ALIKA project

new sustainable boundaries for health and environment

project by Alessandro Innocenti

// ISSUE // growing health problems in Italy

5 6 % f e ma le

project by Alessandro Innocenti

World trend
%m 44

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1900 year 1950 2000 2050 2100

total population

billion people

ale
55% healthy 35% overweight 10% obese

overweight population

Mortality Vs BMI

body mass index

BMI

in Kg

in m

under weight

19

perfect weight

24

overweight

29

obese

34

clinically obese

source: ISTAT 2012 and WHO World Health Organization

// THE IDEA // start from an utopy

project by Alessandro Innocenti

- and if there was an ingredient that takes something away rather than adding? - an ingredient you add to remove ? - something that works for you, improving your health when cooked?

//NATURAL CASE HISTORY // mangrove #3

the plant can secrete salt in eccess directly; they have two salt glands at each leaf base Water is distributed along the tree, and salt is stored in cell vacuoles

project by Alessandro Innocenti

#4
salt which does accumulate in the shoot then concentrates in the few old leaves, called sacrifical leaves

#2

#5
these leaves work as toxin accumulators, saving the tree from impurities and unwanted substances

#1
mangrove intakes salt water from its impermeable, highly suberised roots

#6
as long as this process keeps going, sacrifical leaves become black and are shoved off the plant

// PRINCIPLES OF ALIKA TECH // pushing the research

project by Alessandro Innocenti

SU R FACE TE N SI O N

CAPILLARITY

POR OS ITY

is caused by cohesive forces among liquid molecules. In the bulk of the liquid, each molecule is pulled equally in every direction by neighboring liquid molecules, resulting in a net force of zero. The surface tension of a liquid changes in relation to its temperature.

is the ability of a liquid to flow in narrow spaces without the assistance of, and in opposition to external forces like gravity. It is caused by the surface tension of the liquid, and its effect is essential for the drainage to the lacrimal ducts of tear fluid, constantly produced by the eye. It occurs because of inter-molecular attractive forces between the liquid and solid surrounding surfaces.

is a measure of the empty spaces in a material. It is represented as fraction of the volume of voids over the total volume, on percentage between 0 and 100%. Researchers have recently developed methods to achieve every possible kind of porosity in ceramic materials, varying cell dimension, length and void orientation. This new materials, relatively easy to manufacture, have mainly be used for aerospatial and insulating applications

// HOW IT WORKS // ALIKA project

every kind off liquid (like oils and greases contained in food) have particular physical properties, and they tend to separate - also showing different behaviours according to temperature. ALIKA can focus its action on several liquids such as oils (sunflower seeds, corn, olive, peanuts, palm) and fats (animal derived, milk derived, etc) I have been in contact with ISTEC (Italian Institute of Material Technology and Research) to engineer a ceramic material with TAILOR-MADE POROSITY capable to absorb by CAPILLARITY liquids with just a focused range of SURFACE TENSIONS, to fit our need of grease and oil removal moreover we can tailor the POROSITY of the ceramic so that, by raising the temperature and having a surface tension drop on trapped oil and greases, ALIKA lets them to flow out (like putting it inside a microwave oven at low heating power)

project by Alessandro Innocenti

in this way we get an everlasting oil and grease magnet, a nextgeneration filter which attracts toxins by atomic interaction instead of particle dimension

COOKING PAN - Temperature 95c

technology

ALIKA

+
BACON GREASE surface tension 51 mN/m animal-fat-focused ceramic porosity

=
only animal fat is absorbed by ALIKAs porous ceramic

// INTEGRATION // connection to new technologies

project by Alessandro Innocenti

3D PRINTING PAN & DISHES

NEXT-GEN DEPURATION

could be used to create virtually infinite possibilities of shapes to fit every necessity. Research is developing 3D printing with various kind of ceramic materials. Im already in contact with W.A.S.P. - Worlds Advanced Saving Project - who delivers affordable and low priced injection printing solutions, resulting in a product within the reach ov every family

by using ALIKA Tech to create internal coating for cooking pans, baking tins and dishes, it is possible to create focused tableware that passively improves wellness and health of people and families using them

ALIKA can be used for depuration purposes, isolating and removing extraneous liquids, oils and unwanted substances from white waters and sewage. By creating different ALIKA devices with tailor engineered porosity, it is possible to perform an upstream multi-level filtering and waste separation together

// SCALABILITY // start small, think in big

from single families to global environment
If used consistently in everyday life, ALIKA can help to reduce overweight, thus limiting the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases related to a improper diet. ALIKA is sustainable, renewable and reusable by a simple heating operation. Substances removed by ALIKA could be collected thus entering the differentiation process (one single liter of exhausted oil can be recovered to generate about three quarted liters of car oil)

project by Alessandro Innocenti

As little as one litre of used motor oil can contaminate million litres of drinking water. The oil from a single car oil change can create an oil slick the size of a football field, also wasting acquifers, rivers, and having a devastating impact on the biological ecosystem. ALIKA can help preventing all this from happening. ALIKA technology can be used to create completely self-sufficient purification and active filtering devices. Such as installing marine buoy systems on large waterbodies (lakes, oceans) to locally treat polluted waters

From single families, in domestic environment, for personal health and environmental counsciusness To governamental and global organization applications for worldwide pollution issues

(as Greenpeace, Jean-Michel Cousteaus Ocean Futures Society, ...)

// SOCIAL & ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT // grand challenges

project by Alessandro Innocenti

TECH easy to produce when

research has developed the different mixtures to achieve certain porosities

billions of cubic meters of water saved by upstream ALIKA sawage treatment; acquifers become safer and more reliable

WATER

COMMERCIAL
easy and low-priced, with a wide variety of target substance absorbed, to fit every diet

technology

ALIKA

reduce pollution by eliminating the immission of oils into the environment, and absorbing dangerous liquids floating on the sea

ENVIRONMENT FOOD
broad the range of eatable food worldwide by reducing their fat content, making several kind of meat edible

GLOBAL HEALTH
reduce cardiovascolar and obesity-driven diseases, improve lifestyle and wellness

// NEXT STEPS //

project by Alessandro Innocenti

ALIKA
concept

technology

ALIKA

ALIKA
products

- Innovative active filtering concept that uses phisical forces instead of particle size to separate different liquids of a mixture. - Domestic use: it is capable to improve wellness and health, while reducing overweight and obesity driven diseases. - Environment: can prevent a large proportion of water pollution, thus restoring environmental conditions otherwise difficult to recover

- Develop several ALIKA porous ceramic variations to suit domestic and environmental needs. - Push research to study tailor-engineered porosities to absorb liquids with specific surface tensions at given temperatures, to create a set of ceramic materials belonging to the same ALIKA family, to suit dozens of different needs. - Start on-field testing in both family-scale and environmental- scale, through collaborations with environmental preservation companies and health organizations

- Start manufacture of ALIKA products for families, delivered to the final user in sets with several shapes, each one absorbing a different health-enemy substance. - Organize focused marketing actions, to allow ALIKA products entering the market in areas prepared to collect liquid wastes generated by its use

WHY ALIKA?

to portray technology and creativity as tools for improving wellbeing and environmental restoration, using ethical and ecological means

to reprogram the social trends triggered in the 70s, lowering the number of deaths from cardiovascular and obesity-derived diseases using non-invasive tools, that shape eating habits through a path of knowledge and learning

to save lifes through innovation, improving wellness, lifestyle and health of millions of people. And for the Earth itself: water is life