Desalination and Energy

To desalinate it, a whole system works. Clean water is delivered to the city water supply system and fountains, which can be safely used even for drinking.Every day in all the UAE, about 4 thousand bottles of fresh water are produced per day, and if earlier this made it possible to create a strategic reserve, then the annual population growth due to hired labor has led to the fact that such reserves will last no more than 4 days. The government ordered the opening of new desalination stations, the operation of which has its drawbacks:1. Every day they emit huge amounts of carbon dioxide, which is released into the atmosphere.2. Another product of the stations' activity is silt, which is then dumped into the sea and damaging its ecosystem.But the main problem remains an increase in the salinity of the waters of the Persian Gulf - a problem with which scientists have been struggling in the last decade. The fact is that untreated wastewater is discharged into the bay. Because of this, over the past 30 years, the salinity level has increased from 30 parts per million to 47. Environmentalists say that if this continues, the Persian Gulf will face a catastrophe. Many species of fauna and marine life are affected.Environmentalists are dissatisfied with the rapid construction of skyscrapers, in which water supply is done without taking into account eco-standards. The wastewater treatment system not only has not kept pace with the growth of the city, but also the locals and hotel owners have not always used water very economically, since a few years ago in Dubai there were preferential tariffs for utility bills.The Dubai government, following the advice of environmentalists, has undertaken a series of reforms to minimize the problem of fresh water supplies:1. Refused to subsidize the price of water, in connection with which, the amount of its consumption by the population decreased.2. Initiated a public campaign to explain to the population how important it is to conserve the country's water resources.3. Conducts festivals, exhibitions and other actions to support the ecological environment of the UAE.4. Beginning to control the quality of groundwater.5. Issued a bill according to which all lawns and flower beds must be watered with so-called "partially dirty" water.6. Builds a huge reservoir, which will store monthly water supplies for the entire country.7. In the fall of 2014, a decree was issued, which describes the new standards that must be adhered to by packers of bottled drinking water and portioned ice.Back in 2008, the UAE's National Meteorological Center began conducting experiments with the ultimate goal of increasing annual rainfall. They spray reagents over the clouds to cause rain to appear. Thus, the government wants to replenish the reserves of underwater waters, which are used both by the population for drinking and by farmers for irrigation. For five years, certain results have been achieved: in August (the hottest month), precipitation fell several times. The next steps of the government, which will help facilitate the work of the Center, are tests of the Swiss climate project Weathertec and the purchase of a development of American scientists to stimulate rainfall.In addition to building desalination capacity, the Gulf States' utilities must ensure their long-term water security.The Gulf governments are expected to accelerate investment in water infrastructure in the coming months to offset the growing demand from the population and booming industry.According to industry experts, the total cost of new desalination capacity by 2020 will reach $ 100 billion. US as the region aims to increase its seawater desalination capacity by nearly 40% over the next two years.The current desalination of seawater in the Gulf countries is estimated at approximately 4000 million imperial gallons per day (MIGD) in the next 5 years will be increased to more than 5500 MIGD.Reverse osmosis technology for desalination has overcome the challenges of pretreating feed water and a number of installations, including the new Al Zawrah desalination plant, will use ultrafiltration (UF) membranes. The desalination potential at GCC is increasingly involving both domestic and international companies in tenders.Investment in the water sector has been on the rise since 2010, with several projects in progress or in the tender phase, despite the recent slowdown in infrastructure spending. These projects cover all segments of the water sector, including desalination, independent water and energy projects (IWPP), water supply and distribution, network repair and replacement, wastewater treatment and drinking water treatment.The Gulf countries are also taking the necessary steps to overcome the known challenges of facilitating public and private sector (PPP) participation, public services debt, and improving accountability and investment structure.Community-scale solar desalination is also being developed following the success of the Abu Dhabi Masdar renewable energy pilot project with solar-powered desalination. Saudi Arabia's Abdul Latif Jameel Energy (ALJ Energy) has hinted at plans to integrate renewable energies into desalination processes as part of its broader sustainable development strategy. In addition, Metito recently signed a $ 60 million contract with King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) for the design and construction of a solar-powered seawater desalination plant.Advances in desalination alone do not guarantee water safety in the region. This is why regional governments are taking other measures, ranging from advocating for water conservation practices to new projects to store water for longer periods. In January, the UAE took a bold step to ensure water security for its residents by creating the world's largest artificially desalinated water reserve.The reserve exists in an aquifer under the Liwa Desert in the south of the country, about 160 km from the desalination plants located on the coast. It contains about 26 billion liters of water and takes 26 months to fill. In case of emergencies, the reserve can provide about 100 million liters of water per day.By taking an integrated approach to addressing water issues in the region, the Gulf utilities appear to be on the right track. But in the medium to long term, the adoption / renewal of technologies and the achievement of sustainable development goals together can help them narrow the gap in supply and demand and help conserve resources for the future.Dubai authorities are set to build a solar-powered desalination plant in the emirate by 2024, Arabian Business reported on Monday.According to the director of the Dubai Electricity and Water Agency (DEWA) Said at-Tayer, this year the emirate's authorities will start looking for partners to build their first solar-powered desalination plant. The planned capacity of the plant is 120 million gallons of potable water per day.The move is part of Dubai's renewable energy strategy. The existing seawater desalination plants in the region are traditionally powered by natural gas power plants, the newspaper notes.Currently, almost all water used for domestic purposes in the UAE is desalinated. This country ranks second in the world in terms of water desalination after Saudi Arabia.The Government of the United Arab Emirates has established an award for the development of a new technology for desalination of seawater, which will significantly reduce salt emissions. The amount of the established premium is 3.4 million dirhams, or about 925,000 dollars. The program for the implementation of the latest technology will be held under the name Rethink Brine and will be implemented by government agencies in conjunction with private entrepreneurs. The award was established with the aim of attracting scientists and highly qualified specialists to the creation of a new technology for the method of seawater purification, which will significantly reduce salt emissions. The Secretary General of the Abu Dhabi Environmental Protection Agency believes that the used methods of desalination have helped the country survive in the existing natural conditions, but at the same time, salt emissions are causing significant damage to the marine ecosystem of the UAE. As a high concentration of salt solution remains, which returns to the sea and increases the salinity of the water resources, which harms the marine flora and fauna. Therefore, the main task of the Agency's work is the protection of nature and wildlife during desalination of water resources, as well as the effective use of the released salt. It should be said that the award was established in accordance with the UAE's National Water Security Strategy until 2036 and was timed to coincide with World Water Day, which is celebrated on March 22 around the world. According to the Secretary General of the Agency, the existing method of desalination of seawater with the release of highly concentrated salt discharged into the sea is the main environmental problem of global importance. Therefore, in order to solve it, all applicants for the award will need to develop a technology that will significantly reduce salt emissions and present effective ways of using it. In addition, the highly concentrated saline solution carries particles of the chemicals used into the sea, which sink to the bottom, reduce the oxygen level and destroy the marine fauna and flora.Officials from interested companies argue that the main goal for scientists when developing a new technology for desalination is to find the rational use of highly concentrated brine as a building material. This will help, in accordance with the adopted strategy, to solve the environmental problems of seawater desalination and introduce new construction technologies. It should be emphasized that the implementation of the Rethink Brine program is of great importance in the implementation of the tasks set for the UAE, the adopted strategy for water security until 2036, the main goal of which is to reduce the total water consumption in the country by 21%.ConclusionThus, the following conclusions can be drawn.The reality of global warming and the thoughtless exploitation of natural resources by humans in many parts of the Middle East and the Mediterranean have led to the problem of a shortage of drinking water today.However, the technology of desalination of seawater, which is practiced in the UAE and Saudi Arabia in order to meet the demand of the population, consume a huge amount of energy from fossil fuels. Therefore, it is so important to find methods to reduce energy consumption or use renewable energy sources.The Abu Dhabi Environmental Protection Agency in the United Arab Emirates is currently testing a solar-powered desalination plant. It can be an excellent alternative to traditional desalination plants using fossil fuels and emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. At the moment, pilot projects have been launched in the desert regions of Hamim and Sveikhan.Each device generates an average of 35 kilowatts of electricity per hour, and all tested installations generate a total of 1,050 kilowatts of power per hour. If the testing is successful, then other countries in the region will use this technology in their desalination plants.The main difference of the new solar-powered desalination plant is the "zero carbon dioxide" process, through which it provides the population with clean drinking water, while eliminating atmospheric pollution. According to the developers, the process can reduce the cost of drinking water production where "dust and high temperatures impair the efficiency of solar panels used in the existing desalination system."Nevertheless, many experts seriously fear the further spread of the practice of using sea water to obtain fresh drinking water. In their opinion, this can lead to excessive salinity of the seas and oceans and disruption of fragile marine ecosystems, which will entail irreversible changes in the global ecosystems of the planet. Hopefully, scientists will soon find better ways to tackle water shortages around the world (like wastewater treatment and water management) than desalination.Water resources for the United Arab Emirates is not only piped water for the population, it is also transport links. Therefore, for a country with such a hot climate, water can rightfully be called the source of life. And it is worth noting that there are no natural sources of fresh water in the UAE, and the demand for drinking water is significant both due to the high population density and due to the well-developed tourism industry, which causes the influx of travelers from all over the world to the country.The UAE is the world leader in the consumption of bottled water. In addition to water supply for the population, water resources are required for agriculture. In the 80s of the last century, underground waters were intensively developed in the northern emirates, drilling wells. But the water level in the wells steadily decreased, and the active pumping of groundwater led to soil salinization. The only way out for the country was the construction of desalination plants along the sea coast.Among the existing methods of seawater desalination, such as:distillation;reverse osmosis;electrodialysis;freezing;ion filtration,in Emirates they chose condensation, reverse osmosis filters and extinction. However, scientists continue to look for ways to obtain fresh water, since all currently existing technologies for desalination of seawater are expensive, labor-intensive and energy-consuming.The Service for Standardization and Metrology of the United Arab Emirates ESMA prepared and implemented water quality standards, both imported in bottles from other countries and produced locally. Quality products are assigned a special Emirates Quality Mark. The experts of the environmental protection group reported on the quality of tap water: experts are sure that residents of the emirates can use tap water for drinking and cooking, which is even better in quality than bottled water that has gone through several stages of purification.BibliographyAl Maitami Walid Abdulwahid Mohammed, Frumin G.T. 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