The AquaVentus unit can suck up to 20 gallons of water from the humidity outside. It will go on sale next year for $2,250.

AquaVentus is hoping to make money out of thick air.

The St. Petersburg company makes a compact refrigeration unit that produces 20 gallons of clean, drinkable water a day by wringing the humidity out of air. The unit is the size of a large cooler and can be powered by electricity, a generator or solar power.

For now, the company is focusing on selling in the Southeast U.S., the Caribbean and the South Pacific. But the mini-waterworks will work in areas where the relative humidity is as low as 40%, including coastal California and just about anywhere east of the Mississippi River, says James Hill, founder of AquaVentus.

AquaVentus also sees disaster preparedness organizations as potential customers. During natural disasters, the need for clean water is often more important than the need for power. Orders to boil water were issued in much of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties after Hurricane Wilma in 2005, for example. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated that Hurricane Katrina affected more than 1,220 water utility systems.

Marine Desalination Systems in St. Petersburg — which had a licensing agreement with AquaVentus — developed the air-to-water technology with help from a $1.87-million grant from the U.S. Office of Naval Research after Sept. 11. The research group is working on two additional projects that will be used for a five- to 10-gallon version and a 100-gallon version.

AquaVentus will start selling its 20-gallon unit next year for $2,250. It hopes to be able to sell the 10-gallon unit for less than $1,000. The company plans to sell its units through a network of generator dealers. It projects sales of a little less than $1 million in 2009 and $5.7 million in 2010. Hill is looking for $2.5 million in investment capital to ramp up manufacturing, sales and marketing and to beef up the management team.

While the AquaVentus is designed to be used outdoors, a number of companies, including Fort Lauderdale-based WaterPure International, are marketing “atmospheric water generators” for use indoors. Units are plugged into an ordinary electrical outlet. They look similar to soft-drink vending machines. A reservoir holds approximately four to eight gallons of water.

University Spinoffs

Licensing income for Florida universities totaled $53.7 million in 2007, up $6 million from 2006, according to a survey of 13 Florida research institutions by the Office of Intellectual Property Development and Commercialization at Florida State University. Fifty startup companies were launched from university research, more than double the 23 in 2006. The universities received $1.79 billion in research funding in 2007, up from $1.68 billion in 2006.

Grants

The Leon County Research and Development Authority awarded three $15,000 grants in May to TEAM Simulations, a simulation software company; Comm-Engines, maker of an anti-shoplifting device that uses radio frequency; and Transformational Technologies Innovations, which commercializes nanotechnology materials.