New UNLV startup is tapping “unseen river” of water hidden in ambient air

Article: https://www.unlv.edu/news/article/hidden-sea-opportunity

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLsX4pAowqc

The climate crisis continues to deepen throughout the Southwestern U.S. as severe heat waves and dwindling groundwater reserves threaten the vitality, livability, and economic future of the growing region. It’s an unfavorable prognosis that requires the intervention of invention.

That’s where UNLV engineering professor H. Jeremy Cho comes in. Cho co-founded and leads the research team behind WAVR Technologies, Inc., a UNLV startup that makes devices capable of capturing water vapor from the air around us for commercial and individual uses. 

“I certainly saw the need with water levels at Lake Mead getting lower and lower,” said Cho, who arrived at UNLV from Princeton in 2021. “Something had to be done, and that’s when I took a good look at atmospheric water harvesting technology and thought I could come up with a better way to do this.”

WAVR – which stands for “Water from the Air in Vulnerable Regions” – is the premiere university business spinoff from the National Science Foundation Regional Innovation Engines program aimed at bringing to market technologies that address regional sustainability and climate concerns.

And the minds behind WAVR say it’s right on time for Southern Nevada. For years, the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the Las Vegas Valley Water District have been working hard to slow the depletion of our natural reservoirs. But a massive untapped resource, hidden in plain sight, may be a key to helping reverse our fortunes.

“Clark County uses hundreds of millions of gallons of water every single day,” Cho said. “You can find that amount of water in the first 30 feet of ambient air above the county. Think of the atmosphere as a really big invisible river.”

And now, that “invisible river” may end up becoming a regional economic boon and a long-awaited new source of sustainable water. 

Making the Impossible Possible

The WAVR startup is the first to launch with the backing of the new NSF Engines: Southwest Sustainability Engine (SWSIE) program. The multi-million dollar, first-of-its-kind program is tapping into high-powered innovation and education led by Arizona State University and in partnership with UNLV, the University of Utah, Desert Research Institute and more than 100 regional partner institutions. The goal is to transform the climate challenges faced by the desert Southwest into economic opportunities.

Researchers, innovators, investors, along with community and industry decision-makers across three partner states are working to cement the region’s place as a carbon capture, water security, and renewable energy leader. They’re also supporting high-wage industries and developing a skilled and capable sustainability-focused workforce. 

And as the WAVR startup scales up operations, it is poised to not just deliver innovation to region, but to also support a key component of the SWSIE partnership and UNLV’s own goals: job generation.

“Identifying technologies and innovations that can transform lives for the better, create jobs, and diversify the local economy is a critical function of what we’re doing at UNLV and throughout the region,” said Zach Miles, senior associate vice president for UNLV’s Office of Economic Development and SWSIE workforce development lead. “In the case of WAVR, you can see all of this in action, which I believe has helped move this startup forward.”

The Future of Water and Energy

WAVR is commercializing patent-pending atmospheric water harvesting technology developed at UNLV. According to Cho, it represents a huge leap forward, capturing over five times more water from the air than any existing technologies. WAVR’s system is effective down to 10% humidity, making this technology practical – and invaluable – for the dry Southwest and other increasingly arid regions around the world. 

WAVR is initially targeting the thirstiest consumers of water, such as irrigation and cooling towers for air conditioning.

“In Las Vegas, every person uses about 100 gallons per day, one way or another,” said Cho. “The amount of water per cooling tower is on the order of thousands of gallons per day. We’re aiming to achieve those kinds of volumes: thousands of gallons of water produced every day. That’s our ultimate goal – to make an impact in terms of how sustainable our existing water resources are.”

In doing so, this can help local companies address mounting financial and operational risks trying to identify ways to both offset water consumption and comply with tightening water regulations. The technology would act as a sustainability safeguard and deepen the well of opportunity for the local economy. 

“We want to remove those barriers of entry for anyone thinking of doing business in the Valley,” he said. “Even if you have a large water-consuming manufacturing process, we can find a way to make it work.”

This science wasn’t an accident. To make this possible, Cho’s lab exclusively studied hydrogel membranes, a key ingredient in the process, for two years. Hydrogels are like a giant rubbery contact lens that screens out air impurities while absorbing and allowing water to pass through.

“Our inspiration came from nature,” he said. “We looked at certain types of tree frogs which can absorb water and hydrate through their skin. We thought, ‘Maybe we can do the same thing,’ and that’s the core of our technology.”

The Business that’s Making Waves

WAVR is on track to develop a fully-functional prototype set to debut by the end of 2025. And UNLV plans to lead by example with the installation of WAVR units on campus as soon as 2027.

Yet, ahead of its formal launch, WAVR has shown so much promise that there is already immense market pull. Anticipated clients include a Fortune 50 beverage company and Fortune 500 medical company.

“This is one of those cases where big, global corporations are asking us for this solution,” said Rich Sloan, CEO and also a co-founder of WAVR Technologies, Inc. “With the tenuous nature of the water resource, we need to look for ways to make it last longer and enable all the economic growth we want to drive in our communities.”

Sloan became intimately involved with the project through his role as an entrepreneur in residence with UNLV’s Office of Economic Development, a position supported by the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development Knowledge Fund program.

WAVR devices will be assembled in Las Vegas. Initially, the systems will be designed for municipal needs, the food and beverage industry, medical therapeutics, and various distilled water applications integral to operations. Though the primary focus is delivering high-capacity units to businesses, the applications for WAVR won’t run dry any time soon.

“Eventually there will be a portable, at-home, or vehicular-based version that will generate water,” said Sloan. “We will reach solutions for people who go on long hikes in the desert, come back to their camp site, and have water magically waiting for them that was collected from the atmosphere during their time away.”

For WAVR, realizing the company’s full potential would mean giving communities a way to meaningfully and sustainably supplement their water resources while easing the pressure on our dwindling surface and groundwater sources.

“We’re not trying to replace where all of our water comes from,” said Cho. “The community will continue to use surface-water resources such as Lake Mead, and must continue to make sure we’re not overdrawing. We just want to draw a sustainable amount and make up the balance with atmospheric water harvesting.”