ERI: Renewable Water Harvesting Using Tunable Solid Bio-Desiccants for Low-Energy Regeneration

Billions of people around the world live in arid and semi-arid regions that have limited freshwater supplies. Technologies that capture water directly from air can help alleviate water scarcity. This project will transform almond biomass waste into a bio-desiccant. The bio-desiccant will capture moisture from air and release it as liquid water. The process will consume modest amounts of energy. Outcomes from the project will support circular biotechnology and bioeconomy and provide an environmentally responsible approach to securing clean water. The project will also contribute to workforce development in sustainable materials and renewable water technologies. This project will support the development of tunable solid bio-desiccant materials for low-energy renewable water harvesting. The project will design and validate bio-derived sorbent materials that integrate porous biocarbon scaffolds with ionic liquids. The material will capture atmospheric moisture and release liquid water under modest thermal inputs. The scope of the research will span material synthesis, performance evaluation, and system-level validation. The project will 1) synthesize and optimize tunable solid bio-desiccants derived from agricultural biomass; 2) establish quantitative relationships between material properties and durability, sorption capacity, and regeneration energy requirements; and 3) integrate optimized bio-desiccants into a renewable water harvesting prototype to evaluate water production rates, regeneration efficiency, and operational stability. The project will establish design principles for scalable and energy-efficient renewable water harvesting technology. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. NSF Award ID: 2552777 | Program: 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT | Principal Investigator: Venkateswara Kode | Institution: University of Tennessee Chattanooga, CHATTANOOGA, TN | Award Amount: $199,516 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2552777 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2552777.html