Plasma Water Sanitation System

PAPER :Plasma Water Sanitation System - PWSS

Introduction

"A group of Chilean scientists created an innovative and efficient domiciliary purification water system at low cost. The Advanced Innovation Center in Viña del Mar and Un Techo para Chile's innovations Center present a water purificator at low cost." These are some of the headlines in different newspaper in Latin America during 2011 announcing this new innovation that could solve, in some way and at low cost the water purification problems in homes.

¨Un Techo para mi País¨ is a NGOs that has as main objective to improve the quality of life of families that live in a poverty situation by constructing emergency housing and execution of social empowerment plans. The job is done by the staff of the institution, young volunters, and the communities themselves. The funding is obttained through alliances with companies, international foundations, sometimes government subsidies, people and also with special campaigns and events.

This innovation was news not only in Latin America but also in American and European media. The reason: one of the main problems that affect the world's population is the inadequate access to clean drinking water.

Human beings get several nutrients which it transports for the water , but represents almost 50 to 70% of an adult's weight and it has to be renovated constantly, through ingestion of food and by drinking. Our body looses water through skin, urine or sweat in order to expulse toxins.

Although water is fundamental for life and hygiene, because of the conditions in which it is consumed or used it causes several people and specially children to get intestinal diseases and diarrea caused by parasites and bacteria that circulate in water. A exemple in South Africa 2.6% of the death are attributed to unhealthy water.

Nowadays almost 1.2 billion people in the world do not have access to clean water. 2.6 billions have access but without (or little) conditions for an adequate health.

In the region, at least 50 million people, 9% of Latin American population, doesn't have access to an improved source of water, while 125 million people (23%) do not have access to an adequate basic disinfection.

Many resources have been invested in order to identify new methods to purify water at low costs and low energy consumption. Energy is also high relative cost and electric networks do not cover important inhabited sectors.

In the past years there have been important advances in the seek of a solution for water sanitization but most of those advances have been orientated to food industry that demands important volumes to irrigate. Most of the known methods are chemical that require lots of energy to function and have been orientated to systems that require big capital investment, important infrastructure and that is why the investigation of products orientated to the domestic consumption in rural zones has not been developed.

In rural areas they use handmade sand or carbon filters that require permanent maintenance and do not solve the whole problem. Other boils water with the costs and complications that this implies.

Water usually has other nutrients and minerals that in important amounts can have potential harming effects for health in the future. Heavy minerals are found in aluminum, arsenic, lead, nitrates and others.

The product

Authors say that the new water purificator generates a change in the world paradigm. This proyect, patented in the USA in February 2011, was created by Advanced Innovation Center in Viña del Mar and Un Techo para Chile's innovations Center

Picture 1, plasma water purificator

As the creators explain, the new system has a process and a device "that allows to eliminate every microorganism harmful for human health that circulate in the water, in a simple and low cost way".

The product uses technology based in production of plasma that eliminates germs and bacteria from water and generates a continuous flow of clean water suitable for consumption.

When they registered the patent of their invention they say: "Consists in a mechanism of generation of plasma in a mixture of liquid and gas and a device for it. "

More specifically, "the invention provides a method and a device to generate plasma and the application of plasma particles to liquid spots suspended in a gas environment with the objective of promoting a variety of chemical and physical interactions."

Plasma is a state of matter, where particles can be of free flow in an ionic way under high energy conditions. Plasma's state can be artificially modified by virtue of the discharge of a big amount of electrical energy, confined in a small space.

The newness and the invention that this innovators achieved is that they where abele to generate plasma inside a liquid, and this allows, through certain methods, the decomposition of the toxic substance.

The invention includes a method and a device for the generation of plasma and allows the application of liquid plasma particles to a liquid. Afterwards, the mixture results in a liquid fase, in a short period of time.

This water sanitizer works by subjecting water to high pressure being atomizised afterwards.

The device includes an ultrasonic wave device and an electromagnetic wave generator that irradiates continuously electromagnetic waves in the liquid in the inside, with the objective of generating plasma particles. Therefore the liquid pass different states: liquid to gas and then liquid.

This instrument acts like a microwave oven. A plasma microwave oven that allows to detoxify of dioxins and other microorganisms present in water.

The electric field, that transforms liquids in plasma, is produced by using the electric domiciliary network. This state allows the 100% elimination of the bacteria and then transforms it again into purified and healthy water.

The energy consumption rate is considerably less in comparison with the state of the technique to turn on and maintain the plasma with the objective of applying plasma particles to a liquid.

Among the advantages obtained with this new mechanism the authors remark: