One of the design decisions that distinguishes our concept from other devices designed to collect atmospheric moisture is our choice of desiccant, a chemical compound that absorbs water from thin air. We use a metal-organic framework, MOF-801, which is the most effective water adsorber in low relative humidity (such as here, in Arizona). MOF-801 is at the center of our design, but during our initial tests, we were unable to get hold of this item due to budgetary restrictions and our lack of access to proper lab equipment.
After we won the grant, we were able to make contact with a scientist who taught us more about MOF-801 and helped us obtain the material. Our initial design consisted of a 2 kg block of MOF-801, but our contact was only able to give us about 5 grams of the material, and our design had to be scaled.
In the production of MOF-801, a solvent is used to clean the material, after which it is flushed with water. Unfortunately, during the flushing process, some residue can remain and taint collected water. With this in mind, our contact informed us of a “green” synthesis method which doesn’t require solvent and is better for the environment. With this new synthesis method, the produced water is potable, but it is infeasible to produce it in block form, so we used packets (like the silica gel packets in food) instead. We had to further revise the design to use these packets.
We are looking forward to carrying out experiments on the MOF, and testing it in an actual prototype.