Theoretical and experimental investigations of an integrated rainwater harvesting system for electricity and drinking water

Abstract

Most of the electricity at present is generated from hydrocarbons like coal and gas. Their combustion is polluting the environment and raising the global temperature. Hence, there is an enhancement in catastrophes like floods, tornados, and droughts. Consequently, some part of the Earth is sinking, whereas there is a dearth of drinking water in some other part. A tribo-generator-integrated rainwater harvesting system for electricity and drinking purposes is proposed in the present paper to address these issues. A setup of the generating section of the scheme is developed and experimented in the laboratory. The obtained results show that the triboelectricity from rainwater depends on the rate of droplets falling per unit time, the height from which they are descending, and the coverage area of hydrophobic material. When released from 96 cm, the low- and high-intense rain generates 67.9 and 189 mV, respectively. Conversely, the electricity from the nano-hydro generator is proportional to the flow rate of water. 71.8 mV is observed at an average flow rate of 49.05 ml/s.

Keywords: Drinking water; Filter; Nano-hydro generator; Power generation; Rainwater harvesting; Triboelectric device.

Fig. 1

Conceptual model

Fig. 2

TENG

Fig. 3

Tribo-electricity generation

Fig. 4

‘S’ pipe

Fig. 5

The time requirement for disinfecting water

Fig. 6

Triboelectric generator

Fig. 7

Nano-hydro generator

Fig. 8

Execution of experiment

Fig. 9

EMF generation by the Triboelectric unit

Fig. 10

Incremental rate of generation with the fully covered hydrophobic element

Fig. 11

Incremental rate of generation with the half-covered hydrophobic element

Fig. 12

The output of the nano-hydro generator