The absorption of atmospheric water for its transformation into drinking water or in irrigation water, among other possible uses, it is feasible thanks to its condensation, after capturing it through different mills. In this post we are going to review three interesting successful projects that manage to extract water from nowhere.
More properly said, regardless of pretty expressions but not entirely accurate, the truth is that drawing water out of nowhere is not exactly what they do, as is obvious. The water harvest is made from the mist that forms, whose water particles collect different inventions.
In fact, for several years now, the capture of mist for conversion to water has been proving to be successful in arid regions around the world. These are just one example of the very different projects that we can find, either to irrigate crops or to supply drinking water to people who do not have easy access to it.
In this way, not only is the local economy promoted, including the subsistence economy, but also the quality of life of marginal populations. Let's not forget that millions of people in the world have to walk several hours a day to get water with which to satisfy their basic needs.
The MIT project in Chile
The Acatama desert, in Chile, is one of the driest places in the world, and precisely for this reason there is a great need for water. Although the rain is quite an event due to its exceptional nature, the clouds are loaded with humidity.
Its tiny drops of water are not quite heavy enough to become rain, but they do constitute a potential source of water that manages to capture this project, carried out thanks to the fog catcher implementation.
An initiative of researchers from the MIT Faculty of Engineering, in collaboration with the Pontifical University of Chile in Santiago, has achieved that a system based on suspended meshes located on the hills where the enough mist to supply to local communities of water for irrigation and domestic uses.
Your proposal achieves a productivity greater than previous initiatives, reaching five times as much, say its creators. This is possible thanks to changes made in the spacing of the mesh, in its size and type of fiber used.
Moroccan local project
This project, implemented in Morocco, uses nets to capture the humidity. Taking advantage of the dense fog that arrives pushed by the coastal winds, enough water is obtained to supply several towns.
In total, around 400 people are provided with drinking water, and one recently expanded implemented has increased productivity significantly. Since it is a scalable system, its success means not only obtaining water but also being able to do it in increasing quantities.
It is located in the Sahara desert, and is made up of large networks that capture the drops of water that are suspended in the air to alleviate the drought that the area is suffering, known as Aït Baâmrane.
This name defines a mountainous region that politically it is a confederation of Berber tribes of Morocco, although the project is located exactly in the mountains near it to take advantage of its advantageous conditions.
As in many other regions that lack water, air currents can bring water in the form of condensed moisture that takes the form of mist, a circumstance that can be exploited, as does this system, an initiative of the NGO Dar Si Hmad .
Since its inception in 2005, the system has achieved a significant average throughput of 6,300 liters per day, increasing as it expands. Mind you, the ocean winds only bring enough fog to produce water for six months out of the year.
The system is very simple. When the fog it reaches the nets at an altitude of 1,225 meters above sea level, condenses and is then the ideal moment to capture the drops in the nets.
The next grass is to make them collect them through some pipes to finally clean it through filters fed by photovoltaic panels, being ready for distribution directly to homes through a network of pipes.
The 'twins' of the desert
The third of the projects is the work of the creative Ap Verheggen and his team, who after years of study finally set out to test their idea in a practical way. They did it in the Sahara desert, one of the most dry planet.
The results of their experiments were positive. On the one hand, they had a great ally that is not lacking in these parts, such as the strength of the sun, and on the other devices (the "twins") built to extract water through condensation.
They conducted tests in the Sahara desert that stretches across Mali, where the humidity is rather low. Even so, they managed to produce water, despite not being operating under ideal conditions, that is, those for which it was designed.
In particular, it was designed for use in the Netherlands, where the humidity is much higher, but still managed to produce water. Improving productivity, so far deficient, is the intention of the project team, christened SunGlacier. Therefore, we will have to wait a while until we know what future holds for this invention. For now, it has very positive aspects, such as working with the energy of the sun and extracting water in especially difficult circumstances.
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