Researchers from the University of Texas in Austin have discovered how they can change the daily disposal into a technology that pulls clean water directly from the atmosphere.
The team used various organic materials to develop “molecularly functionalized biomass hydrogels” that extract drinkable water from the air with only mild heat, which produce nearly four gallons per day per kilogram of material-on-the bonfare three times more than typical water harvesting technologies.
“This opens a completely new way to think about collecting sustainable water, which marks a big step in the direction of practical water harvest systems for households and small community scale,” said Professor Guihua Yu, who led the research team.
The research is relevant today, given that nearly 4.4 billion people have limited access to safe drinking water, according to recent studies. That is almost 50% of the entire human population.
Expleasing water from the air is not really new, but what distinguishes this approach is the use of natural materials that would end otherwise in landfills – making it safer and more environmentally friendly. The researchers have successfully converted cellulose (found in plants), starch (from foods such as corn and potatoes) and chitosan (from sea shells) in powerful water harvesting machines.
“At the end of the day, clean water access must be simple, durable and scalable,” said Weixin Guan, another researcher who was involved in the study. “This material gives us a way to make use of the most common means of nature and water from the air – everywhere, everywhere.”
The technology works through a two -step process. Firstly, researchers confirm thermore sponsive groups to make the materials sensitive to temperature changes. They then add special molecules that are called “Zwitterionic groups” to stimulate the water absorption capacity of the biomass.
The result is a hydrogel that works somewhat such as the silica pack packages that are found in a normal dehumidifier, but with dramatically better performance and safer composition, with the help of natural materials instead of synthetica.
During field tests, the system has been shown that it is successful – a single kilogram of material that is produced up to 14.19 liters of water every day. The team says that similar technologies usually generate between 1 and 5 liters per kilogram every day.
In contrast to conventional water harvesting systems that are often dependent on energy-hungry cooling to condensate atmospheric moisture, these hydrogels only need mild heating up to 60 ° C (140 ° F) to release their fixed water-one temperature that is feasible of other processes.
This minimal energy requirement makes technology particularly promising for off-grid communities and emergency situations where power may not be available.
The Professor Yu team has been developing water -generating technologies for years, including systems that have been adapted for extremely dry conditions and injectable water filtration systems. They now work on scaling production and designing practical devices for commercialization, including portable water harvesting machines, self -sufficient irrigation systems and devices for drinking water for emergencies.
Published by Andrew Hayward
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