A research team in Korea has developed a technology that can produce drinkable water by collecting moisture from the air. It is expected to be useful in areas where water is scarce in the future.
On the 20th, the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials announced that it is about to commercialize a ‘water harvester’ using a ‘portable water collection system’ independently developed by the research team of the Nature-mimicking Research Group of Lim Hyeon. Using this device, it is possible to obtain about 3 kg of water from the air.
The water harvester has been certified by an authorized certification agency for its water harvesting performance and water safety. Currently, the technology has been transferred to Puresys, a domestic company, and a plan is in place to commercialize a variety of product lines, from portable to large-capacity.
The portable moisture capture system developed by the research team collects water by repeating the order of ‘absorption → desorption → condensation → sterilization’. Existing moisture capture systems consisted of condensers, evaporators, and compressors, such as refrigerated dehumidifiers and air conditioners. As a result, noise and weight were pointed out as disadvantages. Energy efficiency was also low.
To solve this problem, the research team used a thermoelectric generator that converts thermal energy into electrical energy and utilized the heating surface of the thermoelectric generator as an absorbent plate.
The water harvester is largely composed of an absorbent plate that captures water and a condenser plate. The absorbent plate absorbs moisture in the air and sends it to the condenser plate, where the water condenses and collects. In this process, the absorbent plate and condenser plate work by exchanging heat with each other without additional energy supply, so the energy efficiency is more than double that of existing dehumidification systems. For example, when the absorbent plate lowers the temperature, the heat from the absorbent plate moves to the condenser plate, raising the temperature to 80 degrees Celsius. This can sterilize surface bacteria in less than a minute.
Director Lim said, “In order to solve water shortages and droughts, we will work hard to build a drinking water production system that many people can drink safely.”
Reporter Choi Ji-won [email protected]
-
- great
- 0dog
-
- I’m sad
- 0dog
-
- I’m angry
- 0dog
-
- I recommend it
- dog
Hot news right now
2024-08-21 13:25:29