I was sitting in a movie theater in Las Vegas waiting for X-Men Days of Future Past to start when I saw an interesting video about a product called the Slingshot, invented by Paul Lazarus.
Coca-Cola: “Developed by DEKA R&D, the Slingshot technology is a vapor compression distillation system capable of purifying any type of dirty water –river water, ocean water and even raw sewage – into clean, drinking water. The unit will also purify water with microorganisms and parasites. The technology operates in a similar way to that which nature cleans water – the system boils and evaporates any dirty water source and then allows the pure water to condense and be collected, flushing out contaminants. Slingshot delivers approximately 800 liters of clean water daily at the hourly electricity cost of less than a standard handheld hair dryer (1kWh).”
This device not only has the potential to produce clean drinking water for millions, but could be used to provide clean water for healthcare purposes as well. I can think of a few use cases for countries that don’t have our acute care pharmacy infrastructure.