Global potential for harvesting drinking water from air using solar energy

Global potential for harvesting drinking water from air using solar energy

Access to safely managed drinking water (SMDW) remains a global challenge, and affects 2.2 billion people 1 , 2 . Solar-driven atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) devices with continuous cycling may accelerate progress by enabling decentralized extraction of water from air 3 – 6 , but low specific yi...

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Published in:Nature (London) Vol. 598; no. 7882; pp. 611 - 617
Main Authors: Lord, Jackson, Thomas, Ashley, Treat, Neil, Forkin, Matthew, Bain, Robert, Dulac, Pierre, Behroozi, Cyrus H., Mamutov, Tilek, Fongheiser, Jillia, Kobilansky, Nicole, Washburn, Shane, Truesdell, Claudia, Lee, Clare, Schmaelzle, Philipp H.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 28-10-2021
Nature Publishing Group
Subjects:
639/705/1042
706/134
706/2805
706/2808
706/703/559
Atmospheric water
Condensation
Condensers
Design
Drinking water
Energy utilization
Equipment and supplies
Geography
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humidity
Methods
multidisciplinary
Population
Regions
Relative humidity
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Solar energy
Sorbents
Sustainable development
Thermal energy
Tropical environment
Tropical environments
Water harvesting
United States
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Summary:Access to safely managed drinking water (SMDW) remains a global challenge, and affects 2.2 billion people 1 , 2 . Solar-driven atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) devices with continuous cycling may accelerate progress by enabling decentralized extraction of water from air 3 – 6 , but low specific yields (SY) and low daytime relative humidity (RH) have raised questions about their performance (in litres of water output per day) 7 – 11 . However, to our knowledge, no analysis has mapped the global potential of AWH 12 despite favourable conditions in tropical regions, where two-thirds of people without SMDW live 2 . Here we show that AWH could provide SMDW for a billion people. Our assessment—using Google Earth Engine 13 —introduces a hypothetical 1-metre-square device with a SY profile of 0.2 to 2.5 litres per kilowatt-hour (0.1 to 1.25 litres per kilowatt-hour for a 2-metre-square device) at 30% to 90% RH, respectively. Such a device could meet a target average daily drinking water requirement of 5 litres per day per person 14 . We plot the impact potential of existing devices and new sorbent classes, which suggests that these targets could be met with continued technological development, and well within thermodynamic limits. Indeed, these performance targets have been achieved experimentally in demonstrations of sorbent materials 15 – 17 . Our tools can inform design trade-offs for atmospheric water harvesting devices that maximize global impact, alongside ongoing efforts to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with existing technologies. Mapping of the global potential of atmospheric water harvesting using solar energy shows that it could provide safely managed drinking water for a billion people worldwide based on climate suitability.
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ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/s41586-021-03900-w