Dr. Zou leads a groundbreaking research project the exercise of nanotechnology to invent cloud-seeding affords. Cloud seeding is a blueprint of climate modification that mimics what naturally happens in clouds nonetheless enhances the job by adding particles that can stimulate and hobble up the condensation job. On the opposite hand, Dr. Zou explains, “The cloud-seeding affords feeble nowadays were round for many decades. The data and techniques are out of date and their effectiveness is no longer successfully understood.”
Cloud seeding has strict requirements. To reach success, scientists need the lawful air temperature, the lawful humidity, a floor that attracts water and keeps it, after which the lawful dimension field fabric to permit condensation to blueprint on the particle.
“By the advancement in nanotechnology and nanoscience, in this deadline we’re working to maintain and engineer cloud-seeding affords with optimal properties to guarantee that water vapor condensation will happen successfully and maximize the rainfall done,” explains Dr. Zou.
Connected affords
- UAE Review Program for Rain Enhancement Science
- New UAE cloud seeding test in Texas shows ‘promising outcomes’, The National Data, August 15, 2021
Full transcript
Laurel Ruma: From MIT Technology Evaluation, I am Laurel Ruma, and here is Enterprise Lab. The show that helps trade leaders blueprint sense of most contemporary technologies coming out of the lab and into the market plan.
Our topic nowadays is cloud seeding to enlarge rainfall. Despite the incontrovertible truth that cloud seeding has been round on story of the 1940s, climate trade and population growth are riding scientists to grab a closer ogle at the know-how, which could perchance offer a viable worth-effective complement to existing water affords, particularly in arid and semi-arid areas, love the United Arab Emirates.
To serve come the science, in 2015 the UAE authorities launched a brand new initiative, the UAE Review Program for Rain Enhancement Science. The target is to web other modern projects from scientists in the field of rain enhancement from throughout the field, with the winning tips obtaining a grant of $5 million to work and toughen on ideas for a length of three years. Two words for you: nanoengineered affords.
My guest nowadays is Dr. Linda Zou, who is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Khalifa University of Science and Technology. Dr. Zou leads a groundbreaking research project the exercise of nanotechnology to invent cloud seeding affords.
She used to be awarded a grant by the UAE Review Program on rain enhancement science from 2016 to 2019. Dr. Zou’s research interests contain making exercise of nanotechnology and membrane science to the pattern of low energy and excessive effectivity new desalination and water purification choices. This podcast is produced in partnership with the UAE Pavilion Expo 2020 Dubai. Welcome, Dr. Zou.
Dr. Zou: Thank you, Laurel.
Laurel: You were with out a doubt some of the first scientists on this planet to explore the exercise of nanotechnology in cloud seeding. Why are you unprecedented about this diagram of research?
Dr. Zou: The cloud seeding affords feeble nowadays were round for many decades. The data and techniques are out of date and their effectiveness is no longer successfully understood. By the advancement in nanotechnology and nanoscience, in this deadline we’re working to maintain and engineer cloud seeding affords with optimal properties to guarantee that water vapor condensation will happen successfully and maximize the rainfall done.
Laurel: Cloud seeding is a blueprint of climate modification that mimics what naturally happens in clouds nonetheless enhances the job by adding particles that can stimulate and hobble up the condensation job. Might perchance perchance perchance you demonstrate in extra detail how cloud seeding works?
Dr. Zou: In the pure water cycle in the field, the sun irradiates on the floor of our planet and the water on the floor is evaporated by the warmth as the vapors. The small vapors upward thrust into the ambiance with out condensation nuclei, that are exiguous particles. They proceed to be as vapors in the air and journey elevated and extra.
The pure occurring condensation nuclei are corresponding to dirt particles, volcano flash, or pollens. Sadly, such field fabric is unpredictable, the set up and how great accessible. On the opposite hand, cloud seeding observe is to release artificial seeding affords as nuclei to originate the water vapor in the cloud to condense into droplets and promote the formation of tall droplets till they develop spacious ample to drop as rain.
Essentially the most well-known components of a successful cloud seeding operation contain, first, figuring out the wonderful cloud for seeding. Second, having the atmosphere friendly seeding field fabric for water droplet formation.
Laurel: To successfully cloud seed, you want a necessity of issues: the lawful air temperature, the lawful humidity, a floor that attracts water and keeps it, after which the lawful dimension field fabric to permit condensation to blueprint on the particle. Is that lawful?
Dr. Zou: Yes. Yes.
Laurel: Despite the incontrovertible truth that cloud seeding has been round for decades, how does nowadays’s know-how journey it in direction of a elevated success rate?
Dr. Zou: As we know, the worldwide water scarcity has continually intensified by rapidly population growth and economic pattern in some unspecified time in the future of the field. Ragged water resources corresponding to rivers, lakes, and groundwater own turn out to be very little, which is riding scientists and engineers to ogle for replacement water resources.
Atmospheric water is one such replacement helpful resource. For the time being, all imaginable choices that will perchance web to the bottom of the water scarcity wretchedness wants to be examined fastidiously.
Nanotechnology can engineer field fabric and maintain the topic fabric with successfully managed dimension, shapes, and properties. So it has a spacious chance to toughen its effectivity.
Laurel: Your research makes a speciality of the cloud seeding field fabric itself, particularly the nanomaterials as you mentioned, which is a extra effective tool in producing rain from existing clouds. What are outdated skool cloud seeding affords, after which how does nanotechnology come into play?
Dr. Zou: The outdated skool cloud seeding affords contain mostly hydroscopic salt combination, which is ready to trade from salt crystals into water droplets at the lawful condition. The transport of this salt is to vaporize them by ignition by a flare instrument. This salt vapor then will recondense as very exiguous particles. Since the job is random and unsure, the blueprint and dimension of the particle can’t be managed and most are potentially too exiguous to be effective cloud seeding affords.
The outdated skool cloud seeding field fabric can handiest be activated at a extremely excessive relative humidity in ambiance in the cloud, corresponding to elevated than 75% relative humidity. In my project, now we own changed the floor of the topic fabric to blueprint it extra reactive so it is miles going to work at a lower and wider relative humidity to blueprint it extra inclined to happen.
To reach this, we exercise the nanotechnology to deposit titanium dioxide nanoparticles as a shell layer and sodium chloride crystal core. This nanoengineered shell core structured field fabric is also activated at great broader relative humidity prerequisites corresponding to about 65%. Since the lined nanolayers are extra hydrophilic and porous, the water is also absorbed with out problems and enlarge the local relative humidity of the crystals and enlarge the chance of forming water droplets. So it is miles a synergistic stay.
Laurel: It’s likely you’ll perchance own moreover developed one more blueprint of know-how, ice nucleating particles. How enact those review to cloud seeding affords?
Dr. Zou: Yes. As you know, icy clouds with sub-zero temperatures are moreover camouflage in the ambiance. They’re product of many tall cooled water vapors, so even though they are below zero, they proceed to be as vapor. Once such cloud encounters the ice nucleation particles, they all with out prolong blueprint a tall need of ice crystals and bypass the liquid water fragment. So that they blueprint tall cool vapor and crystallize into ice particles.
Ice nucleation is serious. This could occasionally originate from the skinny water layer formed on the floor of the ice nuclease, and the ice will develop all with out prolong at the expense of the water vapor in the cloud. We designed and fabricated a porous nanocomposite of 3D reduced graphite oxide and silica dioxide nanoparticles. This field fabric can originate ice nucleation adopted by rapidly growth ranging from a temperature of minus 80 degrees. This temperature is great elevated than most other diagnosed ice nucleate field fabric. Typically they require minus 25 degrees or even lower.
Laurel: Right here’s very serious on story of the cloud seeding affords journey very excessive up into the ambiance the set up it is extremely icy, lawful?
Dr. Zou: Yes. The elevated you journey up to the ambiance, rapid transferring into subzero and essentially icy.
Laurel: In the previous, with out a doubt some of the challenges scientists encountered when researching cloud seeding used to be the dearth of a simulation atmosphere. You took this on as fragment of your research. What did you invent and how will it facilitate future research?
Dr. Zou: It’s miles a say space and I own collaborated with the Cloud Microphysics Modeling International group. The innovation of my project is the characteristics data we bought from the experiment. This data describing my new seeding affords property and their interactions in ambiance. So we can exercise them as enter to invent one-dimensional and three-dimensional modeling of precipitation enhancement ended in by cloud seeding, and the outcomes demonstrate somewhat successful.
Laurel: Might perchance perchance perchance you describe that climate chamber that you feeble for your experiments? What are the challenges with then deploying the topic fabric out in the valid world?
Dr. Zou: The cloud chamber is a three-dimensional experimental atmosphere. They vary in dimension. There’s a exiguous one, a medium one, and a tall one. The exiguous one will be 20 meters and the tall one will be love a constructing. I feeble an eight cubic meter chamber with managed humidity and temperature. A instrument at the pause of the chamber releases the seeding affords.
Straight away after the seeding is released, the digital equipment, that are digital optical cameras, will rapid grab many, many pictures to story the image while the seeding field fabric’s falling. Then we can later analyze at what stage the droplets formed and at what quantity and dimension of the droplets. We can enact a spectrum analysis and to search out out their vapor condensation, the droplet formation, and the scale and the necessity of the droplets. Utilizing this data is terribly factual to review the performance of assorted affords, and we did that widely.
Laurel: Then in the valid world the set up we ought to not own this managed chamber, or no longer it is miles no longer somewhat as straightforward essentially to measure that blueprint of success.
Dr. Zou: Yes, you are lawful. In the originate atmosphere, or no longer it is extra tough.
Laurel: Your research signifies a milestone in direction of achieving elevated water safety on this planet. What blueprint of stay can cloud seeding doubtlessly own on a nation, love the UAE, which on the total handiest details four inches of rain in a year?
Dr. Zou: Yeah. UAE is in the arid climate zone, and the authorities has already taken the initiative of this UAE research program for re-enhancement science. We name them UAEREP [United Arab Emirates Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science]. My research work has been supported of their first cycle and obtained lovely worldwide exposure.
At the moment time, alongside with the National Heart of Meteorology of the UAE, we can gaze the applying of these new seeding affords in valid operations very rapid in some unspecified time in the future of UAE to enlarge the rainfall.
Laurel: Motivate to your know-how, you filed a patent on the cloud seeding field fabric itself. What are you engaged on now, and what are you interested by next?
Dr. Zou: Yeah. One patent is filed on the titanium dioxide, sodium chloride field fabric for warmth cloud seeding, and one more patent is filed for porous graphite oxide, silica dioxide, nano compensated for icy cloud seeding.
For the time being, I am working collaboratively on a project to review the outcomes of these affords in the originate air. A bunch of pilots is conducting an investigation by releasing the seeding affords and in valid time taking pictures and inspecting them. Or no longer it is very promising to grab extra regarding the outcomes of this seeding field fabric.
On the opposite hand, I am moreover dedicated to the dimension up of the production, decrease the price, and the applying of the affords. We are having a peek ahead to transferring the seeding affords from laboratory to the business endeavor for no longer handiest cloud seeding capabilities, nonetheless wider capabilities, corresponding to different climate modification efforts, in conjunction with agriculture or slash safety, hail, or storm suppression, and the synthetic snow making at the ski resort. Yes, such fashion of capabilities.
Laurel: Absolutely, a necessity of imaginable business ventures. It’s likely you’ll perchance very successfully be moreover pursuing funding initiatives at this point too, on your research. Is that lawful?
Dr. Zou: We are attempting to journey the affords, as I mentioned, from laboratory already and scale up, so it has a gamble of reaching the market and to reach many completely different capabilities of the field as successfully, on story of there are such quite lots of worldwide locations worldwide that observe climate modification.
Laurel: Dr. Zou, thank you so great for being with us here on the Enterprise Lab. This has been an absolute, unprecedented conversation.
Dr. Zou: Thank you for having me.
Laurel: That used to be Dr. Linda Zou, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Khalifa University of Science and Technology, who I spoke with from Cambridge, Massachusetts, the dwelling of MIT and MIT Technology Evaluation, overlooking the Charles River.
That’s it for this episode of Enterprise Lab. I am your host, Laurel Ruma. I am the Director of Insights, the personalized publishing division of MIT Technology Evaluation. We were based in 1899 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and you could perchance perchance procure us in print on the obtain and at events yearly in some unspecified time in the future of the field. For additional data about us and the show, please test out our web living at technologyreview.com.
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This podcast episode used to be produced by Insights, the personalized yelp material arm of MIT Technology Evaluation. It used to be no longer written by MIT Technology Evaluation’s editorial group.
