Evaporation Suppression by Monolayer Films

Moshe Alamaro
Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
alamaro@mit.edu
Submitted to Water Research Journal, January 20, 2014
Summary
Evaporation suppression by monolayer film on water reservoirs has been studied extensively, but
without a viable approach for implementation. The article below describes an experimental program
that addressed the main obstacle to implementation wind stress causes the film to drift, exposing
most of the reservoirs surface area to evaporation. Evaporation suppression in subtropical regions
where the climate is volatile has a substantial potential to alleviate water shortage and provide
additional water supply capacity in a relatively short development time.


The possibility of evaporation suppression on water reservoirs using monolayer film has tantalized
hydrologists for the past 60 years, and numerous research and development programs have been
conducted in many countries (1,2,3). The US Bureau of Reclamation, for example, spent $14 million on
R&D in the 1960s. These monolayers are harmless, biodegradable, inexpensive fatty alcohols (also
called higher alcohols) that are extracted mainly from palm and coconut oils. A synthesized monolayer
such as hexadecanol CH
3
(CH
2
)
15
OH, octadecanol CH
3
(CH
2
)
16
CH
2
OH,and 1-EicosanolCH
3
(CH
2
)
18
CH
2
OH
can be also obtained by the Ziegler process from petroleum products (4). When dissolved in a solvent
and placed on the surface of water, it propagates spontaneously and forms a film a single molecule thick
(~2 millionths of a mm). A very small amount, about 2 gallons, of the material is required to cover a
surface area of 1 mile^2, equivalent to 12 CC per acre. The film is made of closely packed molecules that
are hydrophobic on one side and hydrophilic on the other, creating a diffusion barrier for water vapor,
and retarding evaporation (1).
Evaporation from water reservoirs is substantial in hot, dry, subtropical regions such as in the
Southwest US. Annual evaporation in Texas, for example, amounts to 5.5 million acre feet (7 billion
m^3) or 61% of water used for agriculture, while in the entire Southwest it amounts to 30 billion m^3
per year. Evaporation losses from Nasser Lake are 14 billion m^3 equal to 25% of Egypts water
demand. Evaporation from shallow man-made reservoirs is more acute: the surface area is larger and





Figure 1: A hexadecanol molecule where the hydroxyl edge is hydrophilic, while the carbon chain
is hydrophobic. In the film the molecules are closely packed to create a barrier for
water vapor diffusion.
Evaporation is proportional to the surface area. Moreover, in regions such as Texas characterized by a
volatile climate, evaporation is more serious since in these regions large, yearover reservoirs are
intended to store water from one wet season to later drier years (5).

Figure 2: A yearover reservoir in volatile climate regions where water is stored for a few years. Since not all
the water participates in the in and out flow, the reservoir is effectively shallow, leading to a
high evaporation rate relative to the flow rate.
These reservoirs are very large and the water may not be utilized for a few years. During this time, large
portions of the water in the reservoir are dead water that do not participate in the reservoir function.
The result is a shallower reservoir leading to a high evaporation rate relative to the water flow rate.
An evaporation suppression program took place at the Air Sea Interaction Laboratory at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The impetus for the research was the possible modification of
hurricanes by suppressing evaporation in the ocean that contributes to the storms intensity. At
hurricane air speeds the monolayer film was found to tear, get immersed in water, and was not
effective; however, at up to 14 meters per second (30 MPH) wind speed, the monolayer was effective in
suppressing evaporation by 75%. Therefore the program changed its focus to applying monolayer film
on water reservoirs.



Figure 3: Non-dimensional mass transfer coefficient vs. air speed as measured 10 meter above the
water surface with and without monolayer films. Up to 14 meter/second evaporation is
suppressed by 75%.

The main obstacle to preventing implementation of evaporation suppression by monolayer film has
been the drifting and piling up of the monolayer due to wind stress, exposing most of the reservoirs
surface to evaporation. This has been the problem in numerous programs conducted in the 1960s and is
still the major challenge facing R&D programs today, such as the one sponsored by CISCO in Australia
(1,2,3).




Figure 4: Wind induces drifting of monolayer films is the main challenge for implantation of
evaporation suppression.


In the program at the MIT Air Sea Interaction Laboratory, a circular annular wind wave tank was used.
Water was placed in the annulus and a circular air motion was induced over the water surface. Unlike
the drifting of monolayer film over reservoirs where the wind is unidirectional and the monolayer
material is piled up in the downwind area, the monolayer film in the wind wave tank was moving
continuously in circles. In addition, the monolayer film was observed to be effective in suppressing
evaporation while in motion. Previously monolayer film performance under wind impact was measured
once the monolayer film was at rest (3).

Wind
Accumulation
of Monolayer


Monolaye
r
Area Free of
Monolayer


Figure 5: Wind wave tank used for evaporation suppression experiments. Monolayer film is in a circular motion
and is not accumulated as in a reservoir subjected to uni-directional wind ( 6).

The insights gained from these experiments have now been used to implement a new technological
concept for evaporation suppression by monolayer film. Skimmers are placed along the perimeter of
the reservoirs. The skimmers in the downwind area skim the accumulated monolayer film; it is piped to
the skimmers upwind, and expelled there. The monolayer film drifts again due to the wind, is skimmed
downwind again, and the process continues. Depending on the wind speed and the length of the
reservoir in the direction of the wind, the monolayer film can be used 40-100 times before photo
degradation into water and CO2 occurs (3).


Wind











Figure 5: Schematic of skimming drifting accumulated monolayer downwind for re-use.

Evaporation suppression by monolayer film has the potential to add substantial water supply capacity in
subtropical regions. In Texas for example, 75% suppression on existing reservoirs provide about 5 billion
m^3 per year capacity. According to Water for Texas 2012, Texas requires an investment of $53
billion for the development of additional 9 million acre feet/year capacity (7). The cost of water
obtained by evaporation suppression is 12% of the cost of water obtained by building new reservoirs.
Numerous investigations into the impact on the water quality and environment of applying monolayer
film have been conducted recently and in the past (1,2,3,8). The impacts include: toxicity due to the
monolayer material; toxicity of the by-products due to degradation; changes in gas exchange into and
from the water; change of the energy flux from and into the water; and regional climate change due to
evaporation suppression. However, the main challenge may be the need to address the public
perception of these issues, as the impact of evaporation suppression on the environment and water
quality is benign.
References:
Drifting monolayer film
48




1. V.K La Mer, Retardation of Evaporation by Monolayers; Transport processes, Academic Press,
1962.

2. J. Frenkiel, Evaporation Reduction, Physical and Chemical Principles and Review of Experiments,
UNESCO, 1965.
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0007/000700/070035eo.pdf

3. D. McJannet et al, Evaporation Reduction by Monolayers: Overview, Modelling and Effectiveness,
Urban Water Security Research Alliance, Technical Report No. 6, CSIRO 2008.
http://www.urbanwateralliance.org.au/publications/UWSRA-tr6.pdf

4. Ziegler Alcohol Synthesis, Wiley on-line library, Sep 2010.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470638859.conrr693/abstract

5. R.M. Vogel et al, STORAGE RESERVOIR BEHAVIOR IN THE UNITED STATES, Journal
of Water Resources Planning and Management, Vol. 125, No. 5, September/
October, 1999, P.245.
http://engineering.tufts.edu/cee/people/vogel/publications/storage-reservoir.pdf

6. M. Alamaro, Experimental Investigation of Air-Sea Transfer of Momentum and Enthalpy at High
Wind Speed, Proceeding of the American Meteorology Society, May 2002.
http://web.mit.edu/alamaro/www/colton_et-al.pdf

7. Water for Texas 2012, Texas Water Development Board 2012
http://www.twdb.state.tx.us/publications/state_water_plan/2012/07.pdf

8. B.G., Wixson, Studies on the ecological impacts of evaporation retardation monolayers. TR-6,
Texas Water Resources Institute, Texas A & M University, 1966.
http://twri.tamu.edu/reports/1966/tr6.pdf