Euro-Mediterranean Information System on know-how in the Water sector

The project of "WATER DESALINATION AND PURIFICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE ARAB WORLD"

2006-10-13T00:00:00Z

The Water Desalination and Purification Technologies in the Arab world Project is a research program designed to prepare a road map for Arab countries in the field of water desalination and purification technologies. The project will be implemented through collaboration of specialists from the various Arab countries and Arab experts living abroad.

The project of "WATER DESALINATION BY SOLAR ENERGY"

2006-10-13T00:00:00Z

The project is an ideal opportunity for collaborative research since participation is only determined by scientific specialization. In addition, it provides numerous research areas, whether in water, renewable energy, materials science or any other sciences related to the project. The long duration of the project and the possibility of practical application provide a great opportunity to conduct extensive and profound research, which means the participation of a group of scientists or a number of scientific organizations in one or more collaborative research projects.
Initiating, managing and implementing a collaborative research project for water desalination by solar energy. Objectives of the Project:
Preparing a comprehensive study on the current state and the future of using solar energy in water desalination at the global level.
Drafting a road map for the Arab world towards using solar energy in water desalination.
Identifying standard specifications for a renewable-energy powered water desalination plant in the Arab region.
Executing, operating and evaluating an Arab experimental water desalination plant powered by solar energy and capable of expansion into economically viable project.
Achieving and reinforcing scientific research cooperation as a step towards achieving the desired scientific integration.

Desalination in Morocco

2006-11-12T00:00:00Z

by Alami Amina and Abdelaziz Boughriba (ONEP-Morocco).

Desalination in Tunisia

2006-11-12T00:00:00Z

by Prof. Mahmoud Dhahbi (INRST)

Sea Water Desalination Projects in Algeria

2006-11-12T00:00:00Z

by Eng. Badis Derradji from the Algerian Energy Company.

New Trends of Desalination in Spain

2006-11-12T00:00:00Z

by José Antonio Medina San Juan (President of AEDYR).

Desalination in Libya

2006-11-12T00:00:00Z

by S. A. Kershman, General Electricity Company of Libya.

Water desalination for agricultural applications

2007-04-10T00:00:00Z

Proceedings of the FAO Expert Consultation on Water Desalination for Agricultural Applications, 26-27 April 2004, Rome - FAO Land and Water Discussion Paper 5.

Water desalination is the main source of potable water in some countries and in many islands around the world and it is also being used in certain countries to irrigate high-value crops. However, it has proven much less economic for agricultural application than the reuse of treated wastewater, even where the capital costs of the desalination plants are subsidized.

This discussion paper contains an introductory paper on water desalination, some keynote papers of the experts participating in the consultation, the summary report of the expert consultation and a technical
summary with the conclusions and recommendations of the main topics discussed at the meeting.

The Desalination Commission in Syria

2008-02-27T00:00:00Z

Desalination of sea and brackish water has become a necessity in many arid and semi-arid regions in Syria. Natural fresh water resources in Syria are being depleted rapidly as a result of population growth and socio-economical development. It is apparent that water demand in Syria will grow more rapidly within the next twenty years: forecasts expect that the Syrian population will increase from 18 million in 2001 to more than 28 million in 2020. This increasing demand for water puts enormous strain on the underground aquifer, which results in lowering water levels and increasing salt concentration.

Facts and figures about water and salinization/desalination

2008-09-05T10:41:29Z

by UNESCO WATER PORTAL

Mega-Desalination Plant in Middle East Also Electricty Generator (UAE)

2008-11-06T00:00:00Z

The Ruwais Desalination Plant in the United Arab Emirates is part of an industrial complex roughly 200 miles west of the capital city, Abu Dhabi. Ruwais generates 700 megawatts of electric power when operating at capacity.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is the primary owner of the facility and plans to increase the plant's refining and petrochemicals capacity as well as its desalination abilities. The desalination plant processes about eight million gallons of water daily, which is then used by the refinery.

Ruwais is representative of a rising number of local refining and processing plants in the Middle East that has attracted European and North American equipment suppliers.

The plant features four GT 13E2 gas turbines with accompanying generators. Each turbine has roughly 160MW capacity coupled with clean combustion natural gas burners. When turbines are used with oil, water injection can lower NOx emissions.

The desalination plant uses an evaporation process to sequester salt in seawater. Heated brine is fed into 12 heat recovery chambers. A fraction flashes to vapour, condenses and is distilled in small tubes. The brine is then mixed with additional seawater and recirculated into the plant at a high temperature.

Saudi Arabia Power & Water Desalination Industry Overview

2008-11-17T16:32:19Z

This report has been compiled in order to provide an in depth overview of the water desalination and electricity sectors in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This report aims at assessing the prospects for water desalination and electricity sectors by providing detailed quantitative and qualitative analysis of the historical developments of each sector, supply and demand analysis, supply and demand factors, future projects and prospects and assist in the analysis and decision making process of the readers.

Spanish Companies Focus on Desalination Technology

2008-12-02T00:00:00Z

Today, there are over 15,000 desalination plants in the world. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, because of their limited water supplies and tremendous energy reserves, are the world’s leading users of desalination technology. But desalination is gaining popularity also in the West - and Spanish companies are leading the charge.

Review of Water Resources and Desalination Technologies

2008-12-03T00:00:00Z

by James E. Miller, Materials Chemistry Department, Sandia National Laboratories: P.O. Box 5800, Albuquerque, NM 87185-1349 - SAND 2003-0800, Unlimited Release, Printed March 2003

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Water shortages affect 88 developing countries that are home to half of the world’s population. In these places, 80-90% of all diseases and 30% of all deaths result from poor water quality. Furthermore, over the next 25 years, the number of people affected by severe water shortages is expected to increase fourfold. Low cost methods to desalinate brackish water and sea water can help reverse this destabilizing trend.
Desalination has now been practiced on a large scale for more than 50 years. During this time continual improvements have been made, and the major technologies are now remarkably efficient, reliable, and inexpensive. For many years, thermal technologies were the only viable option, and multi-stage flash (MSF) was established as the baseline technology. Multi-effect evaporation (MEE) is now the state-of-the-art thermal technology, but has not been widely implemented. With the growth of membrane science, reverse osmosis (RO) overtook MSF as the leading desalination technology, and should be considered the baseline technology. Presently, RO of seawater can be accomplished with an energy expenditure in the range of 11-60 kJ/kg at a cost of $2 to $4 per 1000 gallons. The theoretical minimum energy expenditure is 3-7 kJ/kg.

Since RO is a fairly mature technology, further improvements are likely to be incremental in nature, unless design improvements allow major savings in capital costs. Therefore, the best hope to dramatically decrease desalination costs is to develop “out of the box” technologies. These “out of the box” approaches must offer a significant advantage over RO (or MEE, if waste heat is available) if they are to be viable. When making these comparisons, it is crucial that the specifics of the calculation are understood so that the comparison is made on a fair and equivalent basis.

2008-12-15T00:00:00Z