The water crisis
As the world’s population will increase to almost 10 billion by 2050, farm production will have to practically double to meet food demand. The scarcity of resources including water is real and it will impact the future of food. For years, the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report has reported that the global water crisis is one of the greatest threats humanity will face over the next few decades. Climate change and global warming are changing the state of freshwater lakes, rivers and streams. “Groundwater is under threat from fracking, oil fields and oil transport”, reports Greenpeace. According to scientific reports, environment desalination also leaves potentially toxic brine as a residue. Not only is accessible water scarce, but humanity will eventually need “new water” too. In order to feed the world post-2050, innovative solutions must be found which provide interesting investment opportunities.
PHANTOR’s extraordinary mission is to transform air into drinking water with its special atmospheric water generators connected to renewable energy resources. As the world’s population continues to increase massively and water consumption increases even faster, the demand for mobile water generators is growing.
How it all started
A few years ago, founder Walter Kreisel and his wife wanted to help children in Africa and opened an orphanage in Kenya. They realised how difficult it is to access clean water. Walter decided to get in touch with Manfred Ledermüller, who put in place the technology behind this honourable mission. “In response to the increasing demand for new ways to produce drinking water and based on the latest scientific findings, we developed an atmospheric water generator that surpasses everything that has been done in the past,” explains Manfred.
The technology : plug and play
Walter was inspired to create the Atmospheric Water Generator (AWG) that would rely solely on renewable energy sources and with a very high capacity. PHANTOR is designed as a mobile high-performance AWG for both stationary and semi-stationary use. In addition, PHANTOR can generate energy for the basic supply from renewable sources through a photovoltaic system on the roof.
“I have always worked with energy technology and water generating solutions, but not in that way. This project is very innovative”, explains Manfred. “When Walter came up with this idea, I seized the opportunity. I didn’t know in which direction this would go, it was very ambitious but a great project to follow,” pursues Manfred. With a minimum air input, the ambitious team uses a very special patented technology, routing the cooling circuit which transforms humid air into water.
In November 2019, PHANTOR left the production line for the first time and was transported by truck to an accredited test centre near Vienna. Test results confirmed the functionality, performance and efficiency of PHANTOR. “The harvested water must pass through a number of filters, including activated carbon filters, UV disinfection, mineralisation and bacterial filters. The drinking water produced by PHANTOR complies not only with the WHO guidelines but also with the even higher Austrian standards,” explains Walter.
PHANTOR, the mobile water giant, can produce up to 10,000 litres of pure drinking water per day. Millions of people could possibly have access to clean water very soon. By condensing water from ambient air, PHANTOR provides drinking water and contributes to people’s self-sufficiency. It provides water to remote locations, infrastructure and organic agriculture, without producing waste and with a minimal carbon footprint. What makes PHANTOR an attractive choice as a drinking water generator is probably related to their great recipe: “best efficiency, highest output, very easy and little maintenance”.
The biggest challenges
“The water market is a very complex one: with water you have a lot of power. So, it can get easily political,”explains Walter. “That is why we try to focus on opinion leaders and not decision makers. Opinion leaders are the ones who really act to change and come up with new important values which will influence decision makers eventually. If you do it right, you could potentially solve the water problem and you could solve the problem of a whole country which will be able to generate income and investment too,” explains Walter.
More than innovation, Walter Kreisel redefines the concept of water and its position in our society. “Water is a human right; without water we have nothing! The right approach to clean water is to save water and we should try not to waste it. We should also try to create water if we can and apply some of our circular economy best practices. If we have enough water, we will not need to dig a hole to find some. Our ultimate goal is to give the opportunity to everyone to have access to clean and drinkable water in developing countries too,” concludes Walter Kreisel.