Phys.org July 20, 2024 Researchers in Israel have proposed an innovative atmospheric moisture harvesting system based on a model where water vapor is separated from the air prior to cooling and condensation. The model simulated its three interconnected cycles (air, desiccant, and water) over a range of ambient conditions, and optimal configurations for different operational conditions. Compared to specifications of commercial atmospheric moisture harvesting systems their model represented saving of 5–65% of the electrical energy requirements due to the vapor separation process. They showed that the liquid desiccant separation stage that was integrated into atmospheric moisture harvesting systems could work […]
Tag Archives: Atmospheric chemistry
Researchers provide unprecedented view into aerosol formation in Earth’s lower atmosphere
Phys.org March 6, 2024 Criegee intermediates are reactive intermediates that are implicated in transforming the composition of Earth’s troposphere and in the formation of secondary organic aerosol, impacting Earth’s radiation balance, air quality and human health. Direct identification of their signatures in the field are not available. An international team of researchers (USA – Argonne National Laboratory, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory, Caltech, Princeton University, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, UC Davis, UK, Turkey, Brazil, France) has identified sequences of masses consistent with the expected signatures of oligomerization of the CH2OO Criegee intermediate, a process implicated in ozonolysis-driven aerosol […]
Scientists discover a way Earth’s atmosphere cleans itself
Phys.org April 7, 2023 Hydroxyl radical (OH) is a key oxidant that triggers atmospheric oxidation chemistry in both gas and aqueous phases. The current understanding of its aqueous sources is mainly based on known bulk (photo) chemical processes, uptake from gaseous OH, or related to interfacial O3 and NO3 radical-driven chemistry. An international team of researchers (France, USA – UC Irvine, Israel) has provided experimental evidence that OH radicals are spontaneously produced at the air–water interface of aqueous droplets in the dark and the absence of known precursors, possibly due to the strong electric field that forms at such interfaces. […]