New Desalination Technology in the Works in Qatar
Photo by Mamamia
PEEING IN THE
SHOWER COULD SAVE THE WORLD
Photo by Teen
The world is divided into two sides, those who don’ t mind peeing in the shower, and those who do. This topic has been long debated over, and we think that peeing in the shower is a thumbs up and we have the mathematical evidence that may help( those against) change their minds. There have been reports that peeing in the shower could help save the world! How? By conserving water! Flushing toilets account for around 27 % of Americans’ water usage, that’ s with each standard toilet that uses around seven liters per flush! The average adult pees around seven times a day, and if we flush each time, that will be around 49 liters of water per day. If you compute that, it’ ll add up to more than 17,000 litres of flushed water, per year, per person. Wow! That’ s a lot. By peeing in the shower, you will reduce the amount of water being used for one out of seven of your daily pees. Let’ s say you do this for a year, you’ ll save 2,555 liters of water per year. If you’ re worried about how gross this is: Reassured, you’ re pee isn’ t toxic and won’ t ruin your precious skin. You’ re in the shower and getting yourself clean anyway. And while this may be an interesting read, let’ s all genuinely save the world and reduce the amount of water we use on a daily basis.
New Desalination Technology in the Works in Qatar
Membrane distillation is an emerging desalination technology, and Qatar University College of Engineering( QU- CENG) is up for the challenge to forward this field. The research project led by QU-CENG chemical engineering professor Dr. Farid Benyahia, with the funding from ConocoPhillips pioneered a process called membrane distillation desalination. The project has discovered that a hydrophobic membrane disallows salty water to pass through and allows fresh water vapour to permeate and condense. Requirements of this process are minimal to a low temperature feed of salty water, often not exceeding 80 º C, and low usage of atmospheric pressure. The process has been tested in two pilot plants at the Ras Bou Fantas power and desalination plant and got promising results. The tests showed that membrane properties need to be improved for long-term usage and to combine thermal integration with existing chemical processes in Qatar. This will exploit low-grade heat being dissipated into the environment, which in turn, will reduce energy consumption for fresh water production, thus cheaper water.
SEPTEMBER 2016 Clean Water Technologies
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