There is plenty of water in the world for everyone, the problem has always been trying to convert it into a form we can drink. German Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute recently announced that they have developed a new method to convert air humidity into drinking water using renewable energy. They are proposing large water harvesting plants to be located even in the most remote of places, such as the Sahara desert. Is this the solution to our water problems?
clipped from www.sciencedaily.com
Drinking Water From Air Humidity
ScienceDaily (June 8, 2009) — Not a plant to be seen, the desert ground is too dry. But the air contains water, and research scientists have found a way of obtaining drinking water from air humidity. The system is based completely on renewable energy and is therefore autonomous.
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Drinking water from air humidity
clipped from www.fraunhofer.de
clipped from www.fraunhofer.deThe principle of the process is as follows: hygroscopic brine – saline solution which absorbs moisture – runs down a tower-shaped unit and absorbs water from the air. It is then sucked into a tank a few meters off the ground in which a vacuum prevails. Energy from solar collectors heats up the brine, which is diluted by the water it has absorbed. Because of the vacuum, the boiling point of the liquid is lower than it would be under normal atmospheric pressure. This effect is known from the mountains: as the atmospheric pressure there is lower than in the valley, water boils at temperatures distinctly below 100 degrees Celsius. The evaporated, non-saline water is condensed and runs down through a completely filled tube in a controlled manner. The gravity of this water column continuously produces the vacuum and so a vacuum pump is not needed. The reconcentrated brine runs down the tower surface again to absorb moisture from the air.
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Sources:
- Inhabitat » Innovative System Creates Drinking Water from Thin Air
- Drinking Water From Air Humidity
- Research News 06-2009-Topic 2 – Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
