An innovative water-capture technology developed by University of Newcastle could become a key part of the futuristic $500-billion Neom metropolis planned by the Saudi Arabian government.
Laureate professor Behdad Moghtaderi said on Tuesday that a company connected with the Neom project had approached the university about using the Hydro Harvester machines in the desert metropolis.
Neom is a new urban area planned for the Saudi Red Sea coast. It includes The Line, a 170-kilometre, mirror-walled city measuring just 200 metres wide and capable of holding 9 million people. It is designed to have no cars, streets or carbon emissions.
The university's Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources (NIER) began developing the Hydro Harvester in 2018 and has two pilot machines in operation extracting drinkable water from the atmosphere.
Unlike other atmospheric water generators, the Hydro Harvester does not use power-heavy refrigeration to cool air and form condensation.
It absorbs water from the air at night with silica gel then uses solar energy or waste heat during the day to produce hot, humid air which is cooled with ambient air to extract water for drinking or irrigation.
Professor Moghtaderi said the technology worked in the desert and everywhere else in the world except in the especially arid Antarctic climate.
It can also be used to produce water for hydrogen energy generation.
Professor Moghtaderi and vice-chancellor Alex Zelinsky gave visiting Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike a tour of the university's Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources on Tuesday.
Ms Koike made her first visit to NSW on Monday and Tuesday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the NSW-Tokyo sister-state agreement.
She visited Newcastle port on Tuesday morning then inspected the university's renewable energy research projects, including the Hydro Harvester, at NIER.
Japan is the top export destination for Hunter thermal coal but also has plans to increase imports of hydrogen and ammonia, both of which are planned products of a renewable energy hub on Kooragang Island.
"Japan more likely will be an end user of technologies being developed," Professor Moghtaderi said.
"This is the first step to open up the market for the technologies we are developing."
