Q & A
The concept will be protected with pattern and design protection so no information in detail.
The product will be constructed partial by components or products (filters and membranes) that all ready exists on the market today for shorter or longer terms. The innovative natural cleaning and infiltration processes, is partial new.
The concept is looking to copy the natures own mechanism and process to clean water (so called biomimetic solution) and by doing so constructed in a micro format solution.
Today we can clean up gray water in larger processes with outdoor ponds and streams, so the technique is here. The system can also add one or several membranes and filters.
The scalable concept will clean and recycle water for shower, hand-sink and kitchen-sink usage, over and over again.
The water system (in regions with dried out water taps) will be refilled once a month with 80–100 liters of water per person otherwise on daily basis or refilled once a week with 20-30 liters of water.
The concept will have multiple sediment trap barriers in the water cleaning & recycling system that will take away the particles and sediments in the waste water.
What is the prel. size of the system?
Preliminary size: 2.200 x 2.200 x 500-600 mm. System volume: from 800–900 liters. The solution is both for indoor and for outdoor deployments in warmer climate.
How will the water cleaning & recycling system work?
First step is to reduce the main part of particles and organic materials in the waste water, mainly from the kitchen. The user rinses the plates, cups and glasses etc. before washing-up and collects the waste water to be used for irrigating.
I have been doing this by myself for more than a year despite I don’t have any water scarcity problems. But I need to be comfortable with the solution I'm promoting to others.
Here is a calculated loss of 1-1.5 liters of water per day and person. With water for do the dishes the total loss is expected to be around 2.5-3 liters per person on daily basis. Around 85-90% of the slushy water and biomass can be filtered at this point. It takes a few minutes to conduct. I'm using the rinse off waste water to irrigate flowers, green plants and vegetables in my home. As little water as possible will be lost.
A new slushy-sink will be installed on the kitchen-sink/bench (or just using a loose inner pod/basin instead that is receivable) where most of all leftovers from food, olive oil and fat together with liquids such as milk, coffee, tea, chocolate, juice, lemonade, alcohol, wine etc. will be put into and filtered by a living material filter.
Slushy water will go to a tank for irrigating flowers, crops, vegetables etc. A loose grid holder in the slushy-sink will collect the slushy biomass materials from food leftovers and so on before washing up. Slushy biomass will be thrown in a topsoil toilette or on the compost as I do. I have four compost boxes indoor and four boxes outside due the summer period.
Second step is that waste water from kitchen-sink, hand-sink in bathroom and toilette and waste water from shower or bathtub, ends up first in an internal three chamber tank (situated under for example the shower cabin or bathtub) before it will be pumped up into the water cleaning & recycling system. A three chamber tank will also separate fat from gray water.
Third step is that the waste water will go through a living material filter in the beginning of the water cleaning & recycling system. Most of the fat will be decomposed in the living material filter.
Fourth step is a combination of known solutions, together with new concepts to reduce and trap sediments and particles.
With the fifth step water will pass through a micro-stream and shore & beach zone. Water from the shore & beach zone ends up in a buffer water tank before it will be pumped up to the vertical growing wall.
Sixth step is the growing wall that will use material that filtrate particles down to one micron and the material also establishes a biofilm with healthy bacteria. The growing wall will use green water cleaning plants together with vegetables that can be harvested. The growing wall will have a constant flow through system.
This is the only place where an electric water circulation pump will be used in the low budget solution. The electric pump will use around 7-9 W per hour. Electric power will be produced from a single solar cell panel.
Households with adequate supply of electric power (24/7) can add more electric pumps.
In the end on the seventh step is a new gravel and sand infiltration concept with a length of around 17 meters will also trap particles and sediment and it will hold a long term of capacity before replacing any material.
All together, and with the water cleaning plants the water will hold a very high quality.
The scalable system can also for high income users in the end add a micro spiral filter, NanoCeram filter and if needed a UV-filter or likewise solutions to reduce and sterilize bacteria and parasites. These filters are allready on the market today. There are today very few water cleaning systems that can remove uranium from water, and one of the cleaning systems suppliers want to collaborate with this concept.
Filters, membranes, pump, LED growing lights (especially made for plants and vegetables) will be easy to maintain or replace. Sensor technology that would signal time to change filters has been viewed.
Tests will also be conducted regarding a Swedish innovative substance that defunct bacteria, parasites and amoeba if that show a positive outcome. This substance is 100% bio-degradable, and its European CE tagged and also approved by the Swedish Medical Product Agency. If the substance that defunct bacteria, parasites and amoeba can be used, it needs to be put into the system once a month with around 30 gram/month. Putting the substance into the system, the household can conduct by them self. The substance that is killing bacteria, parasites and amoeba is “hydrogen peroxide” that our body produces itself, and the decay product is oxygen.
Note: Families with small children using washable diapers or resembly cloth-like materials, a wash-sink in a wash-room can be connected to the toilette drain piping system, to avoid the of Coliforma bacteria spreading into the system. Or waste water from washing diapers can not be put into the system.
The cleaned up water within the system will be monitored and measured by sensors.
Sensors will trace and measure the amount of following substances and also check the water pH balance:
¤ Turbidity and COD: Particles and organic matter in the water.
¤ pH balance.
¤ Bacteria (Campylobacter) from contaminated food or potable water supply system. UV lightning inactivates
the bacteria. Nominal growth under 25°C.
¤ Bacteria (Coliforma) from contaminated potable water supply system will be killed in the warm water
heating system + 70°C. Nominal growth under 20°C.
¤ Bacteria (Legionella) will be killed by the warm water heating system + 67°C. Spreading is normally by
aerosols taking a shower. Nominal growth under 20°C.
¤ Bacteria (Salmonella enterica) will be killed by warm water heating or solar heating +60 °C for minimum 12
min.
¤ Parasites (Cryptosporidium) UV-lightning or ozone treatment inactivates the bacteria.
¤ Parasites (Guardia) from contaminated potable water supply system.
¤ Parasites (Protozoa and helminth species) Protozoa are not found in groundwater unless there it is being
influenced by surface water sources.
¤ Virus (Norovirus) Norovirus is rapidly inactivated by sufficient heating.
¤ Conductivity is the amount of salts in the groundwater.
¤ Nitrate/nitrite often from contaminated groundwater resource.
¤ Nitrogen.
¤ Phosphorus.
¤ Urine (leakage during bath or shower): Urine consists of 95% water, and if a leakage will occur, there will be
a very high dilution in the water cleaning & recycling system.
x Urea 9.3 gram/liter urine (used commonly as fertilizer and will be absorbed by the vertical growing wall
green plants and vegetables).
x Chloride 1.87 gram/liter urine.
x Sodium 1.17 gram/liter urine.
x Potassium 0.75 gram/liter urine.
Urine occur natural in the Swedish bedrock trickles into the Swedish groundwater system.
¤ Surfactants – No waste water from washing machine into the system, no surfactants.
Antibiotic resistant bacteria (found in water supply of the city of Delhi (India) in September and October 2010 by Cardiff scientists were the first to identify the NDM-1 gene which makes bacteria resistant to a large range of antibiotics). Multi resistant bacteria (E-coli and Enterococcus) have also been found in lakes and streams in southern Sweden in may 2012.
