The atmospheric spigot is about to be turned on, as WAVR Technologies – a UNLV startup based in Las Vegas – ambitiously seeks to introduce a new source of water: the air around us.

The team behind this atmospheric water harvesting marvel is preparing for its commercial breakthrough, and it’s already gaining traction.

The company has set up a commercial development lab, filed more patents, hired additional staff, and evolved the technology to make it more manufacturable, scalable, and durable.

“Everything has changed,” said Rich Sloan, CEO of WAVR Technologies and entrepreneur-in-residence at UNLV. “We’ve actually shipped trial systems to customers, and we’re making pure water every day. We are just getting started.”

Along with that, a recent $305,000 NSF grant has fueled the heightening buzz and enthusiasm at the company as the technology progresses. The award reflects NSF’s continued confidence in WAVR to deliver on its promise to make useful water from the air even in the driest environments.

“This NSF grant will also help us develop and scale up our new waste-heat-enabling technology,” said H. Jeremy Cho, co-founder of WAVR Technologies and UNLV engineering professor. “UNLV will focus on proofs of concept, while WAVR will work on bringing this technology to market.”

A Wave of Ingenuity

The mission remains the same as before, but the technology constantly changes to fit the shape of the solutions needed. It was discovered that many potential customers dissipate enormous amounts of “waste heat,” which is lost to the atmosphere. Researchers with WAVR looked at this, and saw a win-win opportunity.

“A key technical challenge is being able to utilize that heat even when it’s at a low temperature, which could just be a few degrees above ambient,” said Cho. “As a result, UNLV has invented and filed a patent for a new technique to do just that – repurpose this waste heat to help power our atmospheric water harvesting technology.”

This creates a unique advantage, where the system is capable of accepting different types of energy to power its processes that ultimately result in usable water from the atmosphere.

The innovations don’t end there. The AI buildout has been a massive economic phenomenon, accompanied by a sizable water footprint. And with that proliferation, WAVR has found a way to help data centers produce as much water as they would with evaporative cooling, using their own waste heat to power the process.

“Data centers can have more operational resilience with our help, making sure their facilities are drought-proof and as environmentally sustainable as possible,” said Sloan. “We have the proposition and the opportunity to take a facility from being dependent on municipal water resources, all the way to being a net-zero user of that water.”

The Answer’s in the Air

As Sloan explains it, WAVR devices would be integrated with an industrial site or data center, with a capture system that pulls in moisture from the air. Then, a backend thermal process steams off the captured moisture, generating pure, distilled water. This is usable as drinking water, for agriculture, pharmaceuticals – anything.

It is the brainchild of Yiwei Gao, co-founder and chief technology officer at WAVR Technologies. He was a Ph. D. student at UNLV, studying under H. Jeremy Cho, when the idea of atmospheric water harvesting in the dry desert climate suddenly felt achievable. His Ph. D. thesis focused on what has become WAVR’s approach to atmospheric water harvesting.

“We are kind of the rebels, just like UNLV,” said Gao. “We want to redefine how we think about the ways we use different types of resources in our daily lives.”

WAVR’s technology has seen marked improvements in recent years, too, increasing the overall yield by almost three orders of magnitude. WAVR’s bench-scale systems went from producing a few milliliters per day, to now at least 20 liters daily. 

“We are using and testing it in Las Vegas,” he said. “That means the same device in a more humid area like Chicago or Detroit will generate about three-to-four times greater yield.”

But with innovation comes question marks and challenges. How will WAVR systems, especially those designed for industrial application, impact the ambient environment or humidity around it?

To ensure there are no environmental downsides, a simulation was conducted, assuming that every single household in Clark County was using WAVR for daily-use water. The results indicated an impact of 0.4% to the natural humidity.

“The air is not fixed to this area,” said Gao. “It’s flowing nationally and globally. The evaporation from rivers and oceans are part of the water cycle of the world. We would be introducing our system into that cycle, but we are not breaking the cycle at all.”

Intellectual Firepower

The researchers are constantly testing and fine-tuning their work to ensure WAVR is both productive and environmentally sound. Plus, as the rollout begins to ramp up and this project becomes a commercialized reality, more help is needed.

Throughout 2027, the plan is to increase its headcount by hiring a sales team, applications engineers, and a manufacturing arm all stationed here in Las Vegas.

“The vision is to build the leading atmospheric water harvesting company in the world,” said Sloan. “For that, we need the best talent and to bring the best team together with the right culture. So far, we’ve sourced talent from UNLV, the greater Las Vegas community, and beyond.”

The company foresees hiring about 50-75 employees as it grows over time, and formal commercial orders beginning in 2028.

“This is a dream come true. With all of our hard work, we’ve made everything we planned for happen,” said Gao. “Of course, there will be more challenges. But what we have learned has given us the confidence to know that we will overcome them.”

Students from both UNLV and CSN have made contributions to the work, through a growing internship program. Support from Desert Forge Ventures and Battleborn Venture also have been integral to putting WAVR in a position to grow its business.

“We are on a mission to solve this water problem,” said Sloan. “We don’t feel like it’s an option to nail this – we have to nail this. And when we do, we will make a really positive impact on the world.”