Pee Filter Runs on Poo: Dean Kamen Offers Solution to Water Needs
by Jaymi Heimbuch, Central Coast, California on 10. 8.08
Photo via Red Ferret
How I didn’t hear about this sooner, I’ll never know. Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, went into water filtration awhile back.
Apparently this year he has unveiled the Slingshot, a filtration system for turning any water-containing liquid, including pee, into drinkable water. Not only that, but it can be run on cow poo.
Sound too good to be true? Maybe it is, or maybe Kamen doesn’t want it to take a giant belly flop like the Segway.
Read on for some interesting details about this product, and watch a video of Kamen on the Colbert Report.
The machine works by using vapor compression distillation. Any liquid, from sea water to mud puddles, can be run through the machine and come out as distilled, drinkable water. No filter is required, and since it runs on cow dung, it can be used in many rural areas and developing countries. Plus, it generates electricity as a byproduct.
Some cool key points:
It is designed to supply a village with 1,000 liters/day of clean water. (Colbert Report)You can use any water source -- ocean, puddle, chemical waste site, hexavalent chrome, arsenic, poison, 50 gallon drum of urine. (Colbert Report)
The Slingshot (as its called) can use half the waste heat (450 watts) from a sterling engine electrical generator (prototype also being designed by Kamen's company) to boil its water. (TED)
The prototype slingshot was hand-built for $100K. The goal is to get production units down to $1,000 to $2,000. (CNN)
The sterling engine, used as an electrical generator, can produce about 200 watts of power (it will never be more then 20 percent efficient) and 800 watts of waste heat (the waste heat that slingshot uses). TED
The sterling engine can run on anything that burns, propane or even cow dung. (CNN)
Kamen has been talking about this for several years now, and it is starting to bubble up to the surface of the main stream. An interview on the Colbert Report helps, of course.
Eventually, we’ll all be able to get one for somewhere between $1,000 and $2,000...for those of us feeling Water World-y. But for now, Kamen is working with village leaders to get thousands of these on the ground and working, I suppose to prove that it isn’t, in fact, too good to be true.
Via Wired
More on Pee-ish Water Filtration:
P is for Phosphorus (As Well As Human Urine)
Drinkpee: Waste = Food DIY Kit and Exhibition on Now in NYC
Recycling Water for Drinking
Feedback Exhibit Merges Ecological Tech and Art
So people should buy his product for big bucks when they could just as easily get a still for making bootleg booze and do the same thing?
Although he didn't say it, P.T Barnum said it best. But the real question is: Who is the bigger fool, the fool or the fool that follows him/her?
Yee gods, do a smidgen of research before shooting off your mouth, will ya? The Segway was in no was a "belly flop". It was targeted at corporate and government customers, and has been a resounding success. The fact that other people in the media somehow thought this was supposed to be a huge consumer hit is irrelevant to the REALITY of the business model Kamen had for it.
And, to even mildly cast dispersions his way in your smug little post is the height of arrogance and stupidity, seeing as how nothing he has invented has been anything less than what he said it would be.
Grow up.
I have read and heard about this for many year, And Its time. From a fellow inventor to another Great Job.
First steps toward stillsuits! Will it fly? In "developed" countries, probably only if you aren't told where the water comes from. If it can be made cheaply enough though this would be extremely helpful in water deprived areas. Like California. Or Burning Man. ;)
I'm only half kidding, if anyone were to use them in the US those are two prime places they might fly.
And yeah, Kamen is on the right side of the line between genius and insanity for now. His mechanical arm is nothing short of spectacle.
Assuming we survive Peak Oil, assuming we survive Global Warming, we'll have to survive the growing scarcity of fresh water.
It's idiotic to cast aspersions, therefore, Frankie boy, on people like this guy, who appears to be on to something huge. Your children will very likely be extraordinarily grateful that Kamen existed and invented and created.
Question. What have you done, Frankie boy, for this planet? Seems like you do nothing but run your mouth, which probably has you parched.
Want a glass of water?
And the amazing thing is that it is constructed entirely out of fingernail clippings, hair, dead skin, earwax and snot, making full use of human waste.
I first saw this in March on the Colbert Report. Great Idea...
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/164485/march-20-2008/dean-kamen
The name of the engine is Stirling, after Reverend Dr Robert Stirling who made the first practical hot air engine in 1818.
"What have you done, Frankie boy, for this planet?"
Why is this relevant? You have to do something for the planet to be able to post critical comments here? Do people who do more for the planet write better, more worthy comments? Is smoking bad for your health only if a non-smoker tells you?
Karsten
I've been wondering about this for a while: what happens to the waste that is filtered out? I'm a painter and would love to someday have something that will filter all of the terps and chemical/mineral solids out of the water I use to wash my brushes. Ultimately don't you still have to dispose of the waste?
Karsten,
Frank's post was scurrilous at best. How could you be so dim as to not see that? Get a clue before allowing your fingers to run away with themselves.
Kamen seems really remarkable. He is a renegade and inventing things that will better our lives and the planet. I am a fan and have nothing but appreciation for the work he does and his ideas.
Will it run on human waste as well? The average person is responsible for 100-200kg of poop per year. I wonder if a village's excrement contains enough energy that it could be treated and burned to provide the necessary 450 watts of heat to turn pee into drinkable water.
Michael, thanks for the comments. "Stirling" ... yeah. I knew there was something wrong about "Sterling Engine", but I couldn't put my finger on it.
As for the notes on materials used in construction, you make it sound just like Paris Hilton, now that I think about it. Only this time with some utility.
@ Jaymi (author)
Who in the world said that the Segway did a belly flop? I have one of the commuter models, and it rocks!!
and furthermore, please tell us how you came to the conclusion that this new machine that Kamen has built is too good to be true? Do you think vapor compression distillation is too good to be true? Or is it the fact that the machine uses dung?
This machine is an excellent device especially to be used in countries where agriculture is the main source of income like India (my home country). We've been using dung as fuel in rural areas for eons. I don't know exactly how Kamen harnesses the power from it to boil water and start the VCD process, but it's like this tech was custom made for us!!
another cool invention! here's to hoping for more cool and helpful tech!
This guy is surely a God of Lateral Thinking"!
So does it just boil the water? Is it a secret technology