Desolenator

Desolenator is the world’s first solar thermal desalination solution that works at scale - we harness the power of the sun to sustainably turn seawater into drinking water or ultrapure water. Our patented technology harvests 4x more energy from the sun than traditional PV panels. We use zero harmful chemicals, zero membranes, and zero energy intermittency. Optimized for Zero Liquid Discharge, this circular technology enables the production of quality water and salt and is designed to operate with zero harm to the planet. This is a step-change to traditional desalination, which uses a lot of fossil fuels and toxic chemicals which damage our oceans.

Our technology is delivered through a scalable "Water as a Service" model, where customers can choose their water according to their specific needs: Ultra pure water (<1ppm) for speciality processes such as the production of green hydrogen, pure potable water; or custom remineralised. All delivered through a simple monthly water bill. In 2022, Desolenator launched its flagship project in partnership with the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA). Desolenator is primed to scale our modular units each creating 250,000 litres per day at a levelized cost of water of less than 1 USD/1000L.

Netherlands

About Us
William Janssen: CEO + Founder Mechanical engineer and inventor of original Desolenator prototype Today supervising technical development across Desolenator Over 25 years of experience in business development and project management with extensive international experience. Expertise in areas ranging from sales and marketing, through project management into business development and product development and fabrication. Alexei Levene: Co-Founder + Commercial Director Responsible for Business Development, Investment and Partnerships at Desolenator Background in consumer products, business consulting, and sustainable technologies. Contributed to Fortune 500 corporations, innovative start-ups and social enterprises.

Problem we are solving
Desolenator is a novel solution for turning the most complex water sources (seawater, heavy-metal contaminated), into potable, using 100%-solar power.

Our systems overcome significant challenges that the desalination industry faces, from the high total cost of ownership (energy and operating costs), to supply chain logistics, to toxic brine. Instead, we harvest both thermal and electrical energy from PVT array (enabling ~60% energy efficiency compared to traditional ~15% efficient panels) and combine this with a Multi-Effect Distillation (MED) technology to provide the highest purity water.

Our units produce 250m3/water per day at a levelized cost of water of $1/m3.

Sustainable Impact on Blue Ecconomy
According to the UN by the year 2030, almost 4 billion people will be living in a situation of daily water stress, without reliable access to drinking water. Water scarcity already affects an estimated 11% of the European population and 17% of EU territories, and since 1980, droughts across Europe have cost an estimated €100 billion.

We will need to desalinate seawater into clean water to meet growing demand, however, desalination in its current form:
- Has high CAPEX and OPEX
- Uses large quantities of fossil fuels so is highly polluting (76 million tonnes of CO2 emitted annually)
- Uses pre/post-treatment chemicals leading to toxic brine disposal into oceans (142 million m3 released per day)
- Creates water in centralised locations which then results in a long transportation chain, and increased risks of contamination such as in ageing pipe infrastructure

Other methods used to supply remote, island and off-grid populations include by water tanker delivery or small desalination plants, but these are also polluting of marine environments and release CO2 emissions into the local environment. They incur lifelong high operating costs and are heavily reliant on supply chains. E.g. desalination on the Greek island of Mykonos has cost the government €70 million over the past decade.

In addition, around 240 billion plastic bottles of water are purchased worldwide each year, but less than 90% are recycled, with the rest burnt or dumped in oceans and landfill. In context, approximately 563 plastic bottles are dumped into the Mediterranean Sea every second.

In contrast, Desolenator creates distributed, local access to the highest purity water in an affordable and sustainable way. We disrupt the water supply chain as it exists and remove several bottlenecks:
1. 100% solar driven so no need to buy fossil fuels or grid energy
2. Increased solar energy efficiency (resulting in smaller footprint) for water treatment processes
3. Low maintenance system (eliminating filters, membranes etc) and breaking supply chain dependencies for consumable deliveries
4. Lowest levelized cost of water ($1/m3)
5. 24/7 continuous operation
6. Distributed production of water close to end user (reducing transportation complications)
7. Water production at scale (250m3/day)
8. Input water agnostic (e.g. fluctuating salinity, increased heavy metal concentrations)

Financial Needs-