The Catalyst Review May 2024 - 6

SPECIAL FEATURE
Production Advances
for Fresh Water
By Dr. Frits Dautzenberg and Connor Sokolowski
ABSTRACT
The UN has designated freshwater as a limited resource, irreplaceable and fundamental to all human well-being, and is
encouraging recycling and conservation. Climate change caused by increasing greenhouse gas emissions will have a significant
impact on water production, because the energy emitted by the sun influences the global temperature and evaporation of the
oceans and thus, rainfall. It has been estimated that the amount of freshwater is 117 Million Gigatons including groundwater,
lakes, and rivers, which is only 0.79% of the total amount of water on earth. Using electrical power, several water generator
systems can provide substantial amounts of fresh water. Based on physical engineering and catalysis principles, new innovative
technologies are under development, applying metal-organic framework materials, or hydrogels and sunlight power. In many
situations around the world, the production of high-quality desalinated water is becoming a growing, but expensive option
using reverse osmosis. This approach is already producing more than 97.2 million cubic meters per day, but much more will be
required. Meanwhile, the production of clean freshwater is an important requirement in the world, and exploring alternative
approaches to cover the growing freshwater demand is critically important.
1. Introduction
Climate change conditions have had a profound impact on all the Earth's natural systems, but one of its most frightening impacts is that
on water. Freshwater is a crucial resource, fundamental to human survival and, by extension, sustainable socio-economic development,
but shortages of it are expected to increase by 2030. Thankfully, there are several methods being developed to produce freshwater,
including retrieving water from the atmosphere, desalination, and other important freshwater production products that are already in
development around the world. Materials science solutions will provide accelerated solutions.
2. Production of Freshwater
There are several ways to " produce " freshwater, including pulling water from the atmosphere, collecting water from lakes and
reservoirs, and pulling water from dew and fog.
Amount of water on Earth.
Figure 1 shows the water distribution on earth. The
water in the oceans, seas and bays is estimated
to be 134 Million Gigatons, with the amount of
freshwater being 117 Million Gigatons. The data
indicates that most of the Earth's water is in the
oceans, seas, and bays, which is about 97.5% of the
total amount of water on earth. However, this does
not account for freshwater in ice caps and glaciers,
which accounts for more water than any other
freshwater resource on Earth. The amount of water
in the atmosphere is only a small fraction of the
total water on earth but is especially important as
a greenhouse gas to keep the planet at a tolerable
temperature.
There are many lakes with freshwater around the
world. Lake Baikal and the Great Lakes in North
America are considered the largest in terms of
water content. Lake Baikal is situated in southern
Siberia, is 636 km long and 79 km wide and has the largest surface area of any freshwater lake in Asia, at 31,722 km2
lake in the world at 1,642 m, containing 23,610 km3 of water. The bottom of the lake is 1,186.5 m below sea level.
Figure 1. Water distribution on earth.
Source: Author based on https://www.theworldcounts.com
. It is the deepest
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The Catalyst Review
May 2024

The Catalyst Review May 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Catalyst Review May 2024

The Catalyst Review May 2024 - 1
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https://www.nxtbook.com/catalyst/catalystreview/TheCatalystReviewNovember2024
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