Everybody needs water to survive. According to Chemical & Engineering News, each person needs approximately 50 liters of water per day to meet their basic needs. That includes drinking water, food preparation, sanitation, and personal hygiene. Despite that, around 4 billion people still do not have enough water.
In an effort to find a solution to this problem, scientists have thought of extracting water from the air. The atmospheric water harvester technology had been used for many years, and some have already improved their design and efficiency to better serve their purpose of providing water to areas where water is unavailable.
The latest one is from Spanish engineers who use the same principle of condensation in air conditioners to produce drinking water from air. It intends to deliver enough water supply for the people in Namibia.
Spanish Engineers Extract Water from Air
Reuters reported that a Spanish company created a system that extracts drinking water out of thin air to supply areas where water is not available. Enrique Veiga, an 82-year-old engineer, was inspired by his experience during the drought season in southern Spain in the 1990s. He went on to invent the atmospheric water harvester of his company, Aquaer, delivering safe water to communities in Namibia and a Lebanese refugee camp.
Veiga said that his machine uses electricity to cool air until it condenses into water, similar to the technique in air conditioning units. Unlike other water generators that use the same technology that requires high humidity and low temperatures, Veiga's invention can even work in areas with 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) temperature and handle humidity between 10% and 15%.
A smaller version of this water generator could harness 50-75 liters of water per day, but a bigger version could extract up to 5,000 liters of water per day. Veiga explained that they aim to make the machine useful for people in arid regions, so they no longer have to walk for miles to fetch water or dig a well.
Nhat Vuong, a Vietnamese refugee who is now in Switzerland, joined the cause of Veiga when he met him in a refugee camp in Lebanon in 2017. He founded the Water Inception, a non-profit organization that brought a water generator that can produce 500 liters of water a day to refugee camps.
He continues to raise funds or install solar panels in these regions to bring down the cost of electricity and reduce the environmental impacts of the machine.
Extracting Water from Air
Last June, researchers from ETH Zurich showed their new atmospheric water harvester that can work 24 hours a day without using electricity and even under the heat of the blazing sun.The device uses the same principle like any atmospheric water harvester in the sense that they extract water from thin air.
According to Chemical & Engineering News, the atmosphere contains 1.29 x 1016 liters of water in the form of clouds, fogs, and water vapor. They may be small compared to bodies of water, but they could be a major source of drinking water.
That caught the attention of many scientists and companies to extract water from the atmosphere in ways that are practical, efficient, and cheap. However, like many things, no one method is considered the best in harvesting water from the air. Different factors must be considered in using one method or device to get its optimal value and efficiency in extracting water.
Read also: Water Harvester: A New Atmospheric Technology Which Works Around the Clock With No Energy Needed
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