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| Front Lines: Converting Water from Exhaust Fumes |
| 2005-10-04 |
| WSJ: Subscription Required Keeping an army provisioned in the desert is a ballet of logistics, particularly when it comes to supplying two vital liquids: diesel fuel and water. Now, using technologies developed for the space program, the U.S. Army is conducting an experiment that could convert the exhaust pipes of military vehicles into water fountains. Later this month, United Technologies Corp.'s Hamilton Sundstrand unit will deliver two military Humvees to the Army for three months of testing at the Aberdeen Proving Ground outside Baltimore. Built into each vehicle's truck bed is a complex system that can recover water from engine exhaust, purifying as much as half the liquid volume from a tank of fuel. "This is one of those things where, when you first hear about it, you think the scientists have gone out of their minds," says Robert Leduc, president of Hamilton Sundstrand's flight systems business, which includes the water-recovery program. "But once you taste the water, you realize the potential." The military calculates that a soldier in the desert needs about 20 gallons of water a day, five of which must be pure enough to drink, prepare food and use for medical needs. (The other 15 gallons are for bathing, washing clothes and the like.) Water gets to the front in vulnerable, slow-moving truck convoys that require armed escorts, or it is pumped from local rivers, lakes or ponds and purified by heavy-duty filters. For the Army, the logistics of moving water limits how it can use troops. When soldiers are deployed in the field, it can easily take 40% of them to move water and other materials, often placing them in vulnerable positions, says Jay Dusenbury, science and technology team leader for the Army's Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, or TARDEC, in Warren, Mich. "Anything that can cut down on that vulnerability and enable troops to fight -- even if they have been cut off from traditional water supplies -- could be huge," he says. |
| Posted by:Captain America |
| #1 This idea has been around for a while. The main advantage the article doesn't mention is a given volume of fuel will yield a much larger volume of water. I recall 5 to 1 with Kerosene. It means you have to haul a lot less mass around. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-10-04 01:04 |