1WDRC News | Fall 2015 wdrc.kaust.edu.sa

WDRC News

Fall 2015 | wdrc.kaust.edu.sa

WDRC ACTIVITIESUPCOMINGEVENTS

The 6th Annual Center IndustryAffiliates Program (CIAP)MeetingNovember 10-12, 2015

WDRC’s Industry Affiliates Program (CIAP) members and observers will meet with WDRC faculty and researchers to discuss research and industry updates.

International Conference on Physics and Chemistries of Hydrophobic Interfaces

February 14-17, 2016

WDRC is organizing a gathering of leaders in academic research on Physics and Chemistries of Hydrophobic Interfaces. The registration deadline is December 1, 2015. For more information, visit the website: http://www.kaust.edu.sa/events/hydrophobic-conference/

CONFERENCES & WORKSHOPSThe center has hosted many events since its founding. Eighteen (18) of the twenty six (26) conferences and workshops were hosted at KAUST.

The WDRC is also proactive nationally and internationally in terms of journal publications, conference proceedings and awards.

PUBLICATIONS Number of Publications

Over the past five years, the WDRC has published over 500 publications, including journal publications and conference proceedings.

The WDRC is organizing a gathering of leaders in academic research on Physics and Chemistries of Hydrophobic Interfaces during February 14-17, 2016. Leading experimentalists and theorists from around the world will share their insights on complexities of hydrophobic interactions and identify unique challenges and opportunities for fundamental and solution-driven collaborative research. KAUST’s industrial partners are invited to participate in stimulating conversations and panel discussions. The area of focus will be:1; Origin of hydrophobic interactions: roles of hydrogen bonding, density fluctuations, nanoscale bubbles2; Latest experimental and theoretical techniques to measure force-distance curves at hydrophobic interfaces3; Specific ion effects at hydrophobic interfaces

Previous CIAP Meeting (2014)

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FACULTY Q & AProf. Kim Choon Ng joined the WDRC as a full-time professor in July 2015 after spending 34

years at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He has been associated with the WDRC since 2008 to 2011, where he was initially an international Principal Investigator (PI) under the Global Research Collaboration (GCR) of the KAUST-NUS Special Academic Program (SAP) for Solar-Powered Adsorption Desalination. His research interests are in nuclear power plants, solar energy applications, chillers and heat pumps, adsorption cooling and desalination, co-generation systems analysis and testing.

Q: What was your motivation in joining KAUST recently as a full-time professor after spending more than three decades as a professor at NUS? What are your immediate goals and

targets at WDRC? ?A: Although I have joined WDRC in July 2015, but I am not new to WDRC at KAUST. In 2008, I was the PI for KAUST’s Global Collaborative Research (GCR) project from 2008-2012 and followed by the Phase 2-GCR project on the MEDAD project from 2013 to 2015. I also spent two semesters on sabbatical leave at KAUST. I am impressed with the research work and the cordial environment at WDRC. My goals are simple that is to excel in thermally-driven processes, particularly the emerging low energy processes that will be useful for future sustainable desalination in the Kingdom and GCC countries. We are currently commissioning the integration of AD (Adsorption Desalination) to the MED (Multi-effect Distillation) cycles, to exploits the thermodynamic synergy of the cycles for maximizing the water production rates using only low grade heat input such as the renewable and geothermal sources.Q: As a developer of an innovative technology, the Adsorption Desalination (AD), what are some of the current challenges and barriers you think remain in making this technology a viable and widely acceptable desalination technology for this region and beyond? What are some of the steps you have taken for its wider applicability and acceptance?A: The adsorption desalination (AD) cycle is an excellent thermally-driven cycle that employs low-temperature heat sources and it has low maintenance. To further enhance its specific energy consumption, so as to be at par with the membrane-based reverse osmosis (RO) desalination processes, it has to be hybridized with the proven thermally driven desalination process, such as MED/ MSF (Multi Effect Distillation and Multi Stage Distillation) cycles. When compared to RO processes at the same water production rates, vis-a-vis, the GOR (Gain Output Ratio, i.e., kg of distillate water produced per kg of steam) expected of a thermally-driven cycle should not be less than 20. From our research, the design of hybrid AD-MED cycles as (MEDAD), coupled with proper removal of sulfate (SO4-2) and carbonate (Ca+2) in the feed seawater, they can be operated with a top-brine temperature (TBT) from 120oC to a bottom-brine temperature (BBT) below that of the ambient, increasing the water production or GOR > 25. Currently, such an idea has been explored by industrial companies in the Kingdom.Q: What are the some of the known limitations and advantages of the AD process in terms of its capital, O&M costs, performance, energy consumption, etc. compared to other widely practiced desalination technologies? A: The hybrid MEDAD (i.e. MED with AD) cycles are estimated to have a life-cycle cost (LCC) of less than US$0.50, which is lower than all the practical desalination cycles (namely the MSF, MED and RO processes). The key advantages are (i) it has almost no major moving parts as they are usually stationary; (ii) it utilizes low temperature heat input from renewable or waste heat sources. The specific electricity consumption is less than 1.38 KWh/m3 while the renewable heat sources are deemed to be “free.” Several publications are available to show the LCC cost comparison for various desalination methods in comparison to the MEDAD (Desalination, Vol.308, pp161-179, 2013; Desalination, Vol.356, pp255-270, 2015). Q: What are some of the niches you think Adsorption Desalination (AD) could immediately fulfil in benefitting the desalination communities and industries of this region and beyond? A: Owing to increasing demand for potable water caused by the increasing world population and the relentless quest for GDP growth, the present methods of desalination is not sustainable for the future from the point of view of energy-water-environment nexus. New innovative desalting solutions have to be found for the world’s sustainable development. Our work in utilizing renewable and waste heat input to desalting processes will support the quest for sustainable development in seawater desalination. Moreover, the GCC region has high renewable solar energy where the AD hybrids can exploit for desalination.Q: It took almost half a century towards commercialization and acceptance of the Reverse Osmosis (RO) as a key desalination technology throughout the world. What is your assessment towards the AD and MEDAD technologies for its wider acceptance as the key desalination technology?A: The RO and MED/MSF processes are efficient, but they are deemed energy-intensive with respect to sustainable development. The increasing demand for potable water to support a growing world population requires an “out-of-box” solution for desalination where the specific energy consumption should be lower. The hybrid thermally-driven technologies are one of the possible solutions and more innovative desalination solutions have to be found. The WDRC has an important role in this respect, which is to train young and bright scientists and engineers for future sustainable desalination.

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• Approximately one sixth of the world’s population (1.2 billion) lacks access to safe water1

• The average individual in KSA uses 265 liters of water, which is double the amount of water used by an individual in a European country2

Did you know?

WASTEWATER REUSE IN THE US IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT•U.S. still stands out as the largest market by volume for municipal wastewater reuse •However, it lags behind other countries as a percentage level of reclaimed water to total

water supply. Israel and Singapore use 20% and 30% of its wastewater, respectively

Wastewater Reuse at a Glance

TOTAL 21.6 million m3/d 62%

38%

Rest of the world: 13.3 million m3/d

USA:8.3 million m3/d

1.7 million 20%

272,000 30%

8.3 million 3%

SINGAPORE

USA

ISRAELwater reuse flows m3/d

reclamation water as % of total water supply

GCC WASTEWATER REUSE IN THE GCC & KSA• GCC and MENA regions are the driest and most

water scarce region in the world. A large volume of wastewater (51%) in KSA is not available for reuse (no sewer connection)3,4

• Only a small portion of wastewater is captured (33%), and only 20% of this water is reused in KSA3,4

• In comparison, a larger portion of wastewater is reused in Kuwait (60%)3,4

• With proper measures, about 6.2 million m3/day of wastewater could be available in KSA (second to the U.S.) 3

Moving Forward • The Public Utility Board (PUB) of Singapore, the NEWater, is a good example. It produces high-grade

reclaimed water produced from treated wastewater by using advanced treatment (membrane technologies and ultra-violet (UV) disinfection)

• NEWater is testament of today’s technologies, and can produce high quality water, even for drinking.• Currently, it is mainly used for industrial and cooling purposes, and meets Singapore’s 30% of current water

demands. By 2060, it can meet 55% of water demand.

Ref: Jimenez and Asano (2008)

Ref erences:1. http://www.ou.edu/coe/centers/water.html2. http://www.arabnews.com/news/459851 (2015)

GLOBAL

3. A Water Sector Assessment Report on GCC Countries, World Bank (2005)4. Al-Saud (2010) http://www.jccme.or.jp/english/jaef2_overview/meeting/session3/workshop2/18_w2.pdf5. http://www.pub.gov.sg/water/newater/Pages/default.aspx

TREATED WASTEWATER & REUSE 3

MCM

/YEA

R

WATER REUSE AT A GLANCE

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ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIAL SAFETY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY: RESEARCH GROUP ACTIVITIES

Saudi Arabia is a water-stressed country. The problem is further aggravated by the need to utilize up to 80% of the freshwater supplies to irrigate agricultural crops. A solution to overcome water scarcity issues would be to look into the use of alternative water resources, one of which would be the treated wastewater. Despite intense efforts to develop treated wastewater as an alternative water resource for agricultural irrigation, reuse of wastewater is still not widely practiced in Saudi Arabia as exemplified from the low reuse rates. The reluctance to reuse treated wastewater is, in part, due to a general perception among the local public that treated wastewater remains unsafe and that the conventional treatment facilities are ineffective in removing contaminants from raw wastewater.Environmental Microbial Safety and Biotechnology group aims to encourage the use of treated wastewater for various reuse purposes, particularly for agricultural irrigation, through a two-way approach:(i) Understanding the microbial safety concerns related to wastewater reuse(ii) Developing anaerobic membrane bioreactor to improve quality of treated wastewater We report here some of the activities performed by the team since it was first established in 2012.

KEY HIGHLIGHT 1: SOME OF THE GROUNDWATER SUPPLIES IN EASTERN PART OF KSA ARE NOT PRISTINE AND MAY RESULT IN COMPROMISED FOOD QUALITY WHEN USED FOR AGRICULTURAL IRRIGATION

For a period of 2 months, our team collected groundwater from wells in the Wadi Yamaniyah and Badalah area near Mecca, and monitored for the nutrient level and abundance of fecal indicators. Our findings indicated that groundwater at some of the wells were contaminated by either surface runoffs or by poor agricultural management practices. The groundwater was used to irrigate lettuce, tomatoes and green peppers, all of which are commonly consumed raw by the locals. To assess if the contaminated water quality would result in bacterial contamination of these food crops, tomatoes and green

peppers were sampled on-site and cultivated for antibiotic-resistant pathogens. 16S rRNA gene-based identification revealed that majority of the cultivated isolates was Pseudomonas aeruginosa (an opportunistic pathogen) and Enterococcus faecalis (a fecal-associated bacterium). This study suggests that the current groundwater supply used to irrigate food crops were perturbed by anthropogenic contamination, and can result in compromised food quality. Our findings therefore cast doubt over the existential perception that groundwater is pristine.

KEY HIGHLIGHT 2: TREATED WASTEWATER FROM TREATMENT PLANTS IN JEDDAH WAS OF SUFFICIENT QUALITY TO BE REUSED FOR AGRICULTURAL IRRIGATION In another case study, our research exemplified that even though wastewater treatment plants in Jeddah discharged about 50-70% of their treated wastewater into the Red Sea, no apparent perturbation was detected in the nearby marine waters. This was evaluated based on coliform counts as well as the molecular-based detection of opportunistic pathogens. Our findings suggest that the treatment plants in Jeddah were achieving good removal efficiencies of conventional contaminants from the wastewater influent. Instead, recreational beach activities and urban runoffs were likely to be the main causes that resulted in a change in the trophic state of the Red Sea. To further verify the treatment efficiency of local wastewater treatment plants, a monitoring survey was conducted over a period of 1 year at a Jeddah wastewater treatment plant. Our analyses revealed that the treatment process was able to achieve up to nearly 4 logs (i.e., 99.99%) removal of heterotrophic bacteria and fecal coliforms. The final chlorinated effluent had 180 MPN/100 mL of fecal coliforms and fulfils the required quality for restricted irrigation. Quantitative microbial risk assessment further indicated that the use of chlorinated effluent will not impose significant microbial risks on agricultural farmers during irrigation events.

Saudi Arabia

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KEY HIGHLIGHT 3: EMERGING CONTAMINANTS WILL BE OF CONCERN WHEN REUSING TREATED WASTEWATERAlthough treated wastewater fulfilled the quality requirements imposed by existing regulations, emerging contaminants such as antibiotic-resistant bacteria and their resistance genes may be of concern. To illustrate, the proportion of bacterial isolates resistant to 6 types of antibiotics increased from 3.8% of the total isolates retrieved from the influent to 6.9% in the chlorinated effluent. Besides the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial isolates, tetracycline resistance genes were also present in the chlorinated effluent. Our study highlighted that potential risks associated with the reuse of treated wastewater arise not only from conventional fecal indicators or known pathogens, but also from antibiotic-resistant bacteria and genes. The detection of bacterial isolates that exhibited multi-drug resistance in the influent and non-chlorinated effluent could raise concerns pertaining to reusing these waters. This is because when human hosts are infected by antibiotic-resistant strains, it will be clinically harder to eradicate these microbial agents with a typical antimicrobial therapy. In places that only rely on conventional activated sludge treatment processes, existing infrastructure may have to be retrofitted with other technologies such as membrane filtration. Membrane filtration, particularly those at the ultrafiltration range, can ensure a substantial removal of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and their incorporated resistance genes. Given that antibiotic-resistant bacteria are present in the reuse water, our future research will focus on understanding their fate and persistence in the agricultural environment. Our group aims to determine how long the antibiotic-resistant bacteria will persist upon exposure to sunlight irradiation, and upon exposure to other conditions relevant to the wastewater treatment process. We also aim to demonstrate the use of anaerobic membrane bioreactors to remove emerging microbial contaminants, and hence achieve an improved effluent quality suitable for reuse.

Related articles: 1. Alsalah et al. (2015) Assessing the groundwater quality at a Saudi Arabian agricultural site and the occurrence of opportunistic pathogens on irrigated food produce. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 12: 12391-12411.

2. Ansari et al. (2015) Molecular-based approaches to characterize coastal microbial community and their potential relation to the trophic state of Red Sea. Scientific Reports 5: 9001.

3. Al-Jassim et al. (2015) Removal of bacterial contaminants and antibiotic resistance genes by conventional wastewater treatment processes in Saudi Arabia: Is the treated wastewater safe to reuse for agricultural irrigation? Water Research 73: 277-290

WDRC HIGHLIGHTSPh.D. candidate Joline El-Chakhtoura won the runner-up prize at the Falling Walls Challenge at KAUST. Joline’s presentation, “Breaking the Wall of Waste-to-Energy,” addressed two walls: clean, decentralized energy and safe, treated waste. As 1/3 of the total food grown today is thrown away and organics often reach 70% of the waste stream in developing countries, Joline tested food leftovers as a feed in microbial fuel cells, generating direct electricity and achieving significant organic treatment. This winning idea was part of her master’s degree thesis, which was supervised by Prof. Pascal Saikaly.

Ph.D. candidate Gerald Matar, who is supervised by Prof. Pascal Saikaly, was awarded second place for the best presentation at the 250th ACS National Meeting, division of Environmental Chemistry in the ASC symposium. His presentation, which was entitled “Initiation and succession of biofouling communities on hydrophobic and hydrophilic membrane surfaces in a submerged membrane bioreactor,” characterized the biofouling microbial communities and their metabolic products and assessed their temporal changes according to different membrane surfaces.

Postdoctoral fellow Dr. Muhammad Wakil Shahzad, was recently selected as a regional coordinator of the International Desalination Association Young Leader Program (IDA-YLP) for the Middle East and Africa region for the 2015-2017 term. His research interests include: adsorption desalination (AD), hybrid MED+AD desalination, co-generation systems economic and carbon footprint, hybrid AD+M-cycle for cooling, refrigeration and air conditioning, heat and mass transfer and thermodynamics.

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The Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) was founded in 1974 to meet a long standing water shortage in the Kingdom. SWCC is the world’s largest producer of desalinated water. This capacity was necessitated by higwh population growth rate, rapid urbanization and rapid development in the Kingdom. With the rapid expansion and the complex nature of the desalination industry, SWCC decided to establish its own R&D programs to ensure a sustainable and cost effective supply of potable water. In 1987, SWCC established a Research & Development Center in Al Jubail. This move was recognition of both the complex nature of desalination and the exponential increases in the capacity of this industry in the Kingdom. In the year 2006, the Research & Development Center

was renamed as Desalination Technologies Research Institute (DTRI). DTRI owns a great desalination research infrastructure including sophisticated labs & pilot plants. The total number of staff is about 100, out of which 30% are research staff. Vision ° Excellence and leadership in research, innovation, and solution for desalination technologies.Mission ° Research: To ensure scientific excellence in the application of R&D to enhance desalination technologies. ° Innovation: To serve as the foremost contributor to desalination technology innovation in the Kingdom. ° Solutions: To identify cost-effective and efficient practical solutions to public and private enterprises through desalination technology to produce water of desired quality.Strategic ° Strengthen internal operating mechanisms and work flow processes to build institutional and staff Objectives capacity for a distinguished research work environment. ° Strengthen the knowhow to build institutional and staff capacity for distinguished research in desalination. ° Promote scientific and technical expertise and problem solving services to an international audience to support the research, development and application of desalination technologies for industry use. ° Build internal capacities for research & development, intellectual property management and technology commercialization for enhanced revenue generation.

Q: What is your role in your company?A: To carryout research studies to develop and enhance the techno-economic viability of desalination technologies and provide technical and consultation services.Q: As a major desalinator for the world, what types of challenges do you foresee in meeting the growing desalination needs of Saudi Arabia?A: The main challenge is to reduce the energy consumption of desalination processes, enhance the reliability and reduce the unit production cost. Q: What types of technologies do you think will be necessary to meet the Kingdom’s current and future desalination needs?A: Membrane and thermal development processes and hybrid system integrating membrane and thermal at the same side. Q: For the types of technology improvement you think are necessary, where could SWCC (DTRI) and WDRC play a role?A: Address the barriers inherited in existing desalination processes and work together for the development of new and non-traditional desalination processes that are more cost-effective. Q: How do you foresee the integration of renewable energies, such as solar, geothermal, wind, etc., playing an important role in desalination? What steps are you taking towards such integration?A: Integration of renewable energy with desalination processes will greatly help in reduction of energy cost. DTRI is currently conducting a number of research projects to explore the prospect of utilizing solar energy for thermal desalination processes. Q: What was your main motivation in having WDRC join you as your strategic partner nearly four years ago in 2011?A: Collaboration with WDRC will yield maximum utilization of research facilities available in both institutions and will motivate successful partnership for the development of desalination industries.Q: How is your engagement with the center serving your company? What steps do you think are necessary in strengthening our relationships?A: One of DTRI research staff is currently enrolled in WDRC research post graduate program. Technical meetings are frequently held between the two institutions.Q: What is your company’s ultimate vision to best serve KSA?A: DTRI’s ultimate vision is to develop and utilize desalination technologies and enhance their cost effectiveness.

Company Profile

INDUSTRY CORNER

Dr. Ibrahim Al-Tisan

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Water Desalination and Reuse CenterKing Abdullah University of Science and TechnologyThuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia

Contact: Dr. Shahnawaz Sinha shahnawaz.sinha@kaust.edu.sa +966 (0) 12 808 4905

Dr. Fang Weijie recently joined WDRC as a postdoctoral fellow to work with Prof. Noreddine Ghaffou. Dr. Fang’s main research interest focuses on membrane fouling. He completed his Ph.D. degree in chemical and biomolecular engineering from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2012. He then accepted a postdoctoral research position to work with Prof. Jiang Jianwen at NUS.

NEW PEOPLE

The WDRC is organizing a gathering of leaders in academic research on Physics and Chemistries of Hydrophobic Interfaces during February 14-17, 2016. Leading experimentalists and theorists from around the world will share their insights on complexities of hydrophobic interactions and identify unique challenges and opportunities for fundamental and solution-driven collaborative research. KAUST’s industrial partners are invited to participate in stimulating conversations and panel discussions.The area of focus will be:

1. Origin of hydrophobic interactions: roles of hydrogen bonding, density fluctuations, nanoscale bubbles2. Latest experimental and theoretical techniques to measure force-distance curves at hydrophobic interfaces3. Specific ion effects at hydrophobic interfaces

The registration deadline is December 1, 2015.For more information visit:

Dr. Raihan Jumat joined the WDRC as a postdoctoral fellow to work with Prof. Peiying Hong. Dr. Jumat received his Ph.D. degree in Molecular Virology at NTU (Singapore) in 2014. The aims of his research are to determine and quantify the presence of different viruses which may be present in the ground and waste water. His main research interests include virology, water-borne pathogens, and virus detection from wastewater and groundwater.

February 14-17, 2016 at KAUST

www.kaust.edu.sa/events/hydrophobic-conference/