Abu Dhabi: A new nano-sized coating of titanium dioxide on salt crystals can boost cloud seeding by 100-fold and has led researchers at Masdar Institute of Science and Technology to file a provisional patent.
Work by the research team to raise levels of rainfall by up to 30 per cent could promote greater water security in the UAE, Masdar Institute said on Tuesday.
Cloud seeding works by introducing salt crystals into the atmosphere to encourage water held in clouds to condense and fall in the form of rain.
“The team found that the titanium dioxide coating improved the salt’s ability to adsorb and condense water vapour over 100 times compared to a pure salt crystal. Such an increase in condensation efficiency could improve a cloud’s ability to produce more precipitation, making rain enhancement operations more efficient and effective. The research will now move to the next stage of simulated cloud and field testing in the future,” said Masdar in a statement.
Dr Linda Zou, Masdar Institute Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, is the lead investigator of the work.
Masdar said she is “one of the first scientists in the world to explore the use of nanotechnology to enhance a cloud seeding material’s ability to produce rain”.
Zou said that using “nanotechnology to accelerate water droplet formation on a typical cloud seeding material has never been researched before. It is a new approach that could revolutionise the development of cloud seeding materials and make them significantly more efficient and effective”.
Alya Al Mazroui, manager of the UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science, said: “We are convinced that Masdar Institute’s project, under Dr Linda Zou’s supervision, will advance rain enhancement science through innovative seeding agents.”
Dr Deon E. Terblanche, Director, Atmospheric Research and Environment Branch, World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), serves as a member of the international scientific advisory committee of the UAE Rain Enhancement Programme Award.
“Dr Linda Zou of the Masdar Institute is bringing a fresh and exciting contribution to the field of rainfall enhancement. Her team’s research into the development of new seeding materials, taking advantage of nanotechnology, holds exciting possibilities and is followed with considerable interest,” Dr Terblanche remarked.
Cloud seeding
Conventional cloud seeding materials are small particles such as pure salt crystals. These tiny particles act as the core around which water condenses in the clouds, stimulating water droplet growth. Once the air in the cloud reaches a certain level of saturation, it can no longer hold in that moisture, and rain falls. Thus, cloud seeding mimics what naturally occurs in clouds, but enhances the process by adding particles that can stimulate and accelerate the condensation process.
