SunCET - In situ performance test of an atmospheric water generation system in semi-arid region

Climate change has impacted our planet ecosystem(s) in many ways. Among other alterations, the predominance of long(er) drought periods became a point of concern for many countries. A good example is The Netherlands, a country known by its channels and abundant surface water, which has listed “drought effect mitigation” among the different topics in the last version of its “Innovation Agenda” (Kennis en Innovatie Agenda, KIA). There are many challenges to tackle in such scenario, one of them is solutions for small/decentralized communities that suffer from dry-up of surface reservoirs and have no groundwater source available. Such sites are normally far from big cities and coastal zones, which impair the supply via distribution networks. In such cases, Atmospheric Water Generation (AWG) technologies are a plausible solution. These systems have relatively small production rates (few m3 per day), but they can still provide enough volume for cities with up to 100k inhabitants. Despite having real scale systems already installed in different locations worldwide, most systems are between TRL 5 and 6. Thus need further development. SunCET proposes an in-situ evaluation of an AWG system (WaterWin) developed by two different Dutch companies (Solaq and Sustainable Eyes) in the Brazilian semi-arid state of Ceará. The cooperation with NHL Stenden will provide the necessary expertise, analytical and technical support to conduct the tests. The state government of Ceará built an infrastructure to support the realization of in-situ tests, as they want to further accelerate technology implementation in the state. Such structure will make it possible to share costs and decrease total investments for the SMEs. Finally, it is also intended to help establishing partnerships between Dutch SMEs and Brazilian end users, i.e. municipalities of the Ceará state and small agriculture companies in the region.

Eindrapportage

Climate change has impacted our planet ecosystem(s) in many ways. Among other alterations, the predominance of long(er) drought periods became a point of concern for many countries. There are many challenges to tackle in such scenario, one of them is solutions for small/decentralized communities that suffer from dry‐up of surface reservoirs and have no groundwater source available. Atmospheric Water Generation (AWG) technologies are a plausible solution. These systems have relatively small production rates (few m3 per day), but they can provide enough volume for cities with up to 100k inhabitants. SunCET proposed an in‐situ evaluation of an AWG system (WaterWin) developed by two different Dutch companies (Solaq and Sustainable Eyes) in the Brazilian semi‐arid state of Ceará. The state government of Ceará built an infrastructure to support the realization of in‐situ tests. WaterWin proved to be a good alternative for the semiarid region in Ceará. The produced water reached a maximum value of 21 L.h-1.100 m-2 and energy consumption is expected to be low (76.8 kWh.m-3) . Simulations for water production in Quixeramobim-CE were performed and showed a maximum production rate up to 6.20 m-3.day-1. For the most critical conditions it is expected that WaterWin can provide water for a community with 142 people in a realistic scenario. SunCET, also proved to be a successful project regarding the establishment of partnerships between the Dutch SMEs and Brazilian end users, i.e. municipalities of the Ceará state and small agriculture companies in the region. In a more practical aspect SunCET was of crucial importance to introduce AWG system to Brazilian market. It has broken the resistance of the local public power and private organizations and allow them to accept such possibility. Now, different discussions are being conducted with different end user/partners planning bigger steps, like the construction of a real scale system.