Novel Membrane Device for Water Generation from Atmospheric Air

The ADMA and PNNL team will pursue this Program with the overall objective of developing a novel membrane device for harvesting of potable water directly from ambient air or other humid gas stream. This new product technology is based on recent inventions made at PNNL about preparation of an ultra thin (<2m) water-thirsty zeolite membrane film on a thin (~50m) porous metal support sheet. The membrane enables permeation of water molecule only at exceptionally high flux while blocks other molecules and materials so that the water vapor can be selectively removed and compressed from ambient air by a vacuum pump, and condensed into liquid water. The H2O molecule-specific selectivity simplifies the water harvesting process and makes it possible for production of one liter potable water per hour at energy consumption lower than the DoD target of 285W. The metal foil-like membrane and high water permeation flux enable construction of a very compact, module-type harvesting device that can be readily deployed to remote areas and adapted to operation environments. The membrane module size and weight are projected to be less than 1 cu.ft and 5 kg, respectively, for a pilot unit of two gallon per hour productivity from 40% relative humidity area at 70oF