No abstract

Sustainable water production is one of the top five challenges facing humanity within the upcoming decade, for arid regions the situation is aggravated. Countries worldwide are urged to balance of the SDG 6 (clean water and sanitation), SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) to contribute to SDG 13 (climate action). This research evaluates seawater desalination in arid regions using multi-effect distillation (MED) and seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) using fossil fuels versus solar power versus solar collector system (SCS) and and photovoltaic (PV). Four alternatives were investigated MED (NG), MED (SCS), SWRO (NG) and SWRO (PV) using life cycle assessment (LCA) to desalinate one cubic meter of seawater using a second-order boundary (i.e., cradle to gate) in which the operational parameters include: energy, materials, chemicals and additives in accordance with ISO 14040/4. The foreground data is based on field data collection that considers water intake characteristics: salinity and turbidity. The background inventories are based on Ecoinvent database v.3. The life cycle impact assessment is based on midpoint analysis using ReCiPe midpoint (H) v1.10. The results indicates that the primary fuel exergy and the allocation of energy in water electricity co-generation is the defining factor.

Sustainable water production is one of the top five challenges facing humanity within the upcoming decade; for arid regions, this challenge is aggravated. In this research, we evaluate the fastest growing technology in water treatment, reverse osmosis (RO), for both municipal wastewater treatment and seawater desalination to combat the challenges of water scarcity and climate change. We conduct a life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impacts of municipal wastewater treatment and seawater desalination for a consistent functional unit using ISO 14040/44 standards. The modeling concept adopts a cradle-to-gate consequential paradigm. The life cycle inventory is based on field data collection from one of the largest wastewater RO plants worldwide, as well as reports, literature and ecoinvent database processes. The life cycle impact assessment is conducted on both the characterized and normalized levels using the ReCiPe method. The results are intended to assist policy-makers in better managing water resources. The study is applied to Kuwait but has wider repercussions.