Engineering, Management, Technology Consulting

Prototype wind turbine condenses 1,000 liters of water a day from desert air

If you live in or travel through a desert region, having access to clean water is always going to be an issue. If you can’t carry enough for your journey, you have to ensure your route allows for a few water bottle refills. But the lack of water in deserts and other arid locations may soon be a thing of the past if a new wind turbine system is implemented on a large scale.

Marc Parent, founder of Eole Water, realized that he could extract water from the air after noticing how much water an air conditioner unit collected. He decided to combine a green energy source with the necessary components for condensing water directly from the air. The end result after 10 years of R&D is the WMS1000 wind turbine, capable of condensing and storing up to 1,000 liters of water every day.

The 34 meter tall turbine requires 15mph winds for its 13 meter diameter rotor to turn and generate sufficient energy. It then produces 30kW of power for the system to function. Air is drawn in through vents in the nose of the turbine and a generator heats it producing steam. That steam is then fed through a cooling compressor to form moisture that gets condensed into water. The resulting liquid is piped into a storage tank at the base of the turbine after being purified.

As long as an area meets the wind speed requirements this is a completely self contained system. It effectively allows mass water storage in some of the most arid places on earth.

The Eole Water wind turbine isn’t just an idea. A prototype unit was constructed and erected in Abu Dhabi 6 months ago and has consistently produced up to 800 liters of water a day. With that test proving the system works, Eole is now working with a number of manufacturers to produce the turbines

Although the desert example shows off the potential of the system, the turbines can be deployed anywhere. Eole believes they can be erected anywhere that is isolated, does not have a reliable water source, in disaster areas, and as a source of wtare for organic farming where a low impact on the environment is highly desirable.

Read more at Treehugger and Eole Water