A step forward in sustainable, decentralized water supplies: design, control optimization, and techno-economic feasibility of absorption-desorption atmospheric water generation systems

Freshwater scarcity is increasing the interest in atmospheric water generation (AWG) as a supplementary supply solution. While absorption-based AWG systems using liquid salt solutions offer favorable scalability and high water uptake potential, a physical-thermodynamic framework integrating component design, sizing, and techno-economic assessment has not been previously established for this technology. This study addresses this gap by systematically designing, optimizing, and techno-economically evaluating two absorption-based AWG configurations, thermal evaporation and humidification-dehumidification desorption, using a validated mass transfer model within a thermodynamic framework, constituting a direct link between component-level sizing and economic performance. Both configurations prove viable, with the humidification-dehumidification system achieving lower specific energy consumption and water costs by 15.7% and 16.4% on average, respectively. Yearly water production ranges from 185 m 3 /year under arid conditions to 2300 m 3 /year under tropical conditions, with water costs spanning from 19.14 $/m 3 to 147.54 $/m 3 , driven primarily by local electricity prices. The results indicate that absorption-based AWG is competitive in the premium water market, and the proposed framework provides a replicable design basis for scaling these systems toward large-scale implementation.