Practical water production from desert air.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 29888332.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.aat3198 and PMC identifier 5993474.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC.
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Abstract
Energy-efficient production of water from desert air has not been developed. A proof-of-concept device for harvesting water at low relative humidity was reported; however, it used external cooling and was not desert-tested. We report a laboratory-to-desert experiment where a prototype using up to 1.2 kg of metal-organic framework (MOF)-801 was tested in the laboratory and later in the desert of Arizona, USA. It produced 100 g of water per kilogram of MOF-801 per day-and-night cycle, using only natural cooling and ambient sunlight as a source of energy. We also report an aluminum-based MOF-303, which delivers more than twice the amount of water. The desert experiment uncovered key parameters pertaining to the energy, material, and air requirements for efficient production of water from desert air, even at a subzero dew point.