News - China creates system that successfully harvests water from air

Researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China have developed a groundbreaking technology that uses solar power to extract water from the air, offering a potential lifeline to those living in dry, sunny regions, reports AIP: Applied Physics Reviews. Despite significant advances in the lab, the productivity of the freshwater extraction process is still limited by slow adsorption kinetics, high heat of vaporization of water, and condensation efficiency. However, the tests conducted showed the potential to obtain 3.82 liters of water per 1 kg of sorbent per day in summer and 2.98 liters of water per 1 kg of sorbent in winter, at about 60% and 30% relative humidity, respectively. Advances in solar water extraction from the air open new prospects for solving the problem of freshwater availability in real conditions. The implementation strategy proposed in this study promises an efficient path to the introduction of this technology, confirming its adaptability and the possibility of high freshwater production in practice.