Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
such as the
cacoutus fallax
have a unique hierarchical three-dimensional (3-D) arrangement
formed by the leaves and ine hairs covering them, which are responsible for the reten-
tion of water droplets on foliage. These ine hairs literally wrap around the water droplet
in a 3-D fashion. This 3-D structure is more similar to nanostructured hydrophobic sur-
faces. Parallel to these efforts, and under the direction of the author (Ahmad) [31], who was
inspired by the nanostructure of the Namib beetle, research was initiated by mimicking
the basic structure of an insect's shell. While incorporating in the design and testing a new
mesh impregnated with hydrophilic and hydrophobic nanoparticles on opposing faces of
the fog fence, a successful project has ensued, and has shown to be a feasible method of
optimizing capture in an area of high concentration of mists on the west coast of Saudi
Arabia [32-35].
The existing PAFCs worldwide would need to be upgraded with new shapes, fabrics, and
framework types by incorporating the principles of lightness, transformability, portability,
and polyvalence [36] for them to be eficient. Some progress is typiied by a lightweight,
polyvalent, and modular space frame fully wrapped with a light hydrophobic mesh that
can collect fog and also acts as a shading/coating device and a soil humidiier for greenery
and potential inhabitation. It can be easily adapted on lat or uneven grounds [37].
29.4 Materials and Methods
Careful consideration has been given to a new design that would capture other atmo-
spheric water resources (haze, mist, drizzle, rain, ice, and snow) also present in those lati-
tudes but practically nonexistent in arid areas. The art of the design of equipment begins
with applicability to the various conditions as needed with the equipment used in dry (yet
not arid) areas that were beginning to have problems with the quantity and quality of the
drinking water available.
The concentration of efforts on the target goals returns us to the original LFCs. In the
year 2000, a new design range of equipment available for AWC was devised, and later in
2001 circular and polyhedral conigurations for slow mists or watertight channeling were
introduced. The stations were installed for demonstration purposes by different agencies
(Fig u re 29.3).
A brief analysis detected immediately that a rural environment where no water was
available but with values that ranged from 1400 to 2000 microsiemens was the ideal con-
dition for the deployment of these new PAFCs. Under such conditions, the project was
able to produce water not only for consumption for drinking or for domestic use but also
for sustaining cattle and irrigation. The water made available fulilled the consumption
regulation of untreated groundwater dictated by the EU and World Health Organization.
Prediction of the amount of water is a heterogeneous natural phenomenon both in the
composition of each face in a given frontal section. Its composition over a period of time
was measured, and its relationship to yields was established.
It has become clear that not just any SFC fence section of 1 m
2
could be extrapolated to
the rest of the square footage of the fog fence, and that the mass of water found in the fog
bank itself differed from the rest of the collection sites and with the passage of time. A sta-
tion that can be monitored 24 h/day, and if possible with real-time data, can detect chang-
ing weather conditions constantly and allow conclusions devoid of serious errors, which
is necessary to identify how much water is actually in the mist and how much reaches the
