The Invention that Pulls Drinking Water out of Thin Air in Arid Regions
Tech News World - The invention that pulls drinking water out of thin air in arid regions was discovered by 2025 Nobel Prize winner, chemist Omar Yaghi, and it led to the creation of Startup Atoco, that is headquartered in the United States. Atoco was named one of the World´s Best Inventions of 2026 by TIME magazine on October 15, 2026. Atoco is a Climate Tech startup manufacturing atmospheric water generators based on nano-engineered reticular materials that can work even in the most remote and dry locations. Atoco atmospheric water generators can scale to utility levels of generation capacity and can potentially generate water from air without any electricity consumption. This opens the door for a very broad range of applications including clean water from air for data centers, green hydrogen plants, desert farming, remote communities, and safe drinking water. Here is more about the atmospheric water generators produced by Atoco:
What are atmospheric water generators produced by Atoco?
Atmospheric water generators produced by Atoco use Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) using reticular materials which consist of metal ions or clusters connected by anionic organic linkers. MOF atmospheric water harvesting gains more traction as it generates clean water from air at scale efficiently, even in dry environments of very low humidity. Prof. Omar Yaghi, the inventor of MOF chemistry, who won the Chemistry Nobel Prize in 2025, developed the startup Atoco to produce MOF Atmospheric water generators.
Do atmospheric water generators made by Atoco produce drinking water?
Atmospheric water generators made by Atoco produce drinking water since MOF atmospheric water harvesting can generate extremely clean water, at the level of distilled water quality, free from dirt, bacteria and any other contaminants. In fact, it’s so clean that you need to mineralize it to make it potable.
Do atmospheric water generators remove water from the environment?
Atmospheric water generators do not remove water from the environment since the atmosphere holds as much water at any moment as all the world’s rivers and lakes combined, and that water is a flow rather than a fixed, depletable reserve. Atmospheric water is continuously refilled by evaporation from oceans, lakes, soil, and plants. Water extracted through atmospheric water generation and used for drinking, irrigation, or industry eventually evaporates again and re-enters that same flow, no differently than water condensing naturally as dew or rain.
Off-grid atmospheric water harvesting systems are even capable of generating clean water from desert air without any use of electricity. Atmospheric water generators based on nano-engineered reticular materials are powered entirely by ambient energy, such as geothermal or low-grade waste heat from industrial processes.
Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOF) for atmospheric water harvesting can both capture carbon dioxide and harvest ambient, drinkable water from the air, without needing energy. Since these molecular sponges could aid areas experiencing the effects of climate change, Nobel Prize winner Omar Yaghi founded Atoco to commercialize his academic research. The company installed a prototype water harvester outside of its California office this spring.
