It’s fair to say that there was a degree of scepticism among the FoodBev team when offered a cup of water ‘generated from air’, with comments such as, “I don’t want to drink water made from your sweat” being bandied about, for instance. After all, this is new technology and will need to build up a degree of trust and confidence with consumers.
Atmospheric water generators extract water from the humidity in the air, filter it, purify it and then store it for drinking. There’s no bottle and no plumbing to the mains. They’ve been around for several years and are particularly popular in areas of high humidity and low water resources.
The Atmos H28, which was recently on trial in the FoodBev offices courtesy of water products supply company Water Matters, can produce up to 30 litres a day of fresh drinking water. Water can be dispensed chilled or hot to suit requirements. It requires no bottle or plumbing – just plug it in and it starts to make fresh drinking water.
The cooler also cleans the air you breathe while dehumidifying the area it’s located in, thereby creating a more pleasant living or working environment. The water is free from chemicals and additives and the system has its own internal storage tank, so there’s no need for plastic bottles.
Its maximum production capacity is 30 litres in 24 hours and the water has a temperature range from 14-40 degrees centigrade. The machine, once working to full capacity, was indeed capable of producing a nice, chilled cup of water as well as water hot enough to make tea and coffee. In a taste test, it compared favourably with bottled and mains-fed, filtered water.
Whether this technology is best suited to the relatively low-humidity climate we have here in the UK is another question. Yet, with no real water use and low power consumption, it’s certainly a green alternative for the 21st century.
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