletes local wood resources) is currently being used to boil water in order to clean it.
•    Locally-appropriate technology would be used here. This day-to-day use is the focus of this project. However there is another application…
2/ Emergency relief and standby uses, for example where communities become unexpectedly flooded, or river delta communities are prone to regular flooding, such as in Bangladesh, or in tropical refugee camps where existing clean water supplies may become contaminated with pathogens.
•    A very different, ruggedised, third party-made “stack them in a jeep, float them in by boat, drop them in from an helicopter” technology could probably be developed for this specialist application.
Application 1, ie day-to-day use, locally made and of a simple design, is where this project will take its focus, unless, and only if market research suggests future demand, a separate, backer can be found for developing, in parallel, the more proprietary-type emergency option 2.
Summary.
Viral deployment of a new refined and appropriatised existing technology promises a substantial contribution that surpasses today’s solar water pasteurization solutions.
As an appropriatised day-to-day technology, the target is to protect one million people and save 2,200 lives after five years, with the project becoming largely a self- sustaining website plus marketing operation after two years.
A parallel product development path of developing a ruggedised technology, for emergency relief agency deployment is also possible but this is currently outside the scope of this project, because it is preferable to have one clear focus.

Intellectual Property and Openness.
It is vital to share & give away all intellectual property, including design & replication. Intellectual property is virtually absent, and deliberately intended to be so. This is not an “owned” or private or proprietorial project. It is potentially about liberating the provision of safe, clean water from the many constraints which currently reduce people’s opportunities and quality of life and which even cost lives.

24 Month Timeline.
Months 1-3: Consolidate plans with funders. Initial prototyping. Research local contexts. It is unwise to name a target site at application stage in case it were to turn out suboptimal. Identify ideal deployment site’s selection parameters. Then choose one. Via NGO, personal & academic contacts, we have several sites provisionally identified (see above).
4-6: Prototype validation, optimisation and testing. Arrange logistics of first deployment, to include possible ideas for viralisation, also culture, & language study, if necessary.
7-9: Demonstration deployment 1. At least 1 installation is to be delivered for in 1 community. Onsite workshop approach. Sourcing, manufacture, commissioning, safety, technical replicability & local viralisation all to be covered.
10-12: Evaluate deployment 1. Cease of project & refund of residual budget if the project is certainly not viable in tems of viral deployment potential. Otherwise, technical reiteration of prototypes (if necessary) deployment, & arranging the logistics of the next 2.
13-18: Demonstration deployments 2 and 3, so that a total of three continents and a wide range of cultures and viralisation methods are covered.
19-24: Project evaluation, dissemination, further viralisation and concept marketing.

Seeding-site selection criteria.
This practical project addresses a clearly identified, life-saving need for clean water. While we already have 3 candidate sites, more are sought. Then they will be reduced in number to 3 prioritized sites in 3 continents. Selection criteria will include: in the tropics, so sunlight levels do not vary much, illness in communities from drinking bio-contaminated surface water from waterways, ponds or shallow wells for at least 3 months / year, the water being not too turbid, but chemically soft water containing no toxic chemicals such as arsenic, communities with potential to close the wider sanitation loop, opportunities for viralisation, such as a health education programme, also where a language is shared with those who visit to deploy & viralise the technology.

Should state funded renewable energy installations have payback statements?

Surely everyone buying renewable energy kit such as a solar installation or a heat oump deserves to know how fast it pays back in terms of money, energy and carbon invested over its life. Life cycle analysis can do this very easily but the government will not press ahead…