Adsorption Performances of Water-Stable MIL-160(Al) at Scale: An Alternative to FAM-Z02 in Water Harvesting and Chillers

Efficient utilization of low-grade waste heat is key to reducing the carbon footprint of cooling and water-harvesting technologies. Adsorption-based devices employing porous materials enable thermally driven heat exchange and atmospheric water capture with low environmental impact. While zeotype materials such as SAPO-34 (commercially known as FAM-Z02) have long been benchmarks in these systems due to their stability and appropriate water uptake behavior, their relatively high synthesis cost still limits their commercial deployment. This study addresses the need for alternative sorbents capable of achieving high water working capacities at lower regeneration temperatures under realistic heat-pump and water-harvesting conditions. This study demonstrates, for the first time, a scalable, water-based synthesis of MIL-160, enabling production at industrially relevant scales for adsorption heat transformation and water harvesting. We show that MIL-160 exhibits a high water uptake (434 g kg^-1 at 20 °C), a 15-70% increase in working capacity over the industrial benchmark FAM-Z02, and, critically, an efficient regeneration at only 60 °C, corresponding to the temperature range of typical waste heat. This low-temperature desorption behavior translates directly into enhanced energy efficiency and reduced operational costs for adsorption-based cooling and water-harvesting systems, while the material maintains excellent hydrothermal and cyclic stability. This efficient low-temperature regeneration highlights MIL-160s strong potential for energy-saving thermal management and adsorption-based cooling systems. By bridging the gap between laboratory-scale MOFs and industrially viable sorbents, this study advances the practical implementation of next-generation, low-carbon thermal management technologies.