Diseño, construcción y análisis del ciclo de vida de dos prototipos de captadores de niebla para obtener agua para riego en el barrio Catzuqui de Moncayo.

Abstract

The agricultural sector requires a large amount of water to satisfy the demand of crops throughout the year, and this represents a problem in places where rainfall is not enough to supply that amount of water, or where there are dry seasons. In these cases, it becomes necessary to have complementary supply systems that allow the crops water needs to be met during these periods. There are several alternatives that can solve this water deficit, among them is the fog collection method that is based on collecting water from the air. Thus, it is proposed to evaluate the efficiency of water collection through the design and construction of two prototypes of fog collectors with different geometries in the Catzuqui de Moncayo neighborhood, located northwest of the city of Quito (3200 masl). This zone has a high agricultural potential, but its current irrigation system is insufficient to cover all of its cultivable area. For this, the climatic characterization of the study area was carried out, then two fog collectors were designed and built: bidimensional and tridimensional (octagonal). In addition, the life cycle of the collector construction process was analyzed to compare and evaluate their performance with their possible environmental impact. Likewise, the economic analysis was developed through the NPV and IRR. Finally, the need for irrigation was determined to establish the number of collectors required to satisfy the water deficit for a crop in the area. The results determined that, during the five months of the study, the bidimensional design had the highest fog water capture with 476.1 l/m2, while the tridimensional captured a value of 352.5 l/m2. Additionally, it was determined that, during construction, the bidimensional model emitted less carbon dioxide than the tridimensional model, but the same amount of water was consumed. Regarding the economic analysis, it was established that the project is not economically viable. Finally, it was estimated that to cover 10% of the total irrigation demand, 15 mist collectors of 40 m2 each are required.