Skip to main content
Disciplines
Automotive Business IT + Informatics Construction + Real Estate Electrical Engineering + Electronics Energy + Sustainability Insurance + Risk Finance + Banking Management + Leadership Marketing + Sales Mechanical Engineering + Materials
Events
DE
EN
Books
Journals
Topic Page
Marketing
Start single access now
Access for companies
EXTENDED SEARCH
Log in
Top

2020 | Book

Introduction: Water Supply and Management Read chapter Read first chapter

Bioinspired Water Harvesting, Purification, and Oil-Water Separation

Author: Prof. Bharat Bhushan

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Book Series : Springer Series in Materials Science

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik"

Login to get access
insite
SEARCH

About this book

This book presents an overview of arid desert conditions and natural mechanisms for water harvesting from fog and condensation, providing data on various bioinspired surfaces for water collection. It discusses consumer to military and emergency applications. It presents various designs for water harvesting towers and projections for water collection, and describes innovative approaches to bioinspired water desalination, water purification and oil-water separation.
Fresh water sustains human life and is vital for health. However, water scarcity affects more than 40% of the global population and is projected to rise, especially in some of the world’s most impoverished countries. Additionally, water contamination is one of the most critical environmental and natural resource concerns of the 21st century. This book addresses these topics with a presentation of the development of sustainable and environmentally friendly bioinspired surfaces for water harvesting from fog and condensation, as well as bioinspired oil-water separation techniques for removing oil contaminants from oil-water mixtures and oil-water emulsions.
Intended for novices as well as experts in the field, the book offers actionable insight for practitioners, solution seekers, and the generally curious alike. It serves as an excellent accompanying text for one-semester courses in biomimetics, water supply and management, or environmental engineering.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
1. Introduction: Water Supply and Management
Abstract
Access to a safe water supply is a human right. Fresh water sustains human life and is vital for human health. Water availability depends upon the amount of water physically available, and whether it is safe for human consumption. Some of the arid regions of the world lack adequate safe drinking water.
Bharat Bhushan
2. Overview of Arid Desert Conditions, Water Sources, and Desert Plants and Animals
Abstract
Deserts have fascinated humans for centuries. They have been focus of even fictional books (Herbert 1965). A desert is a barren landscape where little precipitation occurs (Meigs 1953; Walker 1992; Costa 1995; Mares 1999; Harris 2003; Allaby 2006; Laity 2008; Greenberger 2009). A desert is referred to as an area of land that receives no more than 250 mm of precipitation per year. The amount of evaporation in a desert often greatly exceeds the annual rainfall, which results in a moisture deficit over the course of a year. All deserts are arid or dry. There is little water available for any living nature to survive. Consequently, living conditions are hostile for living nature including plant and animal life.
Bharat Bhushan
3. Selected Water Harvesting Mechanisms—Lessons from Living Nature
Abstract
Water moves continuously above and below the surface of the Earth. Bodies of water, clouds, evaporation and condensation all are part of the water cycle. Fog is composed of micron-sized water droplets that form when air becomes saturated with water vapor. Fog is a thick cloud that remains suspended in the atmosphere. Dew is the deposit of water droplets that are formed on cold surfaces, with temperature lower than the dew point, by condensation of water vapor in the air. In many plants and animals, living nature uses fog and condensation as a vital source of water, particularly in arid areas that receive little rainfall (Brown and Bhushan, 2016; Bhushan, 2018, 2019, 2020). Fog and dew always exist when the temperature decreases late at night and in the early morning. There is evidence that over 5000 years ago, hunter–gatherer groups were able to populate arid areas along the southern coast of Peru by utilizing fresh water from fog and condensation, though the collection method is unknown (Beresford-Jones et al. 2015).
Bharat Bhushan
4. Bioinspired Flat and Conical Surfaces for Water Harvesting
Abstract
It has been mentioned in Chap. 3, that beetles use surfaces, heterogeneous wettability cactus spines spider silk use conical geometry, and blades of grass use longitudinal grooves to drive water droplets for water transport and storage/use, before they evaporate. Bioinspired surfaces for water harvesting from fog have been inspired by the beetle (Garrod et al. 2007; Bai et al. 2014; Gurera and Bhushan 2019a), grass (Azad et al. 2015; Gurera and Bhushan 2019a, b), and cactus (Ju et al. 2013; Gurera and Bhushan 2019a, b, c, d; Schriner and Bhushan 2019). For water harvesting from condensation of water vapor, cactus- and spider silk-inspired conical surfaces have also been used (Gurera and Bhushan 2020).
Bharat Bhushan
5. Bioinspired Triangular Patterns on Flat Surfaces for Water Harvesting
Abstract
It has been mentioned in Chap. 3, that cactus spines and spider silk take advantage of the conical geometry to drive water droplets by Laplace pressure gradient for water transport and storage/use, before they are evaporated. Bioinspired surfaces with conical geometry for water harvesting from fog and/or condensation of water vapor have been inspired by the cactus spine and spider silk (Bhushan in Biomimetics: bioinspired hierarchical-structured surfaces for green science and technology. Springer International, Cham, 2018; Philos. Trans. R. Soc. A 377:20190119, 2019). In addition, triangular geometries on flat surfaces, inspired by cactus spines, have been pioneered by Song and Bhushan (Philos Trans R Soc A 377:20180335, 20190127, 20190128, 2019a; J Colloid Interface Sci 557:528–538, 2019d) for water harvesting from fog and/or condensation of water vapor.
Bharat Bhushan
6. Commercial Applications, Projections of Water Collection, and Design of Water Harvesting Towers
Abstract
Bioinspired large water harvesting towers and portable water harvesting towers are of commercial interest. Large water harvesting towers can be used to supply water to a community in arid regions. Portable units can be used to supply a home or a camper (Fig. 6.1) (adapted from image provided by Getty images) (Bhushan in Phil Trans R Soc. 378:20190440, 2020). Unlike in desalination, these units can be operated inland. Manufacturing and maintenance costs and energy consumption will be an important consideration for economic viability in these applications.
Bharat Bhushan
7. Bioinspired Water Desalination and Water Purification Approaches Using Membranes
Abstract
As discussed in Chap. 1, 97.5% of water is saline water, therefore water desalination is increasingly important in some parts of the world. However, water desalinization remains an energy intensive process and prohibitively expensive. In addition, water contamination from human activity affects clean water supply. Water purification from all contaminants is important (Brown and Bhushan 2016; Bhushan 2018).
Bharat Bhushan
8. Selected Oil-Water Separation Techniques—Lessons from Living Nature
Abstract
Species exist in living nature which either attract or repel water in air, and some are oil repellant underwater. By using nature’s inspiration, porous bioinspired surfaces can be fabricated which provide a combination of water and oil repellency and affinity. These surfaces can be used for oil-water separation and water purification (Bhushan in Biomimetics: bioinspired hierarchical-structured surfaces for green science and technology. Springer International, Cham, 2018; Phil Trans R Soc, 377:20180274, 201901202019).
Bharat Bhushan
9. Bioinspired Oil-Water Separation and Water Purification Approaches Using Superliquiphobic/philic Porous Surfaces and External Stimuli
Abstract
In water contaminated with oil, oil and water are not soluble or miscible. Oil-water mixtures present can be divided into immiscible mixtures and emulsions.
Bharat Bhushan
10. Closure
Abstract
Access to a safe water supply is a basic human right. Fresh water sustains human life and is vital for human health. Water availability depends upon the amount of water physically available, and whether it is safe for human consumption. Some of the arid regions of the world lack adequate safe drinking water.
Bharat Bhushan
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Bioinspired Water Harvesting, Purification, and Oil-Water Separation
Author
Prof. Bharat Bhushan
Copyright Year
2020
Electronic ISBN
978-3-030-42132-8
Print ISBN
978-3-030-42131-1
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42132-8

Premium Partners

    Image Credits