Team:UGent Belgium/Design
Design
Introduction
The right of access to water is a fundamental human right. For the first time in history, the global demand for freshwater is overtaking its supply in many parts of the world. The U.N. predicts that by 2025, more than half of the countries in the world will be experiencing water stress or outright shortages. The former United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, states the 'Lack of access to water for drinking, hygiene, and food security inflicts enormous hardship on more than one billion members of the human family'.
Our project wants to design an optimized modular shape/surface for condensation and subsequent freshwater collection by gravity to solve the fact that in 2025, more than half of the countries in the world will be experiencing water shortage. To achieve this, Our modules will be 3D printed in an innovative desiccant filament that allows us to bind ice-nucleating proteins. The project primary focus it to enable bioprecipitation and recover freshwater by passive atmospheric condensation. Being able to functionize 3D-printed shapes with biologicals has a plethora of potential applications.
Comparison to other projects
There are already some potential solutions to water scarcity based on atmospheric water generation:
- There are fog catchers in Lima, Peru. Lima receives very little rainfall during the year, but is covered in thick sea mist from June to November. By building 5 fog catchers and planting over 1000 trees they were able to use water that was otherwise not used (from the fog), instead of water from the dwindling aquifers in Lima. The planted trees, by self-irrigating, help the restoration of the natural water cycle in the region. In addition, the trees help stabilizing the hill slopes and reduce soil erosion.
- There is Watergen, a company that describes its vision as follows: “Water-gen’s vision is to provide humanity with an abundant, renewable source of fresh, clean drinking water, by extracting it directly from the air, our most abundant water resource.” The products they develop, however, need electricity, which is not always and everywhere available in Third World Contries.
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Another ongoing project is WaterSeer. It consists of a device that is planted at two meter under the ground, with a wind turbine head that sits above the ground. This turbine directs air into the underground condensation chamber, where water is collected. A pump is attached for easy access to the water.
Our “DewPal” is better than Watergen because it needs no electricity. It is comparable to the fog catchers in Peru, however, thanks to the INP that is attached via synthetic biology approaches the atmospheric water capture is expected to be higher. This is because the shape is already optimized for water capture, based on the design in the article that can be found here. Also, as you can see on the picture, the shape can be screwed on any water bottle so that the water can immediately be collected. A comparison in the amount of water it catches and cost price should still be made. The cost price might be slightly higher than the fog catchers, but still, when producing this in high amounts it is very interesting. Especially for people in Third World countries facing water scarcity, especially in regions with high humidity.
Lifecycle
At this moment, our Dewpal device consists of a 3D printed shape with a screwcap, so it can be attached to water bottles. By doing this, our device has a positive impact on reducing plastic waste, as empty plastic bottles can now be used as a water reservoir, prolonging their life as such. As we can print our 3D shape in many different sizes, bottles of all sizes and shapes can be used as a water reservoir.
As the biological function of the device can deteriorate over time, you will have to renew your Dewpal from time to time, meaning we are still creating plastic waste. However, our shape team came up with a solution for this. The biological functional half sphere of your Dewpal can be disconnected from your screwcap bottom, meaning the screwcap bottom could have a nearly endless life time, while only the biologically functional part would need replacement from time to time. This disconnected half sphere could then again be coated with bacteria to prolong its life even more. Note that this design isn't implemented yet by our shape group, but will be in the future.
