Gel film can produce water in the desert

More than a third of the world’s population lives in dry areas with severe water scarcity. Here’s the University of Texas at Austin made one gel film low price. It works in take water out of the air even in the case of dry climate. This gel consists of two common low-priced ingredients.

one is there cellulose derived from plants and then the konjac chewing gum, a hydrophilic food additive. The cost is $2 per kg. In addition, a single kg produces more than 6 liters of water daily, even in areas with a humidity of less than 15%. On the other hand, 13 liters in areas with humidity up to 30%. More than 70% of the collected water is released in ten minutes, heating the gel to 60°C.

Here is the mechanism of action of the gel. The porosity of konjac gum helps with to establish frommoisture from the airthan the cellulose, yield thermoreactive, release it immediately as soon as it heats up. The whole process consumes very little energy. The film is malleable depending on your needs.

The gel takes 2 minutes to harden easily (in a mold). Therefore, it only needs to be freeze-dried and can be removed and used immediately afterwards.

Weixin Guan, one of the study participants

If you’re a to use it is a storage correct, the gel lasts for months in areas with humidity below 40%. Things change in more humid environments.

If the gel film is too thin and absorbs a lot of water in a short time, the structure can be changed.

Youhong Guo, study coordinator

As an option to the problem, it is possible to optimize the cycles of use and to release the collected liquid before the gel is saturated.