Infinite Cooling captures vapor from cooling towers to reduce water usage.

Benefits

  • Reduced energy use
  • Reduced water use

Applications

  • Power plants
  • Manufacturing plants

UN Sustainable Development Goals Addressed

  • Goal 6: Clean Water & Sanitation

  • Goal 12: Responsible Production & Consumption

The Challenge

40% of all water used in the US is in manufacturing sites and power plants, primarily for cooling in manufacturing and energy generation. Much of this water leaves the facilities via high density water vapor from industrial cooling towers. This comes at significant cost to industrial plants, which pay nearly $30B per annum for cooling water. This water is released as vapor from cooling towers, generating plumes that lead to regulatory and safety hazards.

Innovation Details

Infinite Cooling has developed an add-on process to capture cooling tower plumes, enhancing fog harvesting strategies deployed by animals such as the Namib desert beetle. By partially closing the water cycle loop at industrial facilities, Infinite Cooling helps customers save millions of dollars and hundreds of millions of gallons of water annually.

 

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Watch how Infinite Cooling applied lessons from the Namib Desert beetle to capture and recycle water vapor from cooling towers.

Biological Model

Darkling beetles can sip water from the air by using their own body surfaces to condense it. Micro-sized grooves and bumps on a beetle’s forewings accumulate water droplets like morning dew then direct the water towards its awaiting mouth. Hydrophilic (water-attracting) areas on these bumps and hydrophobic (water-repelling) areas work together to increase water-harvesting efficiency. For some species of Darkling beetles, merely raising their rear ends into a foggy wind is enough to get the water flowing.

Ray of Hope Prize

The Ray of Hope Prize® celebrates nature-inspired solutions addressing the world’s biggest environmental and sustainability challenges. Created in honor of Ray C. Anderson, founder of Interface, Inc. and a business and sustainability leader, the $100,000 Ray of Hope Prize helps startups cross a critical threshold in becoming viable businesses by amplifying their stories and providing them with equity-free funding. The prize shines a light on the innovative, nature-inspired solutions that we need to build a sustainable and resilient world. Infinite Cooling was selected as a finalist for the 2021 Ray of Hope Prize.