ew Life International, a non-profit organization based in Underwood, IN, USA, has provided safe water to communities around the world with a cost-effective and simple-to-operate water purification system since 1998.
New Life’s President Duvon McGuire learned the risks of unsafe water as a child. While serving in Ecuador with his missionary family, he contracted a nearly fatal infection from contaminated water. Motivated to study pre-med and chemistry in college, McGuire eventually traveled to India, working in hospitals and witnessing firsthand the health perils and needless deaths resulting from unsafe water.
Through years of research and experimentation, McGuire invented an affordable, lightweight and portable water purifier that can disinfect large amounts of water quickly for entire communities. Since 1998, thousands of recipients in more than 80 countries have received these purifiers, providing safe water to individuals, schools, hospitals and entire communities. The ongoing development and distribution of the water purifiers is managed through New Life International.
“When people talk about meeting the unmet needs of the poor, they often mention sustainable technology and appropriate technology. They talk about these things as if they were looking for “once and done” – but careful observation tells an entirely different story. Sustainability and appropriate technology end up in a circular firing squad of least initial cost and frequent repairs — with little thought given to true long-term costs.”
McGuire’s concerns led him and his team to explore advanced material solutions for the components used in their water purifiers. His search for more sustainable alternatives led him to polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), a high-performance fluoropolymer, and material supplier Arkema’s Kynar® Flex PVDF Copolymer and tubing supplier Altaflo as new partners in the investigation process. Their combined efforts are addressing ways to use high-performance polymers and advanced tubing solutions to create a better quality of life through the delivery of safer water and wastewater management.
Since the water purifier systems were designed for use in countries all over the world, with varying climates and environments, many material properties were considered when designing the system to meet critical set up requirements, including:
- Resistance to chlorine: Chlorine, a strong oxidizing agent, is a main component of the New Life International Water Purifier as it kills the disease-causing bacteria and viruses to create clean, drinkable water.
- Purity: A pure material without additives will eliminate concerns of potential leaching and adding additional contaminants into the water.
- Service life: Systems could be placed in remote locations where it may present challenges to get replacement parts in a timely manner.
- Weatherability: The water purifiers may be located outdoors, exposing the materials to extremely hot or cold temperatures, humidity, strong winds and severe weather events.
- Kink resistance: Kinking of the tubing can create problems with the flow of the system.
- Regulatory certifications: Certifications for potable water contact, such as NSF 51 and NSF 61.
Kynar Flex PVDF Copolymer also has excellent weatherability characteristics. One of its oldest applications is for architectural coatings where it is used as a finish to protect building exteriors, helping to provide long-lasting protection and color retention. Along with the decades of outdoor applications, accelerated weathering tests have been completed on Kynar Flex PVDF Copolymer grades. These tests show no loss in tensile yield strength, elongation, optical or surface properties after 5,000 hours of QUVA exposure.
In addition to essential mechanical properties, it is important that materials in contact with drinking water comply with the regulatory requirements needed for the water purifier system. Kynar Flex PVDF Copolymer is NSF 51 and 61 certified, allowing its components to be safely used in the manufacture of drinking water as well as food. Unfilled Kynar Flex PVDF Copolymers meet the requirements for repeated contact with food per Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations, part 177.2600. Additionally, Kynar PVDF and Kynar Flex PVDF Copolymers are Kosher Certified by the Chicago Rabbinical Council (cRc) for year-round use and certain grades of Kynar Flex PVDF are Halal certified for food contact applications.
New Life International’s water purifiers require tubing that can stand up to an extensive, non-negotiable set of rigorous demands in the field. Required capabilities include durability, inherent purity and extreme temperature and environmental resistance, often in wide ranging and potentially harsh climates. Specific tubing components exposed to sunlight may also require special treatments, such as an additional UV blocking pigment or simple covering to mitigate premature degradation risks that can accompany contact with chlorine-based solutions. ALTAFLO’s complete array of Kynar PVDF Homopolymer and Kynar Flex PVDF Copolymer tubing offered a solution for New Life International’s needs.
The water purifiers are available with two different tank styles: a one tank system and a two-tank gravity fed system, which requires additional tubing for routing water between tanks and offers greater processing capacity. Appropriate material selection is integral for each element of the application for both systems to maximize sustainability and ensure long, uninterrupted product life in the field. Beyond tubing, the tank systems include filtration components, filter housings, pumps and instrumentation. Kynar Flex PVDF provides a wide array of product lines ranging from super rigid to highly flexible. Application specific customization is available for varying grades to assure the right mix of properties of an application.
For New Life International’s unique application, ALTAFLO’s ability to create customized tubing to meet purifier unit specifications was vital. Evaluation of Arkema’s array of PVDF resin offerings involved the sampling, testing and retesting of material with varied wall thicknesses for the tubing. Initial testing of the Kynar Flex PVDF Copolymer tubing featured dimensions of 1/2″ inner diameter, 5/8″ outer diameter and a 1/16″ wall. ALTAFLO’s adaptability allowed for further testing on other tubing sizes to identify the best fit, including a 1/8″ wall, making it more resistant to kinking. The goal was to find the sweet spot between kink resistance and flexibility. ALTAFLO’s expertise has enabled them to create customized options based on their client’s specifications.
Duvon McGuire and the New Life International team are encouraged by the sustainability advancements already underway through their collaboration with Arkema and ALTAFLO — for both the water purifier recipients and the environments in which they’re being used.
“Designed obsolescence is not a useful concept in a sustainable circular economy. We have more than one choice. We can recycle while making things that don’t grow old, but we must get beyond the ‘recycle or throw away’ mentality. The value must be recovered long before the products arrive at the dumpster,” said Duvon McGuire. “If we lived in the middle of nowhere, what might we want for our families? The people may have near nothing, so something is better than nothing. However, if we were in their shoes, wouldn’t it be nice to have affordable solutions that did not repeatedly break down — or prematurely wind up in landfills? This is part of our challenge — creating lifesaving and life enhancing solutions that bring sustainable well-being to life.”
- A. Palovcak; J. Pomante; “Prevent Corrosion With PVDF” Processing, July 2018 pp. 10-13
- A. Palovcak; J. Pomante; “A Fluoropolymer for Chemical Challenges” Chemical Engineering, August 2019 pp. 46-49
- A. Palovcak; B.Douglas; “Kynar® Fluoropolymer – A Solution for the Most Extreme Weathering Conditions” Plastictrends March 2017
Mary Hyde’s expertise in fluoropolymer applications spans more than 35 years. She has spent her career creating a strong focus on relationship-driven solutions to customer needs across the fluoropolymer field. As vice president of business development and co-founder of ALTAFLO, Hyde has spent the last 15 years tackling specific needs and applications not being addressed by many larger firms. mary@altaflo.com.
Alexandra Peters received her Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from Villanova University in 2020. She works for Arkema Inc. as an applications and standards engineer for the High Performance Polymers division. She is also a member of ASTM and ASME B31.3. alexandra.peters@arkema.com.
Marco DeAngelo received his Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from Pennsylvania State University in 2020. He works for Arkema Inc. as a field sales engineer for the High Performance Polymers division. He is a member of the Material Technology Institute (MTI) and has presented on PVDF Homopolymer and Copolymer’s for corrosion control. marco.deangelo@arkema.com.