Machine turns sweat into drinking water for Unicef

A machine that takes sweat-laden clothes and turns the moisture into drinking water is in use in Sweden.

UNICEF and Gothia Cup have together developed the world's first sweat machine: A machine that extracts sweat from clothes, purifies it and transforms it into water. The goal is to raise awareness about the lack of clean water in the world, with the main purpose of raising money for water purification tablets for children. Participants and visitors of Gothia Cup are challenged to contribute with their sweaty clothes – and dare to drink a glass of sweat.

UNICEF and Gothia Cup are collaborating under the signature “United for children”, with focus on clean drinking water.

The device spins and heats the material to remove the sweat, and then passes the vapour through a special membrane designed to only let water molecules get through.

Since its Monday launch, its creators say more than 1,000 people have "drunk other's sweat" in Gothenburg.

They add the liquid is cleaner than local tap water.

The device was built for the United Nation's child-focused charity Unicef to promote a campaign highlighting the fact that 780 million people in the world lack access to clean water.

Moist cyclists

The machine was designed and built by engineer Andreas Hammar, known locally for his appearances on TV tech show Mekatronik.

He said the critical part of the sweat machine was a new water purification component developed by a company named HVR in collaboration with Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology.

"It uses a technique called membrane distillation," he told the BBC.

"We use a substance that's a bit like Gortex that only lets steam through but keeps bacteria, salts, clothing fibres and other substances out.

"They have something similar on the [International] Space Station to treat astronaut's urine - but our machine was cheaper to build.


From BBC