🌊 Desalination: Addressing Global Water Scarcity**Global Context and Need:**- 🌍 Desalination is crucial for addressing global water scarci...
Published on by Hossein Ataei Far, Deputy Manager of the Research, Technology Development, and Industry Relations Center at NWWEC
**Global Context and Need:**
- 🌍 Desalination is crucial for addressing global water scarcity, impacting nearly one-fifth of the world's population, primarily in developing countries.
- 🌡️ Climate change and increasing water demand exacerbate freshwater resource pressures, especially in southern Europe, with severe water scarcity projected by 2050.
- 💧 Desalination technologies remove salts and minerals from seawater, brackish water, and wastewater.
**Technologies and Processes:**
- **Membrane Processes:**
- 🚰 Reverse Osmosis (RO)
- ⚡ Electrical Dialysis Reversal (EDR)
- **Thermal Processes:**
- 🔥 Multistage Flash Distillation (MSF)
- ♨️ Multi-effect Distillation (MED)
- 🌪️ Thermal Vapor Compression (TVC)
- 💨 Mechanical Vapor Compression (MVC)
- 🌀 Emerging hybrid processes like Membrane Distillation (MD)
- 🌐 RO is the dominant technology in the EU, while thermal processes are prevalent in the MENA region due to low-cost fuels and proximity to power plants.
**Global and Regional Capacity:**
- 📈 Global desalination capacity has been growing at 7% annually since 2010, with over 21,000 plants producing 99 million m³/day of desalinated water as of 2022.
- 🏜️ The MENA region accounts for 70% of global capacity, while the EU represents about 10%.
- 🇪🇺 The EU's desalination capacity includes 2,178 plants, mainly in Spain, Greece, and Italy, producing 6.86 million m³/day of freshwater.
**EU Desalination Sector:**
- 🌿 The EU desalination sector emerged in response to water shortages in the 1990s, with current facilities supplying up to 3.4 billion m³ of desalted water annually.
- 🌊 Most EU plants are located in coastal areas, with significant capacity in Mediterranean countries.
- 🧩 EU desalinated water usage: 71% for public supply, 17% for industrial applications, 4% for power plants, and 8% for irrigation.
**Investment and Development:**
- 💶 Between 2000 and 2009, the EU added 4.58 million m³/day of capacity with a €4 billion investment, but new capacity slowed between 2010 and 2019.
- 🏗️ New installations since 2010 are predominantly small and medium-sized, while large plants from earlier decades serve major coastal cities.
**Geographical Distribution:**
- 🇪🇸 Spain, 🇬🇷 Greece, 🇮🇹 Italy, 🇩🇪 Germany, and 🇫🇷 France host the majority of EU desalination plants.
- 🏗️ Not all recorded plants are active; some are under construction or in planning stages.
References:
For more detailed information, refer to the EU Blue Economy Observatory:
[1] https://blue-economy-observatory.ec.europa.eu/eu-blue-economy-sectors/desalination_en
Upcoming Event:
📅 The IDA 2024 World Congress on Addressing Water Scarcity will be held from December 8-12, 2024, in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Learn more and submit abstracts.
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