Elimination of polluted brine well-recharge using solar-powered zero-liquid discharge brackish water desalination in Oman

Sultanate of Oman is an arid/semi-arid country. Agriculture constitutes 90% of water use. Al Batinah North and South Governorates (Al Batinah region) are two of the 11 governorates of Oman. Al Batinah is the main agricultural region in Oman. It accounts for 50% of the country's agricultural production. High abstraction rate lead to increase in groundwater salinity due to seawater intrusion. Recently, farmers began installing brackish water desalination plants to irrigate their farms. Water reject from the desalination plants (brine) is recharged back into the ground. This practice is hazardous to the groundwater because of the different chemicals that are used and/or produced during the operation of the desalination plants. The overall aim of the project is to develop green and sustainable desalination process to overcome groundwater recharge of brine. Groundwater will be characterized for the presence of desalination plants contaminants. Nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) desalination processes will be used and their efficiency will be compared. Membrane distillation (MD) as a zero-liquid discharge desalination process will be used to treat the brine produced by NF/RO process. Finally, solar-power will be used to operate MD and eliminate the need for an external source of heating.