▲ Magnus Bach
Around the world, the need for fresh, drinkable water continues to grow. From dwindling aquifers to desertification due to climate change to increased demand from expanding data centers, the strain on water systems is seen in communities from Los Angeles to Timbuktu. In response, scientists have investigated a variety of water conservation strategies with a high premium placed on any technology that could efficiently generate water in arid regions. One of those technologies is atmospheric water harvesting (AWH).
Humans have been capturing water from humid air since the Incan Empire, when mesh nets were used to collect dew. However, outside of science fiction, the development of advanced AWH systems has been difficult because of the challenging material properties required of the air filters, which must be able to absorb large amounts of water and readily expel it when needed. They have to function in low humidity, and, ideally, they should be usable off-grid. This is where California-based start-up Atoco comes in.
Atoco was founded in 2021 by Nobel Laureate Omar Yaghi, a chemistry professor at the Univ. of California, Berkeley, to commercialize his breakthrough technologies in molecularly engineered reticular materials for AWH and carbon capture. Since then, Atoco has developed sophisticated nanoengineered reticular materials such as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) — porous crystalline metallic and organic structures with extremely high internal surface areas — which are capable of adsorbing and expelling water and carbon dioxide. The company has produced on-grid AWH systems, as well as off-grid models that can harvest water using ambient thermal energy. Atoco is currently planning field tests of its containerized industrial prototype AWH units, which it hopes will lead to commercialization in late 2026.
In a conversation with Atoco’s Vice President of Business Development, Magnus Bach, he talks about why he began...
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