AirJoule has agreed a deal with a hyperscale data center operator to advance the use of its technology for extracting water from waste heat generated by servers.

The firm has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with an unnamed data center developer, which will evaluate how AirJoule’s technology can be incorporated into its facilities.

According to AirJoule, the goal of the collaboration is to “evaluate opportunities to integrate AirJoule into data center designs and create a sustainable source of distilled and demineralized water for evaporative cooling and other onsite needs, reducing dependence on local water resources and supporting long-term infrastructure resilience.”

Initial work under the MoU will focus on engineering assessments and performance modeling, leading to future deployment.

“As data centers scale to meet the demands of AI and cloud computing, they are becoming major consumers of both electricity and water,” said Matt Jore, CEO of AirJoule Technologies.

“Heat from the data center server racks, which is currently rejected and lost into the atmosphere, is an untapped resource that AirJoule can use to produce pure water from the air. This partnership represents a forward-thinking approach to digital infrastructure sustainability.”

The AirJoule system is being developed in a joint venture between Jore’s firm, formerly known as Montana Technologies, and power technology vendor GE Vernova. In April, the company raised $15 million to help develop its system.

It uses a proprietary sorbent, based on a metal-organic framework, to extract water particles from data center waste heat so that the water can be reused.

Speaking to DCD earlier this year, Jore said this can help data centers run more efficiently, and that the company hoped to have working demonstrator units available for customers before the end of 2025.

“We’re going to have a working unit this year that we can show to our customers and partners, and from there we’ll be able to demonstrate the replicability of that unit,” he said.

Find out more about AirJoule in the latest DCD Cooling Supplement, available to read here.