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Sorbents, processes and applications beyond water production in sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting

Nature Water volume 1, pages 573–586 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Growth in the global population and the modernization of human society, along with ever-worsening climate change, is pushing already scarce freshwater resources to their limits. Sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) is an emerging process that takes advantage of atmospheric water vapour as an alternative water resource and has great potential in producing freshwater at a decentralized scale by using low-grade energy—especially solar thermal energy—in a sustainable manner. The past 5 years have witnessed great advances in AWH sorbents, system designs and new applications beyond water production. Here we utilize a unique chemical potential-based approach and critically analyse the available literature on sorption-based AWH. We provide an overview of the three-step AWH process, discuss AWH sorbents and their key features and properties, analyse water production systems, review AWH’s application to water production and beyond, and provide perspective on how managing the current challenges could lead to new opportunities.

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Fig. 1: Schematic of chemical potential variation during the sorption-based AWH process and types of AWH sorbent.
Fig. 2: Comparisons of sorption heat, \({\boldsymbol{\mu}}_{{{\mathbf{H}}}_{\mathbf{2}}{\mathbf{O}},{\mathbf{onset}}}\) and RHonset.
Fig. 3: AWH system designs and critical condensation temperatures.
Fig. 4: Geographical distributions of air temperature, water vapour partial pressure and chemical potential in January and July of 2020.
Fig. 5: Applications of AWH-based processes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology for very generous financial support

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Water Desalination and Reuse Center, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

    Renyuan Li & Peng Wang

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

    Peng Wang

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  1. Renyuan Li
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Correspondence to Peng Wang.

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Li, R., Wang, P. Sorbents, processes and applications beyond water production in sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting. Nat Water 1, 573–586 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-023-00099-0

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