A team of American scientists says they have invented a system that could allow the capture of ocean moisture to transform it into drinking water, according to a study published in the journal Nature.
With climate change, “we’re going to have to find a way to increase the supply of fresh water because conserving and recycling water from existing sources, while essential, won’t be enough to meet human needs,” said Praveen Kumar, professor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), one of the authors of the study, published Dec.
“We think that our proposal can achieve this on a large scale”, he estimated.
Instead of being lost in the atmosphere, the air saturated with water would be captured by extraction structures, located on the coasts, to later be condensed and transported by pipelines to suitable deposits.
Compared to classic desalination, this method would have an important advantage: when it evaporates and turns into gas, sea water loses almost all of its natural salt. That’s why rainwater is not salty.
Thus, the system would consume much less energy and would also have a much lower environmental impact than classic desalination, which produces waste such as brine, with a high concentration of toxic substances.
According to these scientists, offshore wind farms (on the high seas) and terrestrial solar panels could contribute to powering the purification circuit.
The researchers consider that this technique reproduces the natural system, but in a targeted way.
“A vertical capture surface 210 m wide and 100 m high could provide a sufficient volume of extractable moisture for the daily drinking water needs of approximately 500,000 people.”
The scientists rely on a simulation based on 14 places where there are water supply problems, such as Los Angeles and Rome. Based on the models, this type of device could generate between 37.6 billion and 78.3 billion liters of water per year, depending on local conditions.
“Climate projections show that the flow of ocean vapor will increase over the years, which will provide even more fresh water,” said study co-author Afeefa Rahman.
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