Project: New condensation irrigation system for greenhouse

Acronym	CONSIRS
Duration	01/02/2020 - 01/02/2023
Project Topic	A new approach for irrigation water management is proposed as a combination of irrigation scheduling and water recycling using techniques of evapo-condensation in closed loop greenhouses. The system allows to solve the problem of increased salinity content in water supply by dilution with the produced condensed water. Moreover, within a specific irrigation scheduling scheme, low quality water like pre-treated waste water can be converted through the condensation process into safe fresh water, solving the problems of biological crop contamination. The project is based on results from precursor projects and will mainly focus on the further develoSMEnt of the system in direction of market readiness by improving the technology in terms of first the adaptation to the level of farm management in MENA countries and second of proper functioning within hot/arid climate conditions by advanced methods of greenhouse climate control. The main technological improvement is provided by a combination of two methods of air humidity condensation, with (1) condensation yields directly into cooling water from a thermal storage for a first period of the day with cool generated during a first night period and (2) absorption of water vapor into a liquid desiccant in a second part of daytime addressing higher storage temperatures. The regeneration of desiccant is then performed during colder night time periods, where further condensation is collected on the internal greenhouse surface. Besides, a closed irrigation water cycle with fertilization, water filtering and strong water is proposed. The system will be implemented in several greenhouse prototypes at locations of the North African partner countries. Based on the results, feasibility studies and regional water balances for different pilot regions (Biskra/AL, Nabeul/TU and Western Desert/EG) will be addressed in a later stage of the project.
Website	visit project website
Network	PRIMA
Call	Section 2 Call 2018 - Multi-topic

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
1	Technical University Berlin	Coordinator	Germany
2	Center for Scientific and Technical Research on Arid Regions	Partner	Algeria
3	Cairo University	Partner	Egypt
4	National Institute for Research in Rural Water and Forest Engineering	Partner	Tunisia