Mozambican researcher develops water treatment system in Brazil

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Mozambican researcher develops water treatment system in Brazil

9:02 CAT | 10 Aug 2021

Photo: O País

Mozambican researcher Beni Chaúque has developed a water treatment system using only sunlight in Brazil. The system can process a litre of water every 90 seconds, making it fast, cheap and effective. The conventional system takes six hours for the same process.

Although water is essential for man and for the planet in general, a third of the world’s population does not have access to safe drinking water. This is a factor in the death, from intestinal diseases related to the consumption of poor quality water, of millions of people around the world.

Beni Cháuque decided to develop a system for disinfecting water using sunlight. The idea arose when the researcher was still in Mozambique, in 2017, but that version of the device did not have the desired success. The following year, the researcher got a scholarship to Brazil, and it was there that he was able to demonstrate that the system is in fact effective as well as fast and cheap.

In Brazil, having understood why the device had failed to live up to expectations, Cháuque bet on ultraviolet and infrared radiation to kill harmful micro-organisms in water.

“We thought of using solar radiation, since the sun is an available and free source of energy that can be harnessed, and conventional water treatment systems are expensive, right from their installation and operation, in addition to requiring specialised labour,” Chaúque explained.

The cost of conventional water treatment systems, Chaúque reasoned, contributes to underdeveloped countries having difficulties in guaranteeing supply. Given that most of the population of underdeveloped countries, including Mozambique, lives in rural areas, Chaúque focussed on alternative ways of deriving drinking water.

The system assembled by the Mozambican researcher uses only solar radiation, reducing the price of water. Handling and maintenance is simple, and easily installed in remote areas, even without electricity.

Another great advantage the researcher underlines is its efficiency.

“We inevitably need low-cost technology that allows people to be given safe water. This system is capable of eliminating highly resistant microorganisms, as well as bacteria,” Chaúque explains.

Beni Chaúque developed the solar water treatment system as a requirement for completing a master’s course at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil. The system was set up in six months, a year after it the researcher started working on it at Rovuma University, in Niassa province.

By José dos Remedios

Source: O País