How it works

A Skoog buoy in the water with a liana below uses the ocean’s depths as a cooling source. Waves, sunlight, and the recovery of latent heat drive the system to ”sweat” freshwater from the air, like a tree, but at industrial scale.

Each buoy produces between 12,000 and 500,000 litres of fresh water per day, depending on the size of the capillary filter and the dimensions of the chimney.

Skoog Buoys can be connected in series. Eleven large units with 5,000-square-meter condensation surfaces can supply up to 5 million liters per day, depending on humidity and temperature.

No moving parts. As the system contains no pumps or filters, there are no inherent mechanical constraints to upward scaling – unlike desalination, where filter size and pumps set technical limits. This makes it highly scalable with minimal maintenance.

The structure is manufactured using Large Scale Additive Manufacturing (LSAM) with High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE). This 3D printing process enables cost-efficient production, zero corrosion, and high structural durability for long-term maritime use.

The technology can also be scaled down for smaller groups or families living off-grid where water requirements are significantly lower.

The Engineering Reality

The Skoog Buoy is built upon established thermodynamic principles and proven material technologies. By utilizing well-documented physical laws, the system offers a transparent and reliable solution for large-scale water security, ensuring peak efficiency and long-term stability across diverse environments.

The SCSL architecture is engineered for industrial deployment and rapid scaling. The system is designed for direct integration into global infrastructure, where its performance is optimized through real-world operation to meet immense global demand.

Strategic investment facilitates implementation in high-potential regions across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Arab world. These environments leverage higher ambient temperatures to maximize the thermal gradient, significantly increasing daily freshwater yield per buoy.

The Principle: Natural Condensation

By mimicking nature’s own processes, we have created autonomous infrastructure that secures water supply for global coastal regions. We utilize the depths of the ocean as a cooling source, accessing the constant 4°C deep-sea thermal gradient via a 200–1,000-meter hydraulic liana, with sun, latent heat and waves as the driving force.

This allows the system to ”sweat” freshwater from the air, much like a tree, but on an industrial scale.

No external electrical input. Operates through mechanically passive exploitation of ambient thermal gradients, wave energy, and solar-driven natural updraft, while integrating recovery of latent heat generated during condensation.

No Filtration Required

The system eliminates the need for mechanical filtration and consumable filters. By utilizing atmospheric condensation through passive fluid dynamics, it delivers pure water directly from the air, avoiding maintenance and supply chain issues associated with traditional filter-based systems.

Mechanical Innovation

The system utilizes a sealed thermal expansion principle for autonomous water discharge. By heating the collected condensate within an insulated storage tank using solar energy and recovered latent heat, the resulting volumetric expansion, in combination with the internal hydrostatic head (water column), generates the necessary pressure to drive water to land – entirely without electrical pumps.

Infrastructure & 50-Year Longevity

The Skoog Buoy is engineered for a target lifespan of 40–50 years, specifically designed to withstand extreme marine environments.

Monolithic Construction:

The structure utilizes HDPE (PE100) and composite materials to eliminate metallic components prone to rust and galvanic corrosion.

Synthetic Mooring:

A three-point mooring system fixes the buoy’s position, while subsurface modules create a ”spring effect” to protect the liana from jerks during extreme sea states.

Active Surface Integrity (IAKKS):

To prevent biological fouling and salt crusting, the system utilizes Skoog IAKKS (Integrated, Active, Ceramic Composite Coating System, Open source). This technology uses kinetic micro-vibrations, powered by a LiFePO4 battery buffer, to keep surfaces clean 24/7 without manual intervention.

Continuous Wave-Driven Production

The system utilizes ocean wave energy as the primary motor to circulate cooling water through the deep-sea liana. While the solar-thermal chimney enhances efficiency by driving natural air updraft, the core condensation process is autonomous and wave-powered.

This ensures freshwater production continues 24/7, maintaining full operational capacity even without sunlight. The system continues to operate, albeit at slightly reduced capacity, in the unlikely event of completely calm seas.

Schematic Overview