Improved Fog Harvester

When we think of deserts, images of barren, sandy landscapes flood our imaginations. While deserts don’t have surface water, there’s still moisture traveling through the air above. For some time people living in coastal desert areas have been using a rather low-tech solution to capture this moisture from the sky – a mesh net. As fog rolls in from the ocean it passes through mesh, which condenses the fog into droplets of water. The condensed droplets fall into collection bins and pool into reservoirs of clear, clear water.

Although traditional fog harvesting nets are effective, researchers at MIT in partnership with the Pontifical Catholic University in Santiago, Chile have created a new mesh material that can improve water collection by up to 10%.

The researchers found that the optimum configuration for a fog harvesting net was a “mesh made of stainless-steel filaments about three or four times the thickness of a human hair, and with a spacing of about twice that between fibers.” To enhance the harvester’s effectiveness the mesh is “dip-coated” in a solution that that makes it easier for droplets to slide into its collection gutter.

Source: engineering.comAdded: 8 October 2013