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Adsorption-Based Atmospheric Water Harvesting Device for Arid Climates

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Adsorption-Based Atmospheric Water Harvesting Device for Arid Climates Adsorption-based atmospheric water harvesting device for arid climates The MIT Faculty has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters. Citation Kim, Hyunho et al. “Adsorption-Based Atmospheric Water Harvesting Device for Arid Climates.” Nature Communications 9, 1 (March 2018): 1191 © 2018 The Author(s) As Published http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03162-7 Publisher Nature Publishing Group Version Final published version Citable link http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/115224 Terms of Use Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Detailed Terms https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ARTICLE DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03162-7 OPEN Adsorption-based atmospheric water harvesting device for arid climates Hyunho Kim1, Sameer R. Rao1, Eugene A. Kapustin2,3, Lin Zhao1, Sungwoo Yang1, Omar M. Yaghi 2,3,4 & Evelyn N. Wang1 Water scarcity is a particularly severe challenge in arid and desert climates. While a sub- stantial amount of water is present in the form of vapour in the atmosphere, harvesting this 1234567890():,; water by state-of-the-art dewing technology can be extremely energy intensive and impractical, particularly when the relative humidity (RH) is low (i.e., below ~40% RH). In contrast, atmospheric water generators that utilise sorbents enable capture of vapour at low RH conditions and can be driven by the abundant source of solar-thermal energy with higher efficiency. Here, we demonstrate an air-cooled sorbent-based atmospheric water harvesting device using the metal−organic framework (MOF)-801 [Zr6O4(OH)4(fumarate)6] operating in an exceptionally arid climate (10–40% RH) and sub-zero dew points (Tempe, Arizona, USA) with a thermal efficiency (solar input to water conversion) of ~14%. We predict that this device delivered over 0.25 L of water per kg of MOF for a single daily cycle. 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. 2 Department of Chemistry, Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute, and Berkeley Global Science Institute, University of California–Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. 3 Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. 4 King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh, 11442, Saudi Arabia. Hyunho Kim and Sameer R. Rao contributed equally to this work. Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to O.M.Y. (email: [email protected]) or to E.N.W. (email: [email protected]) NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | (2018) 9:1191 | DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03162-7 | www.nature.com/naturecommunications 1 ARTICLE NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03162-7 nabling access to fresh potable water in desert and arid optical concentration and enabled complete regeneration with regions is a critical challenge and tightly coupled to social MOF-801. E 1 fi and economic development . Water scarcity is dif cult to Operation in such arid regions also opens an interesting avenue address in areas that are landlocked and have limited infra- for increasing water harvesting output with passive radiative structure, such that mature water purification technologies, i.e., cooling by leveraging the typically clear sky. The clear night sky reverse osmosis and multi-stage flash, are challenging to imple- and low vapour content in the atmosphere enables dissipation of ment. Atmospheric water generators (AWGs) can take advantage long-wavelength (infrared) thermal radiation from the device to of solar energy via photovoltaics (refrigeration-based)2,3 or solar the cold sky to cool it below its ambient temperature. By facing – thermal (sorption-based)4 6 to harvest moisture from air. Typical the device to the sky during adsorption, a ~3 K temperature drop AWGs utilise refrigeration to cool large volumes of air well below was achieved, which corresponds to an increase in 5–7% RH the dew point to condense water. The amount of energy con- experienced by the adsorbent. This passive cooling can lead to sumed to harvest water from the air dramatically increases as the opportunities to utilise other adsorbents that have their adsorp- humidity or ambient temperature decreases. Desert and arid tion steps located beyond the typical levels of RH in specific regions, unfortunately, have day-time relative humidities (RH; regions. Pvap/Psat, vapour pressure over saturation pressure) as low as ~10% with a vapour content of approximately 3 L of liquid water for every one million litres of air. For these conditions, the dew Results point can be sub-zero, requiring a large amount of energy to Device design and operation. Our operational principle involves freeze and collect water out of air. Though the typical night-time a single daily cycle where adsorption occurs during night-time at RH can be as high as ~40%, the lower ambient temperature a higher humidity (20–40% RH) and solar-assisted desorption/ (~20 °C) prevents water harvesting with refrigeration-based water production occurs during day-time at a lower humidity AWGs. As a result, the practical implementation of (10–20% RH), schematically described in Fig. 1a. The device refrigeration-based AWGs is infeasible3,7. consists of two key components, an adsorbent layer (MOF) and AWGs that take advantage of solar-thermal processes are a an air-cooled condenser in an enclosure. The back side of the promising alternative to capture and deliver water in arid regions. MOF layer is coated black and serves as a solar absorber. During In this approach, a sorbent is first saturated with water from air night-time adsorption, the enclosure side walls are opened and – and subsequently heated to release and condense the water4 6,8. the MOF layer is saturated with vapour from the natural flow of By selecting the desired sorbent characteristics (e.g., shape and ambient air and passively cooled with radiation to the sky. step position of the isotherm, saturation capacity, and binding During day-time water production, the enclosure is closed and energy), solar-thermal-driven water harvesting is viable and the solar absorber side is covered with an optically transparent efficient even in low RH conditions. Recently, we demonstrated thermal insulator (OTTI aerogel)9,10. The MOF layer is heated that metal−organic frameworks (MOFs) are particularly attrac- by exposure to solar irradiance, causing water release (deso- tive because they can capture more water and require lower rption). The desorbed water vapour diffuses from the MOF layer regeneration temperatures4 for its release compared to conven- to the condenser due to a concentration gradient. Accumulation tional sorbents (e.g., zeolites/silica gels or liquid brines). In of vapour in the enclosure leads to saturation conditions and addition, their step-like isotherms suggest that a small change in consequently, the condensation process occurs at ambient temperature and/or RH can lead to a large change in uptake and temperature. The heat of condensation is dissipated to the water release. Our previous proof-of-concept device showed that ambient by a heat sink. The adsorbents need to be selected based with MOF-8014, water harvesting is possible (Cambridge, MA, on the typically available ambient RH for water adsorption. USA, with ~65% RH), with a temperature differential of ~45 K MOF-801 was chosen in our study because it exhibits an between the MOF layer and condenser. While this demonstration adsorption step located around 20% RH and is well-suited for as well as several prior studies5,6,8 have shown that the approach the specific climate tested (Tempe, AZ, USA). Furthermore, is viable, demonstration under representative conditions of MOF-801 is hydrothermally stable and well-characterised for desert/arid climates has not been achieved. Here, we experi- water adsorption including having high stability to cycling water mentally demonstrate an air-cooled MOF-801-based water har- in and out of the pores4,11. vesting device operating in the arid climate of southwestern The amount of water that can be harvested in a single cycle United States (Tempe, AZ, USA) with a day-time RH as low as using MOF-801 can be evaluated based on the adsorption 10% and under sub-zero dew points. In addition, we analysed the isotherm shown in Fig. 1b. For representative conditions in our water from the adsorption−desorption/condensation process test location, with a night-time ambient temperature of 15–25 °C with MOF-801 and confirmed that the MOF compound is stable and RH of ~30% during adsorption, the equilibrium uptake is − to water and the metal ions and organic linkers do not con- estimated to be ~0.25 kg kg 1 (kg of water per kg of MOF-801). taminate the produced water. To achieve complete desorption (at ~10% RH, see Fig. 1b), with a Cyclic water harvesting (i.e., multiple adsorption−desorption day-time ambient (condenser) temperature of 30 °C (saturation = cycles a day) is challenging in extremely arid regions due to the vapour pressure, Psat 4.2 kPa), the adsorbent must be heated to = low day-time humidity (~10% RH) that prevents water adsorp- a minimum of 77 °C (Psat 42 kPa). This corresponds to a target tion, i.e., the RH is lower than the adsorption step of MOF-801. temperature difference of ~45 K between the adsorber and the Consequently, to achieve maximum water production for a single condenser. cycle, in this work, we implemented significant design improve- To attain these operating conditions, based on the computa- ments over our prior proof-of-concept4. First, we optimised and tional simulation (Supplementary Note 1), the prototype design engineered the device to completely saturate during the night- described in our prior study was further optimised and time humidity swing (20–40% RH). Second, with an optical engineered (Supplementary Note 4). A MOF layer (base of 5 concentration of less than 2× and buoyancy-assisted vapour cm by 5cm with ~3g of MOF-801) was fabricated using a transport during condensation, the overall thermal efficiency (i.e., porous copper foam.
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