Thread by @knowthenation

THREAD: Can a wind turbine harvest water from air?

In a conversation with Henrik Anderson, Prime Minister @narendramodi discussed about harvesting clean water from air at places with high humidity with the help of wind turbine energy..

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To overcome water crisis in coastal areas & villages, this technology could prove to be efficient. The PM further added that if the wind turbine could also be used for separating oxygen from the air, then it would be a win-win situation. He admitted that it was a challenging task

Air humidity can be absorbed & converted to water through an atmospheric water generator. Its a simple principle involving cooling the air to its dew point, until the moisture turns into drops.

This was done eight years ago by a French company whose name is Eole Water.

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Eole Water's founder, Marc Parent, thought of it while living in the Caribbean countries. Then in 2012, he installed the first wind turbine in the Abu Dhabi desert.

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The wind from the desert enters the turbine from the front & is then heated with a generator. It is then cooled with a cooling compressor. The moisture is collected at one place & finally the clean water gets deposited in a tank.

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The wind speed required for this technology to work should be at least around 15 miles per hour, i.e. a little over 24 km per hour.

Over 500 to 800 liters of pure water can be made in a day with this technology, enough to cater the drinking needs of a small village.

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This first experiment to harvest water from a wind turbine was a complete success. The company had plans to implement it in remote areas of Africa and South America, which are bereft of basic facilities.

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However, due to cost constraints, this project could not progress much. The cost of installing a wind turbine was estimated to be around five crore rupees, which cannot be afforded by poor countries, who are already struggling for water.

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Besides a wind turbine, the technique of harvesting water from wind is centuries old. 500 years ago, people of the Inca civilization had learned to collect dew & convert it into drinking water. This art helped the great civilization of South America to flourish.

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Another old method is 'fog fence'. Water is separated from the fog by placing a net vertically.

Even in today's time, harvesting water from air using an atmospheric water generator has been around since long.

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There are many companies in the Gulf countries who have been harvesting water from air since long. However, the biggest drawback of this technology is the increase in electricity consumption and global warming. That is why companies are looking for other options.

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The use of solar energy is one option and the other option is that which the Indian Prime Minister spoke about.

Now coming to the second point made by Prime Minister @narendramodi - Can oxygen be separated from the air?

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This is a more difficult procedure than harvesting water but very much possible.

In the countries of America & Europe, there have been attempts made to use wind energy for electrolysis of water.

This simply means dividing water into its two basic elements, hydrogen and oxygen.

With this technology, scientists aim to produce hydrogen on a large scale, which can then be used as a source of clean energy.

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One would appreciate that India has an environmentally aware, farsighted, scientific mind representing us globally.

As far as @RahulGandhi & his lackeys are concerned, it is understandable as to why it would be difficult for them to grasp scientific concepts other than Aloo-Sona