This water harvester can turn desert air into drinkable water

290,955
0
2018-06-08に共有
Last October, a University of California, Berkeley, team headed down to the Arizona desert, plopped their newest prototype water harvester into the backyard of a tract home and started sucking water out of the air without any power other than sunlight.

The successful field test of their larger, next-generation harvester proved what the team had predicted earlier in 2017: that the water harvester can extract drinkable water every day/night cycle at very low humidity and at low cost, making it ideal for people living in arid, water-starved areas of the world.

To read the fully story, visit: news.berkeley.edu/2018/06/08/in-desert-trials-next…

Video by Roxanne Makasdjian and Stephen McNally
MOF graphic by Hulda Nelson
Music: "Orange Octopus" by Unicorn Heads, "New Phantom" by Silent Partner, "Far Away" by MK2, "Always Hopeful" by Silent Partner

news.berkeley.edu/
www.facebook.com/UCBerkeley
twitter.com/UCBerkeley
instagram.com/ucberkeleyofficial
plus.google.com/+berkeley

コメント (21)
  • @rc55uk
    Ah, the old Fremen dream - vegetation on Arrakis!
  • @jcm730
    Think about it.. between owning a properly sized MOF (or an atmospheric water generator), a solar system and a hydroponic farm one can live anywhere off the grid that he or she pleases. Places where land is very very cheap! At giveaway prices. A desert oasis can be made.. And lets not forget satellite internet. Technology is empowering the individual and decentralizing water, power and food supply. Cool stuff to ponder
  • Another potential commercial application of this technology might be crawl space dehumidification. In the South Eastern United States (Tennessee, Alabama) many homes have crawl spaces and major moisture problems in those crawl spaces. It is a very complicated problem, but with constant rain, A/C in the home both vented and unvented crawl spaces get a lot of water which causes mold problems. A simple solar powered dehumidifier that could be placed outside a home and in a crawl space vent and cycle significant amounts of water out of of the homes crawlspace would be beneficial. If placed there, if could theoretically work trouble free for years. Absorbing water at night and releasing it to the air during the day when the suns heats it up.
  • @Rosspal14
    So 1/3rd of a cup of water per pound per 24hrs (I assume?) so like 40+ pounds of the stuff to cover each persons daily consumption needs plus crazy amounts more for crops. Very practical to have a full farm field of synthetic material all covered in translucent boxes which all need to be opened, closed, and harvested each day.... these people are definitely in touch with the people of the land
  • @mattn6936
    Very exciting. Now why not make the box "funnel shaped" so that the water droplets have a more concentrated path?
  • I love how he wears eye protection whilst using the PC :P
  • I can see the water harvester as being a very important first step into hydroponics on a "large" scale, simply because one-hundred percent pure water can be readily obtained and circulated in an "enclosed" CO2 ecosystem. One possibility for removing CO2 from the air we breathe would come from the Linde air-liquefaction process. Simply by compressing the air we breathe and removing the excess CO2 from the earth's atmosphere while at the same time using the CO2 gas as a refrigerant and pumping it into the grow room for the plants to use. If it were to be possible, this could solve many problems, as well as being a highly efficient way to grow plants that can be tailored to everyone's needs, while at the same time reducing greenhouse gases from the earth's atmosphere! Thank you for this very informative video!
  • This is really an extremely interesting development for water harvesting. The following question arises in my mind: how does such a device solve the accumulation of atmospheric particulate matter (PM), which settles on any surface and after a long time turns everything into a layer of concrete? This becomes especially The case when the water molecules mix with it.
  • Thanks very much Would you please guide us about Mof-303 synthesis method?
  • @joecat916
    I hope this goes somewhere. I work scrap metal for years. I came across an unusual stand ( probably for an industrial fan) it was marked kraft cheese and made out of cast iron. It was yellow and green. I kept it as a useful item. It sat on dry shale pit. The crazy thing drew lots of moisture for some reason. I showed it to alot of people, it worked in drought. Some asshole stole it. But I'll tell you about the thing. It was weird. It actually worked!
  • @foc2241
    I'd like to know what how this idea / product worked out :)
  • MOF is the key to your research. I have the same idea, but I can't find or fabricate the MOFs in my country.
  • This can help out during droughts throughout the Southwestern United States.
  • Since only a thin layer of MOF will be needed, a large yield of water can be achieved in a relatively small space, such as a cubic meter, by placing a thousand layers in that space. On the other hand, this equipment can be configured for permanent operation, taking advantage of the energy offered by the new perovskite-based solar panels and other emerging technologies. And, even more, heating the air to increase the production of water, which can reach up to 600 grams per cubic meter of air. I am Spanish and I do not know the British-USA measurement system.
  • What would happen if you used this as a medium for fungi which has a symbiotic relationship with a cyanobacteria? Could this create some kind of implosive energy production framework?