cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/59925291
The system can function in air with 20% humidity or less. But these 1,000 liter a day machines are not small, at around shipping container size.
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- 6️⃣9️⃣4️⃣2️⃣0️⃣@lemmy.worldEnglish4 months
Finally, I can achieve my dreams of becoming a moisture farmer.
- Hi_ImSomeone@lemmy.worldEnglish4 months
I used to work for a company making a similar device, the chemistry behind the technology is actually a well researched topic, and there are many kinds of various chemistries that can achieve a similar effect. Silica gel packets are the most common, a cheap solution that extracts moisture from the air, but is non-reusable.
These MOF compounds are useful because they have a fundamentally different method of collecting the water molecules. The framework traps the molecules inside, which can be later released with heat. Thermal solar power is free, but does require careful management of the rest of the device such that the material can get hot enough (usually around 100c), which also providing another surface to condense the vapour. I spent alot of time designing and testing such panels. They do work! I can post pictures of fishtanks of water later.
There truly couldn’t be much of a downside to these technologies. The real alternative is desalination, which produces hyper concentrated salt pools, or well water extraction, which is also bad…
The reason these technologies is usually due to the cost effectiveness to produce the material, and to build the enclosure around the material. The panels have to scale very large to get any reasonable about of solar power, plus the condensing and collecting mechanisms also add weight and cost. Water is not an expensive product, so at the end of the day, the economics don’t always work out favourably.
Happy to answer any questions about the technology.
- MolochHorridus@lemmy.mlEnglish4 months
Yet again, nobody seems to be giving a thought what this means to organisms that are living in the desert. This water is necessary for life and we’re taking it.
- 4 months
You can’t really consume water especially if you take it out of the air. Worst case you temporarily barrow it till it evaporates again it’s not like the water is suddenly gonna be pumped out to the ocean or something.
- KaChilde@sh.itjust.worksEnglish4 months
Do you think they are condensing 1000L of water to then just splash it on the ground where it was farmed? That water is going to people (or more likely companies) that are going to leave the ecosystem.
- 4 days
At how expensive it would be to get the water it wouldn’t make sense to ship the water off to somewhere else that already has water.