Of interest:
http://science.sciencemag.org/conten...cience.aam8743
Quote:
Abstract
Atmospheric water is a resource equivalent to ~10% of all fresh water in lakes on Earth. However, an efficient process for capturing and delivering water from air, especially at low humidity levels (down to 20%), has not been developed. We report the design and demonstration of a device based on porous metal-organic framework-801 [Zr6O4(OH)4(fumarate)6] that captures water from the atmosphere at ambient conditions using low-grade heat from natural sunlight below one sun (1 kW per square meter). This device is capable of harvesting 2.8 liters of water per kilogram of MOF daily at relative humidity levels as low as 20%, and requires no additional input of energy.
Originally Posted by
Hlafordlaes
Since you fine engineers enjoy calculating, why not do one or more of the following and help a dude out, pretty please with sugar on top:
Determine:
- (optimal condensation temperature in equatorial regions, for a start)
- best type of continuous action compressor for this sort of tech
- max surface area of metal plating that could be cooled to optimal condensation
- optimum configuration of metal plating to compact surface area in small region
- optimum type of and configuration of metal plating for easy cleaning
- surface area of currently available solar panels to power one such compressor
Other:
- can sunlight be easily and practically filtered and mirrored as UV light? saves on another component for decontamination
- are ambient chemicals a danger when condensing air? say, next to a polluted river
***
Disclaimers:
I participated in an attempt to market and sell standalone Chinese-built atmospheric water generators in an African market (2009-10). We did not get funding.
By the end, I'd lost faith in the standalone concept (works, but is a 500 Watt machine).
I continue to speak with a HS friend from West Africa about how we might get some student engineers to work out the above issues and determine more about feasibility.
Short comment:
This may all be like the Apple Newton handheld that flopped decades before the iPad: that is, a question of waiting for component technologies to mature, especially solar panels. My non-engineer guess is that in all of this, it will be the cost of the energy used per liter that would make bottled water of this kind competitive or not in any given market. Note that there are countries with fecal matter in public water systems with the public importing large amounts of bottled water for cooking and drinking.
BBC World Service radio:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04rv3t9
Quote:
The Sun Water Solution
World Hacks
This is a story about how the most amazing ideas do not always work how you would like in practise. In theory it is so simple. You put disease-ridden water into a two litre plastic bottle, screw on the lid and leave it in the sun. After six hours on a cloudless day, almost all the bacteria and bugs that cause diseases like cholera and diarrhoea are killed or inactivated by the UV light and gentle warming. Professor Kevin McGuigan has proven this in the lab, but for the last 20 years he has been trying to get it working in rural African communities. It has not been anywhere near as easy as you might think.
(Photo: Godfrey putting his water bottle out to disinfect in the sunshine)
Same series:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04kxdjj
Quote:
Cloud Catchers In Peru
World Hacks
What can you do if you don’t have access to running water? No pipes, no wells, no rainfall? The solution may be to catch water from fog.
We meet Abel Cruz, the Peruvian man behind a huge fog net project which is providing water to a community in the slums of Lima.
Could fog catching be a solution to wider water crises facing the world?
Also on World Hacks, we hear a big idea about giving soldiers weapons that do not kill.
Image caption: Fog nets in Peru / Image credit: BBC
Spoiler alert - yes contamination is a problem in - both pollution and biological, but it can still be useful.