Dubai has a decent track record for making the implausable, possible. So why not attempt the most challenging of tasks – creating something out of thin air.
That is the plan of US-firm Zero Mass Water, who are working on the novel idea of creating bottled water from the moisture in the air.
A first of its kind, this air-to-water process is being implemented by the company in Dubai where it has set up its office. The technology is at an incipient stage and far more costly than conventional methods of producing the same output of water.
Cost issues aside, it could well be a trailblazing venture for producing drinking water in parched desert nations, creating a model for the future based on a renewable source and in a sustainable way.
Emirati firm IBV – owned by Butti Bin Maktoum Bin Juma Al Maktoum, a member of Dubai’s royal family – has already to pledged to buy the water from Zero Mass Water and package it in glass bottles.
“The bottling plant is run on solar, the bottles we use are recyclable and the caps are sustainable,” Samiullah Khan, general manager at IBV, told Bloomberg. He added that the bottle caps will be made from bamboo.
Zero Mass Water’s plant is currently under construction in the village of Lehbab, about 50 km south of Dubai.
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