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Atmospheric Water Generation (AWG) systems are innovative technologies which make possible to supply drinking water to regions without any nearby surface or groundwater source. Despite having real scale systems already installed in different locations worldwide, most systems are between TRL 5 and 6. Thus, need further development. NeBraWaTech purpose an evaluation of an AWG technology in the semiarid region of Ceará- Brazil. Initially, Dutch rainmaker was proposed to perform the tests. Dutch rainmaker is a machine that can produce up to 5,000 L/day. Inside the machine, the air (preferably above 15 °C and containing at least 30% humidity) passes through a heat exchanger, where it is cooled and brought to condensation. The water droplets are then collected.
Nebrawatech comprised of different activities. First, a scanning report was made to compare AWG technologies with currently used solutions. Secondly a seminar was organized in December 2021 in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil to discuss with local authorities and potential partners. The third phase composed of in situ tests, but could not be performed with a real scale system, due to delays caused by Covid pandemics. Instead, a small scale system was tested (village pump). The results presented showed that the technology could be a good alternative for the water truck system (currently solution for a lot of communities in the region). No tests could be performed in-situ . The system was tested in a reservoir pointed by the water and sanitation company of Ceara (CAGECE) called cude Forquilha. The transport to the reservoir with Village Pump was supported by the Foundation Cearense for Meteorology and Water Management (FUNCEME). Results have shown that systems like Village Pump can be directly used in communities and save costs and reduce the environmental impacts caused by the operation. However, upscaling aspects have to be investigated.
Air-to-Water (A2W) systems are innovative technologies which make possible to supply drinking water to regions without any nearby surface or ground water source. Such systems use green energy (solar, wind) to condense air humidity and provide fresh water in rather remote locations. As water production is area dependent, they operate at relatively small fluxes (few cubic meters per day, per unit), which makes them especially suitable for small isolated communities that are not supplied by municipal water supply services. Even though they have reached quite high technology redness level (TRL), in-situ, real scale, tests are still required to optimize energy performance and evaluate production at very specific meteorological conditions. In this project we propose an in-situ evaluation of the performance of a real scale A2W system produced by a Dutch company (Dutch Rain Maker, model AW-25) in the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil. The cooperation with a HBO institute (Water Technology lectoraat, NHL Stenden) will provide the necessary analytical and technical support as well as extra expertise to conduct the tests. The project uses the opportunity given by the state government of Ceará State which built an infra-structure to provide space for in-situ tests for experts and companies who would like to test water technology solutions for arid regions. Finally, it is also intended to help establishing partnerships between European SME and Brazilian end users, i.e. municipalities of the Ceará state and small agriculture companies in the region.