Thought this might prove helpful:
Business Week, April 22, 2002 i3779 p95
IN A PLASTIC BAG, CLEAN WATER FOR THE WORLD'S POOR. (Solar Solutions
LLC creates a plastic pouch that pasteurizes water)(Brief Article)
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Every day, 10,000 children die from cholera and other waterborne
diseases, according to the U.N. Frank Husson, founder of Solar
Solutions LLC, thinks he can cut this toll with a low-tech, low-cost
plastic pouch that uses the sun's heat to pasteurize water and rid it
of harmful bacteria, viruses, and parasites.
In the past, relief organizations have built solar-thermal systems out
of metal and glass to purify water. But no one has created a
solar-powered pasteurizer cheap enough to deploy widely in very poor
areas. With that in mind, Husson's San Diego startup designed AquaPak
out of black polyethylene, which is widely used in food packaging, and
bubble wrap. Husson says the bags could be made in most Third World
countries for as little as $1 each. That's roughly 10% of the cost of
the next-best type of solar purifier, says Jay Burch, a solar
specialist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
NREL is testing the sack's plastic materials, which are key to its
``goof-proof'' design, as Husson puts it. When the 15-inch-a-side pack
is filled with water and placed on the ground, sunshine warms the
water while air-filled bubbles keep the accumulating heat from
escaping. In tests, it took 90 minutes to heat the 1.2-gallon AquaPak
to 158F. At that temperature, practically all pathogens are cooked
after just six minutes.
Husson, who is funding the venture himself, now aims to share the
AquaPak design with Third World entrepreneurs, the U.N., and other
relief agencies |