Aryan Arora

Under what environmental (temperature, humidity), geographic (proximity to fresh water) or technological (efficiency of water capture system) conditions would atmospheric water harvesting be competitive with alternative water sources, and what benefits can this technology bring to society?

Started May 16, 2022

Abstract or project description

In many areas across the world, people have minimal access to clean water for their daily uses. Atmospheric water harvesting, where clean water is condensed directly from air, is a possible solution for the generation of clean water, where it can be implemented in remote areas to supply safe drinking water. Here we will assess the viability of atmospheric water harvesting systems and we hypothesize that an evaporative cooler coupled with a dehumidifier will provide the most cost competitive clean water by simultaneously purifying water and providing air conditioning. To investigate this technology, we will construct home-built systems to harvest water from the air and purify it and compare the capital and operating costs to commercial water production costs in remote areas. Based on our results, we will assess the conditions that must be in place for our system to be efficient and will evaluate possible improvements that can be made to our system based on an analysis of current state-of-the-art water harvesting technology.