New MIT Water Harvester Design Extracts Fresh Water from Air to Meet Daily Needs
Water scarcity is a growing problem around the world, with many regions struggling to find enough fresh water to support their populations. To address this issue, researchers at MIT have developed a new water harvester design that can extract enough fresh water from the air to meet the daily needs of multiple people.
The new device is constructed with a series of vertical fins that are spaced 2 mm apart and made of copper sheets sandwiched in copper foams and coated with a specialized zeolite material for water adsorption. After an hour of operation, the fins become saturated with water, and the copper sheets are heated to release it. With this cycle being repeated 24 times a day in arid air conditions with 30% humidity, the harvester is estimated to produce up to 1.3 L of drinkable water per day per liter of adsorbent coating used. In a scaled-up scenario, this design could yield 5.8 L of water per kilogram of material per day, enough to meet the needs of several individuals.
This particular design excels in several areas compared to other water harvesting systems currently in development. It is more efficient at collecting water than most other systems, including one that can only collect 100 ml of water per kg of material. Even a design from Johns Hopkins, which extracts 8.66 L of water per day per kg of material, does so under 70% humidity conditions. The new MIT design operates consistently throughout the day and night, unlike others that collect water overnight and release it in the morning.
While there are no drawbacks associated with this system’s ability to collect water from the air, releasing it requires energy as the device needs to reach a temperature of 184°C to extract it effectively. However, waste energy or heat from other systems such as buildings or vehicles could be used to power the device’s energy needs efficiently without relying on traditional power sources like solar panels or wind turbines.
Overall, this innovative MIT design has enormous potential for addressing global water scarcity issues by providing an efficient way to harvest freshwater from thin air even in dry conditions.
Researchers at MIT have developed an innovative new way to harvest freshwater from thin air even in dry conditions.
The new device uses vertical fins made of copper sheets sandwiched in copper foams and coated with zeolite for adsorption.
After one hour of operation, these fins become saturated with moisture and are heated until released.
With cycles repeating every few hours throughout the day and night under arid air conditions with low humidity levels (30%), this harvester can produce up to 1.3 liters (1 gallon) per liter (pound) of adsorbent coating used.
In larger scenarios where more significant amounts are needed for personal use or commercial purposes,