ECOLTEC

NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2012

Solar Energy in the Atacama Desert A German entrepreneur is planning on tapping into the Atacama Desert in northern Chile to "harvest" solar energy. Continued on page 2 Bacteria are wonderful! What do you think of bacteria? They make us sick and complicate our lives? Wrong! Find out more on page 3

Is salt water drinkable? Converting salt water into drinking water is expensive and complicated. But now scientists have found an alternative. More information can be found on page 4

ECOLTEC
NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2012
Solar Energy in the Atacama Desert
$40,000 start-up capital and with an additional attractive loan from the InterAmerican Development Bank. These are first approaches to a green economy in an emerging market, as they were discussed by the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Brazil in June 2012: invest in eco-friendly technologies. However, subsidies are going to be cut for example for the widely spread charcoal consumption in Chile. With the price reduction for solar panels they could soon be interesting for developing countries. Currently, 1.3 billion people worldwide do not have electricity. Approximately 2.7 billion depend on firewood, charcoal or plant debris for daily cooking and heating. Hans Hall already has more deals with agricultural enterprises in Chile and Peru in view. Even more attractive is the construction of small plants when the Chilean Parliament adopts the proposed law for energy supply. The right-wing President Sebastin Piera set the goal to fivefold the share of new renewable energy in the electricity supply to 20 percent by 2012.

South American farmers could soon crop electricity instead of grapes. "Chile has the potential of being a green superpower," says energy expert Patrick McCully. "Northern Chile has the world's largest potential of solar energy, but despite of decreasing prices, there are still hardly solar systems." But change is coming. The Chilean government is relying on the solar boom. Hans Hall is one of the pioneers. "The direct sunlight is twice as high as in Germany in the Atacama Desert, says the entrepreneur. "With its renewable energy potential Chile could supply entire South America." But solar power is still in its infancy in Chile. In Copiap Valley, a vast oasis where residents rely heavily on the cultivation of high-quality table grapes for export, Hall and his company "Kraftwerk" installed a photovoltaic system, which will go on line in June. It is a pilot project for the Atacama region and indeed for entire Chile. The project is financed by the governments contribution of

ECOLTEC
NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2012
Bacteria are wonderful!
Only a few of the tiny unicellular organisms make us sick. Currently scientists discover new sides of bacteria: protozoa have skills that could turn them into important human helpers. For example, certain bacteria eat vegetable and animal fats in sewage pipes - no more plugging. Others redigest food scraps to plastic, clean with oil and fuel polluted soil or eliminate radioactive uranium from drinking water. The microbes can gain electricity from sugar, can be used as fuel or used as a smallest electric conductors. Bacteria also help protect the environment: In factory smokestacks they empty the carbon dioxide from the flue gas, thereby eliminating the dangerous greenhouse gas. The scientist William Hadley uses especially the hunger of bacteria: To the employees of his company Environmental Biotech" in Florida belong fat-eating bacteria - whose name is a trade secret. Hadley selected them from over 250 tribes whose predilection is known for heavy stuff. Then he coached the tiny little things to eat very large meals. If they can ingest 75 times more food than conventional bacteria, they are ready for the mission: Hadley regularly pumps them in his customers drains to prevent clogging. The unicellular are feasting delighted through the fat with the result that the flow keeps going. Environmental biotechnology is booming: Its customers include McDonald's and thousands of other restaurants. Around the world hundreds of universities and companies are researching for new uses of bacteria. But most of the tiny creatures are already living among us as long as anyone can remember completely unnoticed. "The little creatures are everywhere," says microbiologist Kristien Mortelmans, "we should not rate them as culprit, because only few make us sick."

Here you can see the fat eating bacteria with the eradication system by Environmental Biotech

ECOLTEC
NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2012
Is salt water drinkable?
First of all the salt will be removed with an electro dialysis specialized on high salt loads. Followed by a continuous electric deionization - short CEDI - which removes smaller amounts of salt. As a result the two methods are each operating at optimum conditions. In 2008 Siemens received four million Singapore Dollars to build the construction at pilot plant in Singapore. In December 2010 Siemens is now able to build a larger pilot plant. "This new method is a revolution for the desalination of sea water," says the development manager at Water Technologies, Dr. Ruediger Knauf. By mid-2012 demonstration plants are planned for several customers in Singapore, the U.S. and the Caribbean. It will be shown that the new, fuel-efficient desalination method, despite the variety of the salinity level across regions, not only works in Singapore, but everywhere. Knauf says: "In 15 years, we expect a worldwide increase of 40 percent in water consumption so that a sustainable water supply is very important. In areas with a shortage of drinking water, the electrochemical desalination due to its high energy efficiency and low CO2 emissions will make an important contribution. "

How does technological advance? Sometimes, like this: An authority sets inventors a hardly solvable problem and lures them with a reward. That is how Singapore does it! Singapore is a wealthy but small country. The area is not sufficient for the water supply of five million. To get rid of the salt in the sea water is an obvious alternative. But the conventional constructions consume enormous quantities of fossil energy because they heat up and evaporate the salt water. Per cubic meter of water they need about 10 kilowatt hours (kWh). The aim of "The Singapore Challenge" was a desalination technology that requires only 1.5 kWh. This is already quite close to the possible theoretical minimum value: In the end the Siemens concept settled the race. It does not quite fulfill the desired value, but it comes very close with 1.7 kWh per cubic meter of desalinated water. The highlight of seawater desalination la Siemens is the combination of two methods:

ECOLTEC
NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2012
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