MEDIA CONTACT: Cheryl Halle
561-297-1399, challe@fau.edu or
Kristine M. McGrath
561-297-1168, kmcgrath@fau.edu
BOCA RATON, FL (November 14, 2006) – An engineering team at Florida Atlantic University has developed a new, low cost, desalination method to produce clean water using a process that is estimated to be 10 times more efficient than existing technologies.
Brandon Moore and Eiki Martinson, graduate students at FAU, have been working, in conjunction with their advisor, Dr. Daniel Raviv, electrical engineering professor, to create a process that depends on recycling waste energy to distill water at a near vacuum and at room temperature. The project was initiated and sponsored by inventor Michael R. Levine, who currently holds 76 patents.
Distilling water is a process used to obtain clean water, but it has always been associated with high energy costs. The new process uses low quality heat, such as the heat that factories and power plants consider waste. Levine came up with the first version of the distillation process on paper, and the FAU team took it to another level, adding onto the idea and creating a working apparatus.
The impact of such an invention is apparent, especially when a location such as South Florida has placed a moratorium on new construction because of water supply limitations. The FAU team and Levine are working with power and water agencies to scale up the project to 1 million gallons of fresh water per day.
The students entered their project in the 2006 Collegiate Inventors Competition®, a program of the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation, and were among the top seven finalists in the United States/Canada competition. This prestigious challenge recognizes and rewards the innovations, discoveries, and research by college and university students and their advisors for projects leading to inventions that can be patented.
“I made a promise to myself that before I die, I want to do something that helps other people. Here I am at 30, and I’m already doing that!” said Moore.
“I've been able to build this incredibly eccentric machine, spill gallons of water everywhere, and generally act like the mad scientist I always wanted to be as a kid,” said Martinson. “Best of all, we solved one of the big problems of today, with an invention that can save millions of lives around the world.”
-FAU-
Florida Atlantic University's College of Engineering and Computer Science is committed to providing accessible and responsive programs of education and research recognized nationally for their high quality. Course offerings arepresented on-campus, off-campus, and through distance learning in civil engineering, computer engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and ocean engineering. For more information about the college, please visit www.eng.fau.edu.
