During my travels throughout the Middle East and North Africa, I dreamed of having a magical bottle that could purify water without the need for any gross tasting tablets, and here it is: Puri.
Submitted to the 2013 IDEA Design Awards, this water bottle designed by designed by Younsun Kim, Kangkyung Lee, Byungsoo Kim and Minji Kim can literally separate salt from sea water in order to produce safe drinking water – even when stranded in the middle of the ocean.
While most desalination technology is complicated or takes up more space than a small water bottle can hold, the design team behind Puri devised a new system that is so system we wonder why nobody came up with it before. But isn’t that the case with all great inventions?
So how does it work?
It couldn’t be simpler, really. The water bottle, which is the same size as a standard water bottle purchased at just about any market now, is equipped with a pumping mechanism.
If enough pressure is applied, the mechanism separates the salt from the water, and pumps the fresh water into a separate chamber. It is immediately drinkable, which means it isn’t necessary to wait for any purification tablets to do their magic (and they don’t work with salt water anyway).
Just scoop in some salt water, pump, and drink. It’s just that easy.
Still in its conceptual phase, the Puri water bottle is not available for purchase. But it could be, and it should be, because it could literally save lives.
:: Yanko Design
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
I am calling BULLSHIT on this. The informaton is from Aug of 2013. An internet search shows nothing since then. . Commercial hand powered desalinating units are available and have been for years. But this article is parroted in several places and it always relates the same infromation from 2013.
If somoene cannot get a product to market in 3 years, something is wrong. ITS BULLSHIT.
Oh please, it’s not going to made because the amount of pressure needed to do reverse osmosis is far to great. For example, pumping a bike is about 60 psi, and reverse osmosis would take about 10 to 20 times that!5
Is this just forcing the water through reverse-osmosis membranes, or ceramic filters? Products using technology like that already exist for purifying water. What is the actual mechanism involved? And what is “enough pressure”?
I’m having a hard time believing this amazing invention. Please send me one to test for a few years. Perhaps after using it for 3 years or longer I’ll let you know that yes, I believe and yes I’m keeping it.
Could this technology be applied in desalination plants?