Quote:
Originally Posted by jeff5may
Another add-on idea that is much less wacky than it sounds is wet desiccant dehumidification. Big dogs, such as FEMA, the Army, the Navy, and others call these rigs atmospheric water generators. They build the units on trailers for huge portable sources of emergency drinking water. A cooling tower collects moisture from the air by pumping a saltwater solution and outdoor air through the tower. The saltwater is then heated, and the water vapor produced is collected for distribution. The remaining saltwater is then pumped back up the tower. Common figures for these systems are 5 gallons of water produced for every gallon of gas consumed and up to 1200 gallons of water output per day per unit. Many a university has won an award by including this type of system to boost energy efficiency of their design home. No longer do the zombie apocalypse shelters need a massive fresh water store: these things work equally well off of solar energy.
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You don't even need salt for this type of system. Water itself will act as a desiccant as long as its temperature is below the dew point. With this type of system when you do the heat removal process you are effectively only removing latent heat. there is no need to add heat to power evaporation then remove the left over heat from that process.