Atoco says its prototype makes water from air using data-centre-style waste heat
Irvine, California startup Atoco has shown a 20-foot off-grid prototype that harvests water from air using metal-organic frameworks, driven by heat rather than grid electricity. In a demonstration using piped heat at around 70°C (150°F) to simulate data-centre waste heat, the company reports output of up to 300 litres per day. Atoco is targeting a commercial unit of 1,000 litres per day and hopes to begin taking orders by the end of 2026.
Bottom line — Atoco has demonstrated the concept at prototype scale, but it has not been tested at scale and its production costs remain unproven.
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Atoco's demonstration did not use heat from an operating data centre; the company says its 300-litre output is equivalent to the heat of a 20-kilowatt data centre, according to WIRED and NeoTeo.
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Atoco says its materials can release captured water with heat as low as 38°C (100°F) and can operate when relative humidity is in the teens, per company-reported figures cited by NeoTeo.
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Founder Omar Yaghi shared the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Susumu Kitagawa and Richard Robson for metal-organic frameworks, according to Sustainable Times.
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Atoco estimates its water-production cost at about 5 dollars (approximately 4.60 euros) per metric tonne, while Sustainable Times notes some modern desalination plants deliver water at lower costs.
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Atoco did not offer the demonstration water to visiting journalists, citing legal-liability concerns; CEO Samer Taha described it as equivalent to distilled water, per WIRED.
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Sustainable Times reports five on-grid prototype trials with partners in the US and Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and talks with technology companies about data-centre pilots.
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WIRED notes that a 300-litre-per-day prototype is small beside data centres that may need millions of gallons of water daily, and that the approach needs a usable heat source to release captured water.