Solar-powered Desalination with Nanofiltration membranes

AGRISOL PROJECT: USAID-MERC: M32-023

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Participants and Partners

Mr. Boaz Ayalon, (USAID-MERC)

Dr. Rami Messalem (BGU)

Dr. Sireen Naoum and Ms. Nahla Eylian (NCARE)

Eng. Firas Alawneh

Prof. Jamal Safi and Mr. Mohamed Safi, (EPRI)

Mr. Boaz Hurwitz, Mrs. Rivka Offenbach, Dr. Effi Trepler (R&D ARAVA),

Dr. Andrea Ghermandi (HU)

Kick-off meeting USAID-MERC project AGRISOL,

Movenpick Hotel, Aqaba, Jordan, 2nd December 2014

Movenpick Hotel, Aqaba, Jordan, Tuesday 2nd December 2014 -

10:30 AM Welcome and Opening

11:00 AM Overview by Coordinator BGU- Dr. Rami Messalem

11:30 AM Partner presentation / key personnel All partners

1:00 PM Lunch break

1:30 PM Presentation and discussion WP1:

Pilot design & construction

BGU, HU

WP Leader- Dr. Andrea Ghermandi

2:30 PM Presentation and discussion WP2:

Pilot testing & optimization

BGU, HU

WP Leader -Eng. Firas Alawneh

3:00 PM Coffee break

3:30 PM Presentation and discussion WP3:

Agronomic experiments

R&D ARAVA, NCARE

WP Leader : Dr. Sireen Naoum,

Mrs. Rivka Offenbach

4:00 PM Presentation and discussion WP4:

Evaluation

BGU, HU, EPRI

WP Leader -Dr. Andrea Ghermandi

4:30 PM Presentation and discussion WP5:

Exploitation & Dissemination

All partners

WP Leader –Prof. Jamal Safi

5:00 PM Presentation and discussion WP6:

Management

BGU, HU

WP Leader -Dr. Rami Messalem

5:30 PM First 6 months plan and open discussion BGU- Dr. Rami Messalem

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Partners collaboration

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USAID MERC

BGU

EPRI

NCARE KARAMA

HU

R&D ARAVA

NERC

AGRISOL project management

Platform management

Coordinator Responsibility

Management

Head of Team

Assembly of partners

Work package leader

Water department at BGU

Dr. R. Messalem

One person each institution

One person each institution

Administration

Day to day management

Overall strategy

Responsible for the work package

Summary of key MERC elements

Relevance to regional development Innovative aspects Strength of Arab-Israeli cooperation Sustainability

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The Rationale of the project

The focus of the AGRISOL project—small-scale desalination units—is specifically meant to benefit the individual farmer

Agriculture is a major source of livelihood in large, semi-arid and sparsely populated regions in the Middle East.

Irrigation with desalinated water has the potential to be a

water-efficient and economically viable alternative to brackish water irrigation.

Integration of solar power and desalination technologies has the potential of reducing costs and improving the environmental sustainability of desalination technologies, particularly in areas with unlimited access to solar energy such as MENA

The principal research hypothesis of the AGRISOL project is that partial desalination of brackish water by NF membranes is a technically feasible and economically viable solution for agriculture in semi-arid areas of MENA.

In the medium and long-terms, irrigation using desalinated water will allow cultivation practices to focus on more highly valued horticultural crops, contributing to the more sustainable development of rural areas in the MENA region.

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The Rationale of the project

The Rationale of the project

NF desalination is substantially less energy-intensive than RO desalination The higher salinity of NF permeate compared to RO permeate results in

negligible differences in crop yields Compared to RO permeate, NF permeate has a higher concentration of

the essential elements necessary for plant growth Irrigation with desalinated water is more efficient than with brackish

water Many areas in MENA are freshwater poor but have extensive brackish

water resources

Overall aim and specific objectives

To optimize the design of solar NF desalination to achieve energy efficient and low maintenance units producing permeate water of suitable composition for crop irrigation.

To construct two solar-powered NF pilot desalination units with the optimized design, one in Israel and one in Jordan.

To evaluate the technical and economical sustainability of the two units for the cultivation of two different types of high-value crops over two seasons

To disseminate the findings of the project to the farming communities in the Arava region of Jordan , the Palestinian Authority , Israel and the scientific community

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Detailed technical work plan

WP1 Pilot design & construction

WP2 Pilot testing & optimization

WP3 Agronomic

experiments

WP4 Evaluation

WP5 Exploitation and dissemination

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WP6 Management

WP1 Pilot design & construction

Determination of the optimal design for the two pilot solar desalination plants

Construction, installation and commissioning of the Jordanian pilot desalination plant

Upgrade of the Israeli pilot solar desalination plant located in Hatzeva

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WP2 Pilot testing & optimization

Identification of different operation strategies.

Detailed planning of timing and duration of the tests to be performed in both pilot plants.

Pilot testing and identification of optimal operation strategies

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WP3 Agronomic experiments

Market survey of local agricultural practices, including the identification of locally grown crops and the irrigation rates currently applied by the local farmers

Planning, setup of the agronomic experiments, including planning of irrigation rate application and setup of the necessary equipment

Conducting the agronomic experiments

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WP4 Evaluation

Technical evaluation of the proposed technology, including salt retention

rates, energy consumption, overall water recovery, analysis of membrane

performance over the total operation time, and the need for membranes

and other equipment to be replaced.

Full economic analysis of the proposed technology, including a

comprehensive cost benefit analysis taking into account investment costs

(from WP1), operation and maintenance costs (from WP2), market values

of the produce, and opportunity costs given by the current agricultural

practices

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WP5 Exploitation and dissemination

Dissemination of the project results to local stakeholders and potential

end-users by organizing at least two joint workshops in Israel and Jordan

and demonstrations of the technology.

Organization of workshops in the West Bank (at least one) and locally in the

Gaza Strip (every three months) with the purpose of raising awareness of

sustainability issues in agriculture (e.g., problems with salinity increase due

to seawater intrusion) and disseminating the project concepts and results

to the local farming communities and other stakeholders (e.g., locally

active NGOs).

Dissemination of project results to the scientific audience, participation in

international conferences

Technology implementation plan 16

WP6 Management

Coordinate technical management activities implemented through the different work areas by providing support and organizing reporting, including regular risk assessments.

Monitoring the overall progress of project organization and of work implementation.

Ensuring smooth flow of information between project members and between the consortium and USAID-MERC.

Coordinating and managing the contractual and financial aspects of the project.

Creating and maintaining internal communication routes (e.g. web-based platform)

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Control plot irrigated with

brackish water (450 m2)

Staple crops irrigated with

desalinated water (450 m2)

Halophyte irrigated with

concentrate (100 m2)

PV modules

Nanofiltration unit

Battery

AC/DC

inverter

Pilot testing and agricultural experiments

The NF Desalination System

Solar-powered operation

29 m2 of polycrystalline

photovoltaic modules

(4.2 kilowatts)

24/7 fully energy

autonomous

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Quality of the Product

Project schedule and meetings

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month 1 • Kickoff meeting

month 6 • Visit at Jordan pilot

Month 12 • Watec

MONTH 16 • Workshop at Hatseva

Month 25 • Workshop at Jordan

Milestones

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Website Established Month 3

Installation of 2 pilots

Month 12

End of first series of experiments

Month 21

End of second series of experiments

Month 30

List of deliverables

No. Title WP Partners involved * Nature Dissemination Delivery

D1.1 Site characterization 1 BGU, NCARE Int. report Consortium Month 4

D1.2 Pilot plants design 1 BGU, NCARE Int. report Consortium Month 8

D1.3 Design and construction 1 BGU, NCARE Report Public Month 12

D2.1 Pilot testing (1st series) 2 BGU, NCARE Int. report Consortium Month 15

D2.2 Pilot testing (2nd series) 2 BGU, NCARE Int. report Consortium Month 24

D3.1 Agronomic experiments 3 R&D ARAVA,NCARE, EPRI Int. report Consortium Month 21

D3.2 Agronomic experiments 3 R&D ARAVA ,NCARE, EPRI Int. report Consortium Month 30

D4.1 Technology evaluation 4 All (HU is WP leader) Int. report Consortium Month 34

D4.2 Final report 4 All Report Public Month 36

* The work package leader assumes the responsibility to coordinate the preparation of the report

Budget terms

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EPRI NCARE

((NERC HU R&D

ARAVA

BGU YEAR

19,550 98,670 24,495 7,682 22,253 20,010 1

22,050 23,230 25,990 12,742 22,713 22,080 2

22,050 23,230 16,215 16,537 25,243 21.850 3

63,650 211,830 36,961 70,209 63,940 Total

Total USAID GRANT - 446,589$

Rice Experiments

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Rice Experiments