Eco Factor: Solar-powered system extracts water from humid air.
Access to clean drinking water is not as common as people living in urban areas think it to be. With billions of people thirsty for water, inventors had to design systems that can help provide potable water from something that is omnipresent. Research scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB have sought answers for the problem in air.
According to these scientists, at an average 64% humidity, a cubic meter of air carries about 11.5ml of water, which if extracted can solve the problems of billions of people living in rural areas. Since water is not the only thing rural people lack, these inventors had to make use of an omnipresent energy source as well. Combining the two needs, these researchers have developed a system that makes use of solar energy to generate potable water from humid air.
The system makes use of hygroscopic brine that absorbs moisture. When this solution is made to run down a tower-shaped unit, it sucks up water from the air, which is then fed into a tank where vacuum prevails. Solar energy then heats up the solution converting water to vapor, which is then condensed. The solution gets concentrated again and is let out to complete the cycle again.
Via: Physorg
