Water. Desalination + reuse
Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/724419
Water. desalination + reuse September 2016 On Site 27 Masdar provides the impetus for a unique project to pilot desalination technology • Four energy efficiency desalination pilot projects set up as partnerships with Masdar Clean Energy completed a nine-month initial phase in July, and a fi h joined in September 2016. As the initial four enter the second phase, optimisation, and the fi h comes on stream, they reveals some of the ways in which they are meeting the challenges of desalinating Gulf waters. Suez is sharpening its data modelling capabilities Abengoa pilots advanced RO techniques Veolia-Sidem develops new energy recovery device Trevi Systems is 'most innovative by far' French innovator Mascara joins the pack Masdar Clean Energy set out to develop energy efficient desalination technologies able to produce potable water at an affordable price in Abu Dhabi, one of the emirates, and other Gulf countries. "We are running them all at the same place, side by side, so that we can really see the advantages and disadvantages of each technology. Some are more conventional, some are more advanced, and some are really innovative, so it's different maturities of technological development here," says Dr Alexander Ritschel, head of technology, Masdar Clean Energy. 1 Suez is running two pilots, one testing an advanced seawater reverse osmosis process, and the other testing a liquid- to-liquid ion exchange resin technology. The company is developing advanced know-how in taking results from pilot operations and extrapolating them to design real life desalination plants. As well as partnering on the desalination pilots, it has teamed up with Masdar Institute of Science and Technology to work on modelling results. Part of Veolia-Sidem's approach has been to use the partnership with Masdar first to test, and in the next stage to fine tune, a new energy recovery device that it is working on with Swiss company Osmorec. The team claims that this is paying off in terms of energy efficiency, and says that in the optimisation phase it wants to push the technology to its limits. In a tough year for Abengoa, the desalination pilot at Ghantoot has continued operating and will now move into the optimisation phase. It is using reverse osmosis as a core approach, and enhancing performance with a membrane-based brine treatment process. US company Trevi Systems is alone among the project partners in testing forward osmosis technology. It is making certain modifications to its initial system, which Masdar Clean Energy's Ritschel says is "the most innovative by far". The technology is proving particularly well able to handle difficult feed waters, which is a bonus in Abu Dhabi where seawater and groundwater quality can be extremely challenging. Mascara's driving force Marc Vergnet wanted to design a solar-powered reverse osmosis desalination system that has no battery or power storage, to supply potable water to people living in remote island locations. The initiative in Ghantoot is a chance for Mascara to demonstrate the capability of its system. In the 1970s, Vergnet created a pump design that now supplies water to 50 million people worldwide, including the populations of 100,000 villages across Africa. His latest invention is a reverse osmosis desalination system that can power up and power down as the sun rises and sets. 2 3 4 5