A2WH.COM - Harvesting water from air
(AWG) Atmospheric Water Generator using solar energy  - a2wh.com (Air to Water Harvest)
or USA 206-601-2985 or skype: joe.at.a2wh

A2WH = Water extraction from air

How to extract high quality water directly from the humidity contained in all air.

A2WH works in Deserts and even better in humid areas.

A2WH  FAQ  reseller & distributor  CNCUtil  Free  

Overview

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Water, Water everywhere but not a bit to drink.   This has been the age old problem faced by people on the go for thousands of years.  The problem is that water is heavy so we tend to only carry as much as we have to so we need more every day.   If we don’t get it in 3 days then people start dying.  

Water scarcity is complicated by the fact much of the water available is not safe for human consumption because of biological contamination that would make us sick and we end up loosing more water than we drank as a result. In other instances there may be water all around such as ocean water but we simply can’t drink it and if we do it makes matters worse.

The A2WH answer is to use the readily available solar heat and turn it into an energy source that allows us to extract water out of the air. A2WH produces water that is cleaner and safer than most other sources and is effectively single distilled.

How it works

Man has been producing air from water for thousands of years.   Every time we set a cold glass out on a hot day water will bead up on the exterior and ultimately runs off and makes wet ring on the table.  What is really happening is the cold glass lowers the temperature of the air it is touching causing that air to cool sufficiently that it reaches it’s dew point which allows the water in the air to condense onto the glass.   The same process has been at work when a sheet of water has condensed on the windshield of a car after a cool evening or with the morning dew.

It is possible to scale this process up to produce quite a bit of water for use by humans but the historical problem is that it produced relatively little water for the energy consumed.  The other problem is that producing a ready source of cold has been expensive, energy intensive and not very mobile. 

A2WH has designed a patent pending solar thermal powered system which is fundementally different than common refrigeration based units. The A2WH design allows allow us to absorb moisture from relatively dry air with a much lower energy cost.  We use solar heat which keeps the energy costs low.   A major difference is that we can condense at ambient which eliminates the need for refrigeration which is the big electricity consumer in most other WAED units.

This allows A2WH to be deployed in large scale and to provide much lower operational costs. These combine to make A2WH scalable from a few liters per day through millions of gallons.

A2WH requires full sun exposure. This means it must be installed outside in areas without significant shade.

Water Harvesting from Air for Land owners

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There are a number of areas such as Las Vegas where people have been forced to allow their nice lawns and expensive landscaping die as a result of drought imposed water restrictions.  In other areas people have been unable to add pools or even grow a small garden because of water usage limitations.

With a single acre of land the A2WH A2WH units can produce in the range 1,000 to 2,500 gallons per day of water without having any impact on the local water company or drawing any power from the local utility company.   This provides enough water to water a decent sized lawn, drip irrigate a fair sized garden or to fill a pool conditions.   The actual production may differ  depending on region and conditions.

Water produced by A2WH is more expensive than water drawn from ground water wells but in some areas people can not obtain approval for new ground water wells and they either do not have access to SNWA city water or watering restrictions prevent them from having enough water to meet their needs.   In these circumstances the A2WH solution provides an option for obtaining additional water.

The size of this market but it will be limited to those land owners who have sufficient space to install the solar concentrators which will eliminate most people with smaller lots.

Water Harvesting from Air for Agriculture

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Millions of acres of fallow land can be seen when driving across Nevada, parts of Utah, Arizona, Texas and California . A portion of this land could be viable for farming but is sitting fallow due to lack of water. The same condition holds true in much of the Middle East and parts of Africa.

A2WH provide a unique option of producing the water needed for agriculture directly on the land with no need to import electricity. A2WH could ultimately allow millions of acres to be moved in to viable production status.

The A2WH A2WH units do not impact the local ground water and they are using a resource that is completely renewable so there is no risk of running out in the future.

The water produced in this way is much less expensive that previous WAED and AWG strategies that used immense amounts of electricity. It is still requires significant initial capital and is still more expensive than ground or river water.

At the current time producing water with A2WH is too expensive for most types of crops however in warm areas where high value crops like citrus, Grapes, Almonds and herbs can be grown then A2WH solution can be viable.

The optimal use for this technology is for use in drought induced famine areas where people are dying from lack of food.  In that instance these units could be installed sized for family level gardens large enough to keep them alive until the famine ends.

Military A2WH

The Military has special needs which make use of solar heat non-viable. This is driven by the need to deploy systems rapidly into a wide range of climates where solar heat is not viable. In addition the military users specifically asked for systems which are easy to setup and which can be easily hauled behind a trailer or vehicle mounted.

A Special version of A2WH which substitutes JP8, Diesel, Kerosene, natural gas or propane for the solar heat can be delivered.    This version will deliver up-to 8 gallons of water per gallon of fuel consumed and can be scaled from 5 gallons per day man portable units up through thousands of gallons per day for vehicle mounted or vehicle towed units. Even higher production per gallon of fuel is avaialble for larger units.

This is not a standard product but can be developed to specification for contract delivery upon request.

Drought related famine mitigation in developing countries

• Drought Mitigation
• Famine Mitigation

In some parts of Africa extended droughts have created famines of unprecedented levels. Because when people don’t even have enough water to drink they also don’t have enough for their garden.

The most powerful relief agencies such as USAID are beginning to look for ways to improve household level resilience to climatic, economic, and health shocks resulting in humanitarian crises. and "further reduce vulnerability to food insecurity by addressing its root causes

During severe droughts one of the first things impacted is the availability of clean drinking water even wells that where previously safe can become unsafe as the water table drops.   This is caused by a lower hydrostatic resistance allowing new water to flow in to the aquifer through cracks where it would normally be held out as a result the water does not’t receive it’s normal filtering and all the wells drawing on it are at risk.   The second thing that happens is the increased demand on the wells removes so much water that they either dry up all together or do not produce enough for even the smallest garden.

Relatively small A2WH units can deliver sufficient water heat tolerant cabbage plants that are quite nutritious,  grow enough every day for a bit of salad and which should grow fine on 2 cups of water per plant if carefully dispensed.   This means we can allow the family to grow at least a minimal amount of survival food during the worst of the drought.   It will not take the issue away but it will improve their ability to survive without intervention.

If they have a baseline amount of water beyond what is required for direct consumption   You can keep a single Tomato plant alive on less than 1 cup per day so 15 to 30 gallons can go a long way if it is carefully hand dispensed.  There are forms of cabbage that are heat tolerant and grow a considerable amount per day so they would provide at least some food to eat daily.

In countries like Ethiopia that are fairly humid and have a lot of sun a larger version of our Air to water unit could produce from 1 to 20 gallons a day at a cost close to $1600 in $25,000 unit quantities these will be made cheaper than the military units by eliminating some of the filters, making them quite a bit larger and making the units out of less expensive but heavier materials.

The assumption is that the family has to stay near their garden so while the unit should be movable it does not necessarily need to be man portable.

No matter what the cost these units can be incredibly valuable when there is simply no water source available it can keep people from dying. These units would have a 10 to 20 year life with minimal maintenance and if we are able to produce them in quantifies over 5 million the lifetime cost per gallon could drop as as low as 0.6 US cents per gallon.

A2WH finds this application exciting due to its ability to alleviate an incredible amount of human suffering but unfortunately there does not seem to be a clear way for those people who need it the worse to pay for it.   We are hoping the major relief agencies will find this unit exciting. And will buy a bunch at least for those people in the hardest hit areas.

Contact us for more information

Call 206-601-2985 or Send our sales department an email.