Evaluation and analysis of freshwater from atmospheric moisture as byproduct of air-cooling units in Oman

Abstract

Providing water for different uses to maintain life activities is a target for many nations. So, managing the existing water resources and finding new water sources are essential for any nation's water security. In the present article, 4 years daily meteorological data, such as relative humidity, air-temperatures, and global solar irradiation were analyzed to support the explanation of high-level humidity in the coastal plains of Oman, and the effect of that on water production from atmospheric moisture. What applies to the coast of Oman is also valid on the coasts of the Gulf Cooperation Council. It is found that the annual mean value of the RH% along the Omani coast is about 68% for 4 years (2016–2019). Also, the study of the air-temperatures data revealed very clear decreasing in the direction toward the south of Oman due to the geographical diversity. It is found that the lowest annual air- temperatures were in the far south city, Dhalkut (about Max., Mean, Min., 25, 22, 20 °C, respectively). Three years (2017–2019) of global solar irradiation data of Muscat International Airport showed a maximum value of around 7300 W/m2 in June. In addition, a part of the research work was to investigate the byproduct drain-water that comes out from big air-cooling units with a rate power of about 21.73 kW each. The result indicated that a Net Annual Rate of freshwater of about 1892 m3/year can be accumulated from one supermarket air-cooling units nearby the line coast of Oman. Also, the chemical, physical, and bacterial tests were carried out to find some parameters, such as TDS, EC, pH, and bacterial contamination. The results were encouraging towards the purity of the byproduct water, and the existing bacteria could be killed by solar energy.