The precious commodity water

ScienceDaily (Sept. 10, 2010) - water is a valuable resource that is why the Fraunhofer Alliance SysWasser demonstrates how we can extract precious drinking water from the air, discover a leak in pipeline systems and even effectively clean sanitation at the IFAT Entsorga fair (September 13-17 in Munich).

As the General of Assembly on 28 July this year clean drinking water and basic sanitation are resolved Menschenrechte.Leider there is more than a billion people around the world have no access to drinking water, while more than 2.6 billion people without sanitary systems at all life - this is more than a third of the world population.

Not only that water is an outstanding economic factor because agriculture and industry consume more than four-fifths of this precious commodity these days.A United Nations study indicates that in future water importantly policy.this because strategically than oil, why 14 Fraunhofer institutes in the Fraunhofer Alliance SysWasser to use come together with sustainable water system technologies be unveiling "Research for tomorrow's water use" in Hall A4, stand 302 201 the IFAT Entsorga fair.

Drinking water from the air

Drinking water can extract be from moisture in the air, even in the desert or in the Middle a megacity which is a technology developed by Fraunhofer required.the possible principle behind a saline solution, a tower-shaped system runs and absorbs water from the air. The hygroscopic brine is then pumped into a tank that stands a few meters tall and contains a vacuum.Then energy from solar panels condenses the brine is heated and verdunsteten salt free water brine is about a distillation Brücke.Die focused again and flows on the surface of the tower to absorb moisture in the air.

This process is based exclusively on renewable energy sources such as simple solar collectors and photovoltaic cells, which means that this method is totally energy self-sufficient. This means that it in areas functions where there no electrical infrastructure. This process is particularly suitable for the production of drinking water in arid and semi-arid areas where more water evaporates as precipitation falls.

Managing drinking water systems

How can we work best drinking water supply systems?There are leaks in the line system? HydroDyn management solution developed the researchers at the Fraunhofer together with drinking water suppliers, answers to these questions to give first of all, that collects drinking water system and modeled in the computer because that is the best way to find the optimal operational regime for these systems, or plan, such as schemes to extend over, the system can automatically locate leaks. This is the reason why this solution already in Mongolia, Libya and Saudi Arabia and at the Faculty is used for plants in several German cities.

Tracking down leaks

"There is a specific part of our precious water that gets to the consumer because of the leaking pipes and rust and instead it seeps into the ground unused.""Intelligent" probes that are check lines indoor track one of the ways Schaden.Risse or damage due to corrosion in the pipes can be localized with long-range ultrasonic waves, and these systems are ideal for fresh water and waste water pipes as well as for pipelines.

Diamonds clean wastewater

Diamond coated electrodes make it possible clean water without Chemie.Die idea is that hydroxyl radical in the water on electrodes coated with conductive diamonds formed rights.the highly effective oxidizing agents destroyed all substances that contain carbon, i.e. the organic pollution load of solvents to bacteria and pesticides.The only things that remain are harmless salts and carbon dioxide as gases to escape.This is how we can produce germ-free water without any problems.Researchers will demonstrate how this technique on your exhibition stand am Beispiel textile dye indigo Carmine works because the discolored water color in an electrochemical cell with diamond electrodes can be easily removed.

Money saving disposal

Heavy metals, cyanide salts, solvents and complex chemical connections-has eliminated heavily polluted waste water from the metallurgical or pressure constantly as hazardous waste in a costly process sending problem is the fact that pollution is strongly diluted with the share of water, sometimes as less than 90% and still mehr.Das makes it very expensive to entsorgen.Dies is why scientists at the Fraunhofer modular vacuum evaporation process have developed a low cost, where wastewater thickened in a vacuum at temperatures can waste water approx. 40 °-50 ° c required.the easily heats with waste or solar heat and desalinized water can be reused in the production.

More biogas from sewage sludge

More than 10,000 wastewater treatment plants clean the contaminated water from households, factories and restaurants in Deutschland.Das is clean water again in the rivers and Lakes released, and is the only thing that remains the use of Kl?rschlamm.Forscher at the Fraunhofer have engaged in a process to reduce the size and the mass of sewage sludge with a part of sludge with ultrasound and then mechanically zerfiel.Die deliver residues are processed in this way more biogas, which means that you are more easily drained can. this new process has been applied successfully to sewage treatment plants.

These and other solutions for sustainable water supply to your booth are researchers at the Fraunhofer werden.In presents addition the Fraunhofer water systems Alliance "Research for tomorrow's water use" in a seminar 4 pm presented September 16 in the Forum Hall B1.

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The above story is made of materials, the Fraunhofer - Gesellschaft available printed provided (with editorial adjustments of ScienceDaily staff).

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Viruses used to split water: biologically based system taps the power of sunlight directly

ScienceDaily (Apr. 12, 2010) - a team of MIT researchers has found a new way to mimic the process, with the plants the power of sunlight use water and chemical fuel parts, switch your growth. The team uses a modified virus as a kind of biological framework that can put together a molecule of water into hydrogen and oxygen atoms to share nanoscale components necessary.

Division of water is a way to solve the problem of solar energy: it is available only if the Sun sunlight to hydrogen from water scheint.Mit make hydrogen then saved and can be used at any time and to electricity to make using a fuel cell, or liquid fuels (or directly use) for cars and trucks.

Other researchers have made systems electricity share the water molecules can be provided by solar cells, but the new biologically based system skips the intermediate steps and sunlight used, the response directly to makes.Progress will be published in a paper on 11. described in nature nanotechnology.

The team led by Angela Belcher, Germeshausen Professor of materials science and engineering and biological engineering, developed a common, harmless bacterial virus M13 called so that it would attract and retain with molecules catalyst (the team uses Iridium oxide) and biological pigment (zinc protoporphyrin IX). The virus was wire-related devices could efficiently share oxygen from water molecules.

Over the years however, the virus wires together would lump and lose its effectiveness, so the researchers added an additional step: encapsulated in a Microgel matrix to hold managed to its uniform layout and its stability and efficiency.

While hydrogen from water won is the gas that would be used, such as fuel, separating of oxygen from water Belcher explains the more technically demanding "half-reaction" in the process, so your team on this part konzentriert.Pflanzen and cyanobacteria (also known as blue - green algae), says "Photosynthetic systems for the efficient oxidation of water have developed highly organized."Other researchers have tried structural stability problems have photosynthetic parts of plants, which use directly for the use of sunlight, but can these materials.

Belcher decided that instead of borrowing the plant components, your methods would leihen.In plant cells are natural pigments uses sunlight to absorb during catalysts, promote the water splitting reaction. This is the process Belcher and decided that mimic your team including PhD candidate Yoon Sung Nam, the lead author of the new paper.

"In the team system viruses Belcher just do as a kind of scaffolding, caused pigments and catalysts to line up with the correct distance to the water splitting reaction trigger. the role of pigments is"which act as antenna, the light", explains" and energy over the entire length of the virus as a Draht.Der then transmitted virus is a very efficient Harvester light, attached with these protoporphyrin IX.

"" "We use components that people have used before,"She adds", but we use biology, to organize you for us to ensure better efficiency."

Using the virus, the system itself put together to make oxygen production fourfold efficiency improved, says Nam.Die researchers hope, a similar biologically based system run the other half of the process, the production of hydrogen to finden.derzeit the hydrogen atoms from the water retained in your component protons and electrons divided, a second part of the system, now developed, this back into the hydrogen atoms and molecules would kombinieren.Das team is also looking for a more daily, less expensive material for the catalyst used relatively rare and expensive Iridium to replace this proof of concept study.

Thomas Mallouk DuPont Professor of materials chemistry and physics involved Pennsylvania State University, which don't work, saying "This is a very clever work, one of the most difficult problems in artificial photosynthesis, namely to control the nanoscale organization of components to electrons transfer prices."

He adds: "It's a difficult combination of problems before they be solved or any other artificial photosynthetic system could be actually useful for energy conversion.""To be cost competitive with other approaches to solar energy, he says, the system location that repeat response to a billion times and less expensive materials to use would have to at least 10 times more efficient than natural photosynthesis in.""" This is unlikely, that in the near future happen ", he says.""Nevertheless, the design idea that illustrated in this paper helped end an important piece of the puzzle."

Belcher is not even speculation about how long it may take to develop this into a commercial product, but says that two years you expected to have, a device of prototype that can perform the entire process of splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen, using a self-sustaining and durable system.

Financing was Italian energy company ENI, provided by the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) by it.

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The above story is from materials available provided by Massachusetts Institute of technology (with editorial adjustments of ScienceDaily staff) abgedruckt.Der original article was written by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office.

Journal reference:

Yoon Sung Nam, Andrew p. Magyar, Daeyeon Lee, Jin Woong Kim, Dong soo Yun, Heechul Park, Thomas S. Pollom Jr., David A. Weitz and Angela M. Belcher.Water oxidation driven organically on templates based photo catalytic nanostructures for sustainable light .Natur nanotechnology, April 11, 2010 DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.57

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