Like vaporator farms on the sands of Tatooine, a team led by GE Research hopes to extract drinking water from thin air. Of course, atmospheric water generators are not science fiction. From ancient Incan fog fences to more modern condensation systems, people have long tapped into humidity. What the GE-led team hopes to do is apply modern 3D design, materials science and additive manufacturing to make atmospheric water mining more efficient.
The project is called AIR2WATER — a conveniently compact way of saying Additively Manufactured, Integrated Reservoir To Extract Water using Adsorbents and Thermally-Enhanced Recovery. The device will use a new class of sorbent materials called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) developed by University of California, Berkeley scientist Omar Yaghi. Speaking with Smithsonian Magazine, Yaghi explained that MOFs “have an extraordinary ability to suck in water vapor from the atmosphere, but then at the same time do not hold on to the water molecules inside their pores too tightly so that it is easy to get the water out.”
AIR2WATER will use Yaghi’s MOFs to adsorb water vapor from the atmosphere. Air flowing through a heat exchanger will cause the MOF to release the water as a liquid for collection. Researchers at the University of South Alabama and the University of Chicago will model airflow, thermodynamics and molecular behavior through the heat exchanger to optimize the sorbent material’s efficiency.
GE Research will integrate the novel material in a heat exchanger that would be impossible to make with traditional manufacturing tools. 3D printing will let the AIR2WATER prototype’s unique geometry produce enough water each day for up to 150 people.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 780 million people “lack even a basic drinking-water service”. This increases the risk of exposure to water-borne diseases and forces people to make long, risky trips to find safe water sources. As climate change makes this situation worse, the world will need new ways to bring safe water to where people live.
Although AIR2WATER has the potential to address water scarcity in arid climates, the project is funded by the Atmospheric Water Extraction (AWE) program at America’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Area (DARPA). The military research agency wants to eliminate the logistics of supplying water to troops in the field.
“Today, the logistics and costs involved with transporting water are staggering and in dangerous war zone areas, result in casualties,” explained GE Principal Investigator David Moore. “By creating a highly portable, compact device that efficiently extracts water from the atmosphere, we can save lives and ease the logistical and financial burden for our armed forces.”
Existing atmospheric water generators are too big and heavy for the Pentagon’s needs and require too much fuel to operate. By leveraging 3D printing, the AWE program hopes to create a new generation of small, lightweight and energy-efficient atmospheric water generators that support the Pentagon’s warfighting and humanitarian missions.
