The Best Desalination Technology for the Persian Gulf

Abstract

One in six people worldwide do not have access to safe freshwater. The world has been divided into 3 areas: Scarce, Stressed and Sufficiently available potable water by World Health Organization (WHO). The countries around Persian Gulf in the Middle East are in Scarcity area. Desalination solution has been proved as the primary response to water scarcity. This region ranks among the world’s top ten desalinating countries, namely, in descending order: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar. There are some key parameters in selecting different technologies for desalination, including temperature. The temperature can be quite low in some countries such as Australia, while it is rather high in Persian Gulf. Total dissolved Solid (TDS) which is representative of salinity is a critical factor, similar to temperature, in selecting the desalination technology. The value encountered in Persian Gulf is extremely high as compared to the normal range of sea water salinity. The three principal desalination technologies used all over the world are multi-stage flash (MSF), reverse osmosis (RO), and multi-effect distillation (MED). This study looks at the different aspects of development such as costs, capabilities and state-of-the-art technologies. A comparative analysis of these technologies is presented and the best technology from financial and technical point of view is introduced and discussed.