Availability and Feasibility of Water Desalination as Non-conventional Resource for Agricultural Irrigation in the MENA Region: A review

This is the final version. Available on open access from MDPI via the DOI in this recordMany countries in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa) are facing water scarcity, which poses a great challenge to agricultural production. Furthermore, water scarcity is projected to increase due to climate change, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. The integration of solar power and water desalination systems in greenhouses to overcome water shortages is one of the preferred technologies in crop-growing areas. Crop growth control is done through sufficient management of environmental climatic variables as well as the quantity and quality of water and applied fertilisers with irrigation. Numerous crops such as cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, strawberries, flowers, and herbs can be grown under greenhouse conditions using desalinated water. This paper displays the state of the art in (i) solar-driven saltwater desalination to irrigate crops, (ii) the feasibility of water desalination for agriculture in the MENA region, (iii) the economics and environmental impacts of the desalination process, (iv) the quality of desalinated water compared with other non-conventional water resources and (v) recommendations for the future in the MENA region.Science, Technology, and Innovation Funding Authority (STIFA) of EgyptBritish Counci

An Analysis of the Economic and Financial Life-Cycle Costs of Reverse-Osmosis Desalination in South Texas: A Case Study of the Southmost Facility

Desalination provides a supply alternative for potable water for many communities, along with possible defenses against security threats potentially affecting clean water supplies. The economic and financial life-cycle costs associated with building and operating the Southmost desalination facility (near Brownsville, TX) in South Texas are investigated using the spreadsheet model DESAL ECONOMICS©. Primary data key to this analysis include actual initial construction costs, annual continued costs (i.e., for source-water acquisition and transport, pretreatment, purification, and delivery), capital replacement expenses, and desalination-process parameters. The input data used reflect the unique location and quality of source water, process-flow design, asset selection and configuration, management structure, local cost rates, and employed operational methods unique to the Southmost facility. Thus, the specific results are only applicable to the Southmost facility for a specific time, but do provide useful information and insight into life-cycle costs for public and commercial desalination facilities in a more general sense. Annuity equivalent costs are reported (on both a $/acre-foot (ac-ft) and$/1,000 gallons of finished water basis, f.o.b. (free on board) municipal delivery point) for seven individual operational/expense areas, as well as for the entire desalination facility. Results are also presented across different cost types, categories, and items. The baseline results are deterministic, but are expanded to include sensitivity analyses of useful life, initial construction costs, annual energy costs, and production efficiency rate, amongst others. The current estimated total annual life-cycle costs (in 2006 dollars) to produce and deliver desalinated water to a point in the municipal delivery-system infrastructure for the Southmost facility are 769.62/ac-ft {2.3619/1,000 gal.}. These baseline estimates apply to the Southmost facility and are sensitive to changes in the production efficiency level, and costs incurred for energy, chemicals, initial construction, etc. Also, results indicate significant outlays, beyond those of Initial Construction, are involved with desalination. For the Southmost facility, when a commitment was made to build a facility for $26.2 million, an implicit commitment for another$39.1 million (basis 2006 dollars) was also made for Continued and Capital Replacement costs. Investigation into life-cycle costs during the design and planning stages of a desalination facility can assist with determining the least-cost asset configuration to adopt and operational methods to employ. Also included are modifications to certain key data-input parameters that provide ‘modified results’ which facilitate a more fair basis of comparing facilities and/or technologies. The modified results, which are considered appropriate to use when comparing to similarlycalculated values (for other facilities or technologies), are 615.01/ac-ft/yr {1.8874/1,000 gal./yr} (basis 2006 dollars)

A Joint Desalination and Power Plants for Water and Development: A Case study of the Sinai-Gaza

Desalination can be a cost-effective way to produce fresh water and possibly electricity. The Gaza Strip has had a complex hydro-political situation for many years. Gaza (enclosed area) is bordered by the Mediterranean in the west, by Israel in the north and east and by Egypt in the south. Water and electricity consumption in the Gaza Strip is expected to increase in the future due to the increasing population. In this paper, a solution for Sinai and the Gaza Strip is suggested involving the building of a joint power and desalination plant, located in Egypt close to the border of Gaza. Results of capital and unit costs have been derived from bench-mark studies of 18 different desalination projects mainly in the Middle East countries. The suggested joint Egypt-Palestine project would increases drinking water supply by 500,000 m3/d and the power supply by 500MW, whereof 2/3 is suggested to be used in Gaza and 1/3 in Sinai. The present lack of electricity and water in Gaza could be erased by such a project. But Egypt will probably gain more. More water and electricity will be available for the future development of Sinai; a significant value will be added to the sale of Egyptian natural gas used for water and power production in the project; more employment opportunities can be offered for people living in Sinai and Gaza; the domestic market for operation and maintenance of desalination plants can be boosted by the suggested project. Egypt may naturally and peacefully increase its cooperation with and presence in Gaza, which should lead to increased security around the border between Egypt and Gaza. This type of project could also get international support and can be a role-model for cooperation and trust-building between neighbours in the Middle East region. This study have also compared with more than five different alternatives

Membrane desalination and water re-use for agriculture: State of the art and future outlook

Membrane-based desalination technologies for agricultural applications are widely applied in many countries around the world. Sustainable and cost-effective desalination technologies, such as reverse osmosis (RO), membrane distillation, forward osmosis, membrane bioreactor, and electrodialysis, are available to provide treated water, but the pure water product does not contain the required level of nutrients to supply agricultural fields. This can be overcome by the use of blended water to meet the required quality of irrigation water for crop production, which is expensive in areas lacking in freshwater resources. The adoption of a hybrid system offers many advantages, such as generating drinking water and water enriched with nutrient at low cost and energy consumption if natural power is used. This review focusses on summarizing the current and recent trends in membrane desalination processes used for agricultural purposes. The challenges being faced with desalinating seawater/brackish water and wastewater are discussed. A specific focus was placed on the viability of hybrid desalination processes and other advanced recovery systems to obtain valuable irrigation water. A comparison between various membrane desalination technologies in terms of treatment efficiency and resource recovery potential is discussed. Lastly, concluding remarks and research opportunities of membrane technologies are analyzed. We concluded that the ED process can be utilized to minimize the energy requirements of other membrane technologies. The MD coupled with ED system can also be utilized to generate high quality irrigation water at low energy requirement. The FO-ED hybrid system exhibited excellent performance and very low energy consumption as compared to other hybrid systems

Post Treatment Alternatives For Stabilizing Desalinated Water

The use of brackish water and seawater desalination for augmenting potable water supplies has focused primarily on pre-treatment, process optimization, energy efficiency, and concentrate management. Much less has been documented regarding the impact of post-treatment requirements with respect to distribution system. The goals of this study were to review current literature on post-treatment of permeate water, use survey questionnaires to gather information on post-treatment water quality characteristics, gather operation information, review general capital and maintenance cost, and identify appropriate lessons learned with regards to post-treatment from water purveyors participating in the Project. A workshop was organized where experts from across the United States, Europe and the Caribbean active in brackish and seawater desalination, gathered to share technical knowledge regarding post-treatment stabilization, identify solutions for utilities experiencing problems with post-treatment, note lessons learned, and develop desalination water post-treatment guidelines. In addition, based on initial workshop discussions, the iodide content of reverse osmosis and nanofiltration permeate from two seawater desalination facilities was determined. The literature review identified that stabilization and disinfection are required desalination post-treatment processes, and typically are considerations when considering 1) blending, 2) re-mineralization, 3) disinfection, and 4) materials used for storage and transport of product water. Addition of chemicals can effectively achieve post-treatment goals although considerations relating to the quality of the chemical, dosage rates, and possible chemical reactions, such as possible formation of disinfection by-products, should be monitored and studied. The survey gathered information on brackish water and seawater desalination facilities with specific regards to their post-treatment operations. The information obtained was divided into seven sections 1) general desalination facility information, 2) plant characteristics with schematics, 3) post-treatment water quality, 4) permeate, blend, and point of entry quality, 5) post-treatment operation, 6) operation and maintenance costs, 7) and lessons learned. A major consideration obtained from the survey was that facilities should conduct post-treatment pilot studies in order to identify operational problems that may impact distributions systems prior to designing the plant. Effective design and regulation considerations will limit issues with permitting for the facility. The expert workshop identified fourteen priority issues pertaining to post-treatment. Priority issues were relating to post-treatment stabilization of permeate water, corrosion control, disinfection and the challenges relating to disinfection by-product (DBP) formation, water quality goals, blending, and the importance of informing the general public. For each priority issues guidelines/recommendations were developed for how facilities can effectively manage such issues if they arise. One of the key priorities identified in the workshop was related to blending of permeate and formation of DBPs. However, it was identified in the workshop that the impact of iodide on iodinated-DBP formation was unknown. Consequently, screening evaluations using a laboratory catalytic reduction method to determine iodide concentrations in the permeate of two of the workshop participants: Tampa Bay and Long Beach seawater desalination facilities. It was found that the permeate did contain iodide, although at levels near the detection limit of the analytical method (8 [micro]g/L)

An Analysis of the Cost of Water Supply Linked to the Tourism Industry. An Application to the Case of the Island of Ibiza in Spain

Tourist activity has a number of impacts on the destinations in which it takes place, among which are the environmental ones. A particular problem is the increase in water demand and wastewater production, which can compromise the balance of ecosystems. As many authors point out, there is a research gap in the comparative analysis between available water resources and the demand associated with tourism. In this respect, the main objective of this work is, on the one hand, to assess the water needs linked to the tourism industry and the capacity of natural resources to meet such a demand and, on the other hand, to estimate the economic cost of the water supply associated with the growing tourist demand in a territory, such as the island of Ibiza in Spain. It has been determined that the resources available are not sufficient to meet the water demand of the resident population at this destination, which is why it is necessary to resort to producing desalinated water. Therefore, the additional requirements associated with tourism must be met fully with desalinated water, which results in an increased cost of water management for the region. This paper also points at water losses in distribution networks and tourism seasonality as two phenomena that aggravate this issue

Land Use and Water Management in Israel- Economic and environmental analysis of sustainable reuse of wastewater in agriculture

We will analyze land use and water management issues in Israel by focusing on wastewater irrigation. Irrigation with treated effluents has become an important water source in Israel due to scarcity of natural water resources. Treated wastewater reuse serves as source of water and nutrients and assists with wastewater discard. Wastewater also carries pollutants including micro and macro organic and inorganic matter and its treatment and use should adapt to sustainability criteria. Wastewater treatment processes can decrease pollutants levels, while salinity is not influenced unless combining relatively expensive desalination processes. Advantages of using wastewater in irrigation include: supporting agricultural production, highly reliable supply, low cost water source, solution for effluent disposal and saving of chemical fertilizers. Disadvantages include quality problems as related to human health, damage to crops, contamination of groundwater, problems related to irrigation system, increased water requirement and need for continuous follow up and control. The higher is the treatment level, the higher are the treatment costs but the environmental potential hazards are lower. Regarding sustainable use we will assess advantages and disadvantages of treating and irrigating with treated effluents. We will focus on the economic and environmental analysis of sustainable reuse of wastewater in agriculture regarding its impact on groundwater, soil and society.

イランにおける持続可能な社会に向けた移行計画のための水・再生可能エネルギーネクサスの研究

京都大学新制・課程博士博士(エネルギー科学)甲第23293号エネ博第418号新制||エネ||79(附属図書館)京都大学大学院エネルギー科学研究科エネルギー社会・環境科学専攻(主査)教授 手塚 哲央, 准教授 MCLELLAN Benjamin, 教授 山敷 庸亮学位規則第4条第1項該当Doctor of Energy ScienceKyoto UniversityDFA

Seawater Desalination: A Review of Forward Osmosis Technique, Its Challenges, and Future Prospects

Currently over 845 million people are believed to be living under severe water scarcity, and an estimated 2.8 billion people across the globe are projected to come under serious water scarcity by the year 2025, according to a United Nations (UN) report. Seawater desalination has gained more traction as the solution with the most potential for increasing global freshwater supplies amongst other solutions. However, the economic and energy costs associated with the major desalination technologies are considered intrinsically prohibitive largely due to their humongous energy requirements alongside the requirements of complex equipment and their maintenance in most cases. Whilst forward osmosis (FO) is being touted as a potentially more energy efficient and cost-effective alternative desalination technique, its efficiency is challenged by draw solutes and the draw solutes recovery step in FO applications alongside other challenges. This paper looks at the present situation of global water scarcity, and a brief leap into the major desalination technologies employed. A closer look at the key drivers of FO as a seawater desalination technique in their individual domain and its outlook as an technology are further highlighted