Global water yield strategy for metal-organic-framework-assisted atmospheric water harvesting

Abstract

Sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting (SAWH) is recognized as a promising strategy for extracting atmospheric moisture to provide arid regions with potable water. As appropriate sorbents are crucial for efficient SAWH, many novel sorbents have been developed in recent years. However, the lack of benchmarks prevents the accurate evaluation of sorbents’ performance for system-oriented and location-/climate-specific selection. Herein, reliable models are established to analyze the global SAWH potential of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) in terms of practical water yields and energy requirements for passive and active SAWH, respectively. Moreover, geospatial guidance of the efficient MOF-assisted AWH deployment is provided based on a thermodynamic framework in combination with high-resolution global weather data throughout a year with seasonal climate variation. Overall, this study establishes benchmarks for location- and climate-specific adsorbents that will expand the application of sorbent-assisted water-harvesting technologies in effective off-grid water-supply systems in water-scarce regions.