© Kumulus Water
Kumulus Water, A young Franco-Tunisian company, has developed a technology capable of producing drinking water from the air. An innovation that is all the more relevant as shortages multiply due to global warming.
A system that can produce up to 50 liters of water per day
Kumulus Water was founded in 2020 by Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid, two engineers from the École Polytechnique. The idea behind this project came to them during a trip to the Sahara. They noticed that in the morning, water droplets appeared on their tent as a result of the dew phenomenon, even in such a dry region. Because air is a huge source of water on Earth. It contains six times more water than all the rivers in the world.
After several years of research and development, the partners are marketing their first machine in 2023 for 4,500 euros. The latter captures the humidity present in the ambient air and then cools it, which causes the formation of water droplets. They are collected in a tank, filtered and mineralized, in order to ensure that they are fit for consumption. Before being distributed, the water passes through a UV filter to eliminate bacteria. Kumulus Water claims to have carried out more than 4,000 laboratory tests to certify the quality of its drinking water.
This is a system ten times less polluting than mineral water bottles, analyses conducted in partnership with Ademe and Bpifrance have shown. Over a year, the machine can avoid the emission of 2 tons of CO2 and the production of 600 kilos of plastic, reports Les Échos.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000” Depending on weather conditions, our atmospheric water generator can produce between 1 and 2 liters of water per hour, or up to 50 liters of water per day. It can even be more in ideal conditions ”, indicates Iheb Triki to the French media. Small downside, the device, which requires electricity, is very energy-intensive: between 0.7 and 0.8 kWh per liter of water produced. Its filters must, in addition, be changed every six months.
A particularly efficient machine in the Mediterranean basin
The Mediterranean climate being favored for the proper functioning of the machine, Kumulus Water has already sold more than 60 in France, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia and Morocco. For the moment, the start-up is targeting hotels, factories and offices but it hopes, in the long term, to be able to put its technology at the service of humanitarian aid. The device makes it possible, for example, to provide water to five schools in Tunisia.
The young company has just completed a fundraising round, the amount of which has not yet been revealed. A round of funding that should allow it to develop a new machine.
In an uncertain climate context, more and more start-ups are designing technologies to transform air into water. This is also the case of the Indian firm Uravu Labs, which, for its part, was inspired by the planet Tatooine in Star Wars to develop its system.
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