Evaluación de la Viabilidad Técnica para la Captación del Agua Atmosférica acorde a las Condiciones Climatológicas del Municipio de Facatativá / Evaluation of the Technical Viability for the Atmospheric Water Capture according to the Climatological Conditions of Facatativá, Colombia

Abstract

The aim of this work was to determine the technical feasibility to obtain atmospheric water according to the weather conditions in Facatativá, Colombia. Atmospheric water capture is an alternative source for a population with limited access to water resources. This problem is especially serious for vulnerable communities that require the development of new sources of water supply. For the development of this work, three phases were considered: Climatological dataset related with relative humidity and temperature in Facatativá were obtained from the IDEAM Villa Inés Station for the period 2006 - 2016. With these data the maximum amount of condensable water per kilogram of air and operating ranges for the experimental setup were calculated. The second phase involved of an experimental setup consisting of a glass chamber connected to two Peltier cells. Saturated air was fed into the chamber. A 24 factorial design was carried out where the factors were the air inlet flow and the temperature. The humidity and temperature data of the outlet air were obtained by means of electronic sensors. Finally, the interpretation of data and results of the water obtained were used to calculate the efficiencies of the process. The results of this work demonstrate the technical feasibility of obtaining water from humid air and propose improvements for the establishment of future assemblies.