Czechs in Dubai show how to extract water from the air. The unique system is also of interest abroad

The imaginary heart of the Czech pavilion at the World EXPO is the S.A.W.E.R. system. In Dubai, it is now irrigating the garden next to the Czech exposition. What was his journey from the laboratories to the World Expo?

"The name stands for Solar Air Water Energy Resource. Together, it stands for an energy-saving device that makes water from the sun and air," Tomáš Matuška from the University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings at the CTU described in January 2018.

"We use a principle essentially similar to that used for industrial dehumidification, where a desiccant can get molecules even from relatively dry air to its surface and then release them back into the air using heat."

He and his colleagues spent the following months testing the device in the laboratory in Bustehrad, in conditions similar to those in Dubai. "We were a bit surprised that reality works a bit better than theory. Now we have to integrate it into the container and then the container will go by boat to the desert for the first demonstration tests," said Tomas Matuska in autumn 2018.

Three quarters of a year later, he was standing by the Czech container in the middle of arid Saudi Arabia. There an autonomous system powered solely by solar energy produced water without any problems. "A device like this can help somewhere deep in the desert where you can't get wires and pipes, where asphalt roads don't lead."

Get water even from dry air

S.A.W.E.R. is now operating in the Czech pavilion at the Dubai EXPO and after joining up with the Czech unit WatiMin, which supplies minerals to distilled water, drinking water is also produced.

"The recuperated air is returned, and in the second part we extract drinking water from it. This treated water goes into the photobioreactor, where it is used to produce water suitable for irrigation," says Jiří František Potužník, the general commissioner of the Czech participation.

Thanks to the relatively humid air, the system in Dubai can produce more than 800 litres of water per day. But it can also work in more difficult conditions. "Other mechanisms and technologies, which are based on condensation, need more than two-thirds humidity. We are able to extract water from air that is drier than 20% humidity."

According to Potužnik, customers outside the UAE, such as Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, are already interested in the S.A.W.E.R. system.
 

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