Interesting article on “Atmospheric Water Generation” companies and technologies published on the Aquatech web site. It says Zero Mass Water, which makes the Hydropanel product, is one of an estimated 32 companies actively selling such devices and 71 companies in all. ZMW has attracted a lot of attention because it received a very big investment from famous investors.
The article puts the product in perspective: it is very expensive water. It does not scale up, there will never be community solar water arrays. There are other companies selling similar products. Investors hope this is the beginning of a successful technology.
One point that I notice is that the product explicitly is making drinking water. The distilled water has minerals added so it tastes good.
Solar arrays and TEC’s (thermo-electric coolers) are both solid-state devices: with proper scale-up and economies of scale, there’s no limit to how inexpensively these devices can be made (per liter of fresh water made). I’m assuming in these devices (without further research) that the electricity from a solar panel is directed through a TEC, the cold side of which makes dew from passing air. So it’ll obviously work better at night, and in areas with higher humidity levels. While I understand that these are currently really expensive devices, I don’t see a reason they cannot undergo the same economies-of-scale that solar panels have undergone (and Li batteries are expected to undergo): with solid-state devices its really about getting the proper material streams lined up to flow into your printing facility, which you design to be huge and to run 24/7. With no moving parts, these devices should give good service, and offer potential for reclamation at end-of-life.
The device cycles. It blows air through a hygroscopic material inside a box. When the material saturates it shuts off the fans and closes the ports, then heats the material to drive off the moisture, which condenses on another surface inside the box.
Fifteen years ago a guy living in a trailer in the Mojave Desert made a video about how to make a solar still from a hole in the ground, a source of tainted water, a sheet of plastic, and a bucket:
Interesting article on “Atmospheric Water Generation” companies and technologies published on the Aquatech web site. It says Zero Mass Water, which makes the Hydropanel product, is one of an estimated 32 companies actively selling such devices and 71 companies in all. ZMW has attracted a lot of attention because it received a very big investment from famous investors.
https://www.aquatechtrade.com/news/water-treatment/zero-mass-water-why-all-the-hate/#
The article puts the product in perspective: it is very expensive water. It does not scale up, there will never be community solar water arrays. There are other companies selling similar products. Investors hope this is the beginning of a successful technology.
One point that I notice is that the product explicitly is making drinking water. The distilled water has minerals added so it tastes good.
Solar arrays and TEC’s (thermo-electric coolers) are both solid-state devices: with proper scale-up and economies of scale, there’s no limit to how inexpensively these devices can be made (per liter of fresh water made). I’m assuming in these devices (without further research) that the electricity from a solar panel is directed through a TEC, the cold side of which makes dew from passing air. So it’ll obviously work better at night, and in areas with higher humidity levels. While I understand that these are currently really expensive devices, I don’t see a reason they cannot undergo the same economies-of-scale that solar panels have undergone (and Li batteries are expected to undergo): with solid-state devices its really about getting the proper material streams lined up to flow into your printing facility, which you design to be huge and to run 24/7. With no moving parts, these devices should give good service, and offer potential for reclamation at end-of-life.
The device cycles. It blows air through a hygroscopic material inside a box. When the material saturates it shuts off the fans and closes the ports, then heats the material to drive off the moisture, which condenses on another surface inside the box.
Here is a description (along with a critique).
https://www.globalwaterintel.com/global-water-intelligence-magazine/21/5/general/selling-water-at-150-m3-to-the-world-s-poorest-people-with-billionaire-backing
The advertised lifetime is 10 years.
Fifteen years ago a guy living in a trailer in the Mojave Desert made a video about how to make a solar still from a hole in the ground, a source of tainted water, a sheet of plastic, and a bucket:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkvBAqt5y_k
See also: Fog nets and dew collectors