The Centre was fortunate to be visited in January by 28 high school students from across Australia who were in Perth as part of the National Youth Science Forum. These students, entering into Year 12, are the among top science students in Australia (photo above courtesy of the Community Newspaper Group).

It was a pleasure to share some of the chemistry and physics of desalination, and the intelligence, courtesy and curiosity of the students was exemplary. One of the objectives of NCEDA is to encourage enquiring minds of all ages, particularly the young, to explore the fascinating world of water and its conversion from salty to fresh.

Hopefully, some of the budding young scientists were inspired by the presentations and will be attracted to study water science and engineering at one of our Participating Organisations in order to make a difference to the world they will soon inherit.

Neil Palmer
0417 996 126
ceo@desalination.edu.au
Follow us on Twitter: @DiscoverDesal

Feature Article: Australia a leader in dealing with climate variability

By Nick Apostolidis, Global Development Leader, GHD

We cannot ‘climate proof’ our infrastructure. We can better understand the risks we face and plan for extreme events such as the millennium drought or the Queensland floods. The latter highlighted the importance of understanding the consequences of building in flood prone areas. Having to cope with such variability poses many challenges for our governments. The investment needed is much greater than other countries with more stable and predictable weather patterns. How do we build climate resilience into water infrastructure, transportation and energy networks, buildings and communication systems?

Read the feature article on desalination.edu.au.

Public Open Day, February 25, 2012

The Desal Discovery Centre will open its doors to the public on Saturday, February 25. This coincides with the local Rockingham Musselfest, and will be held between 1pm and 5pm.

DDC Manager Warren Hays says the Centre has so far hosted tours by schoolteachers from local schools Kolbe Catholic College and Rockingham Montessori, a class from St Judes Catholic Primary, and students from the National Youth Science Forum.

School visits will continue throughout the school year and further public events will coincide with Science Week and Murdoch University’s Rockingham Campus Open Day later in the year.

Schools and organisations interested in visiting the DDC or supporting its science education activities can contact Mr Hays at W.Hays@murdoch.edu.au or on 08 9360 7177.

International Intakes and Outfalls workshop now open for registration

Registrations are now being taken for the Centre’s fourth research workshop, to be held in Adelaide on May 16-17.

International and national researchers and industry leaders will present current best practice in seawater intakes and discharges, examine case studies, and consider challenges for future research.

See more information about the workshop, or register online now.

Funding Round 4 attracts 38 EOIs

Thirty eight Expressions of Interest have been received from NCEDA Participating Organisations for Funding Round 4 project grants.

The next stage will see EOI evaluation completed by February 17 and shortlisted applicants invited to submit proposals by March 26. Approved FR4 projects will be announced at the end of April.

The Centre’s research activity is funded under the Australian Government’s Water for the Future program.

New resident researcher explores solar desalination

A Victoria University Mechanical Engineering student is now a resident researcher at NCEDA’s Rockingham Facility.

High Distinction-achieving Christina Knorr is evaluating and developing suggestions for improving a commercially available simple solar desalination system which has the potential to provide sustainable and safe drinking water to remote communities and developing nations.

The only female in her VU Mechanical Engineering class, Ms Knorr was successful in her application for a travel bursary which enabled her to work on the solar desalination system based at the Rockingham Desalination Research Facility (RDRF) over the summer period. This topic will now be the subject of her final year project and ongoing literary review.

In line with NCEDA’s aim of providing opportunities for students of Participating Organisations to study desalination in a practical laboratory environment, Ms Knorr is able to meet and work with top researchers, industry leaders and technicians with broad water industry experience at NCEDA. She has also taken opportunities to explain how solar desal works to science teachers and high school students visiting the Centre.

Born in Russia, Ms Knorr studied in Germany before backpacking with her husband-to-be throughout Australia. The couple worked hard to gain entry to universities here to continue their studies, and once she has completed her degree, Ms Knorr intends to move permanently to Rockingham to undertake her PhD studies with Victoria University at the RDRF.

Under the surface of Perth Seawater Desalination Plant

The Water Corporation has recently published underwater vision around the Kwinana desalination plant, showing marine life around the intake and brine discharge from the diffuser.

Watch the video on YouTube.

Media coverage, links and articles

A new vision for desalination, Institute of Chemical Engineers, Dec 21, 2011.

Top science students learn about desalination, Murdoch University News, Jan 23, 2012.

Fact Sheet: Desalination in Australia, NCEDA, Jan 2012.

Gold Industry Sponsors

The NCEDA is grateful for the generous support of our Gold Industry Sponsors.

The newly opened venue for the National Centre of Excellence in Desalination Australia will be offering guided tours during its first public Open Day on Saturday February 25, between 1:00 – 5:00 pm.

Guided tours of the Rockingham Desalination Research Facility will include a 3D presentation on the desalination process, a tour of the pilot testing facility and some ‘hands-on’ science in our new Desal Discovery Centre Edulab.

If you want to learn more about desalination, or if you are just curious to see inside this new facility please visit us during our Open Day.

Location

National Centre of Excellence in Desalination Australia
Murdoch University Rockingham Campus
Dixon Road, Rockingham WA 6168

Telephone: 08 9360 7171
Email: w.hays@murdoch.edu.au

View Larger Map

By Nick Apostolidis, Global Development Leader, GHD

Australia has long been recognized as having one of the most variable climates on the planet. Contrary to popular perception, most of the overseas countries think we are doing a good job in managing such variability and look to our solutions and policies as being best practice. For example, the Americans think our security through diversity approach to water supply security is industry-leading. China believes our water management and allocation policies are best practice. Europeans see our demand management initiatives as being positioned well ahead of any other practice.

Having just returned from two international water conferences in Singapore and China, it is disappointing to see the good work we have recently done in Australia to improve our water security being ridiculed in the media as being wasteful because suddenly we have record rainfalls and our dams are full again.

Is the weather changing?

While we cannot accurately predict the future, data recorded over the past century indicates the climate is becoming warmer and as a result we can expect our weather to be more extreme. More rain has fallen in areas such as the east coast of North and South America and northern Europe since 1900 but less has fallen in the Mediterranean and parts of Africa and Asia. Since 1970, eastern and south-western Australia have become much dryer.

Weather patterns in the Pacific are also playing a role. A jump in El Niño (warming) events after 1977 brought drought in Australia but since 2008 La Niña (cooling) has returned with record rainfall and floods.

These trends suggest we can expect higher temperatures and more severe droughts but also more intense storms and coastal flooding throughout the world. Therefore, the challenges we had to face in Australia will be replicated in other parts of the world with traditionally more stable climates. Australia is a lucky country. We have the resources and talent to overcome such extreme events. Many countries around the world do not. You just have to look to East Africa to see the consequences of taking no action against climate variability.

Planning for climate variability

We cannot ‘climate proof’ our infrastructure. We can better understand the risks we face and plan for extreme events such as the millennium drought or the Queensland floods. The latter highlighted the importance of understanding the consequences of building in flood prone areas.
Having to cope with such variability poses many challenges for our governments. The investment needed is much greater than other countries with more stable and predictable weather patterns.

How do we build climate resilience into water infrastructure, transportation and energy networks, buildings and communication systems? In a variable climate environment, we have to have some climate independent sources of water such as desalination, but we can also push the boundaries in improving water use efficiency in agriculture and design our cities to be more resilient to this variability.

Land use planning, design and modelling all have roles to play as engineers, planners and architects go back to the drawing board and ask the hard questions. Is designing only for a one in 100-year flood appropriate? Should we consider building to category five cyclone conditions in coastal areas?

Limiting development in vulnerable areas is preferred, but not always realistic as most settlements were established near water, leaving them exposed to flood.

While levees, dykes or bunds can help protect existing assets, more modeling and mapping are needed to identify vulnerable areas and plan for new developments. A review of building codes and standards is also needed so that materials match the appropriate level of risk.

Minimising our exposure to climate risks will be ever more important as we push the boundaries of our built environment and plan for the future.

Whether we like it or not the world will have to deal with more extreme weather events. Many countries will look to Australia to solve their problems. In Australia we have the opportunity to grasp this leadership position and show pride in what we have achieved and help other countries deal with their variable climate or fall victim to short term thinking and sniping and de-value the great work that has been done.

First published in Civil Engineers Australia, January 2012. Kindly reprinted courtesy GHD.

About Nick: Appointed to the GHD Board in 2002, Nick brings more than 30 years’ international experience in consulting, in particular the water sector which he led for GHD over the past 10 years. Nick is a director of Water Australia and was recently appointed to the Board of the Australian Green Infrastructure Council. In his current role, Nick is responsible for the the further development of GHD’s global water business.

Source: NOAA

With the Middle East Desalination Research Center (MEDRC) and the Water Desalination & Reuse Center at King Abdullah University of Science & Technology, Saudi Arabia, the NCEDA are jointly organising an expert workshop on the dangers for desalination plants of harmful algal blooms (HABs), commonly called “red tides”. The two-day workshop at the Middle East Desalination Research Center (MEDRC) in Muscat, Oman, will be held on February 8-9, 2012.

An international panel of presenters will discuss the incidence, control and impact of HABs on desalination plants. Issues to be discussed will include a review of the global diversity of HAB species, toxins and bloom types, trends in HAB incidence, the fate of algal toxins during desalination, impacts of high algal biomass on filtration and membrane integrity, and potential mitigation strategies. International and Gulf regional case studies will be presented by private sector operators. Partner organisations include Public Authority of Water & Electricity Oman and International Centre for Biosaline Research, Dubai.

View the workshop program (PDF, 1.5 MB).

Participants from industry, government, academia and research institutes are invited. For more information, email MEDRC.

The National Centre of Excellence in Desalination Australia is proud to present its fourth research workshop, to be held in Adelaide in May 2012.

International and national researchers and industry leaders will present current best practice in seawater intakes and discharges, examine case studies, and consider challenges for future research. Topics will include:

• open, submerged, and seawater well intakes
• brine dilution
• fluid mechanics
• environmental impacts and mitigation.

Who should attend?

The workshop will appeal to people from the following organisations:

• Seawater desal plant designers, constructors and operators
• Universities and Research Organisations
• Federal, State and Local Government
• Water Utilities
• Consultants
• Environmental Regulators

On this page:

• Program
• Keynote speakers and abstracts
• Session speakers and abstracts
• Associated events
• Venue
• Accommodation
• Register now!
• Questions?

Program

The workshop program is currently being finalised and will be available for download shortly. Confirmed speakers and their abstracts are shown below. The workshop program and speakers are subject to change due to circumstances outside of the control of NCEDA.

Keynote speakers and abstracts

Dr Sabine Lattemann
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia
Sabine Lattemann has over 10 years of experience in environmental research and impact analyses of seawater desalination, offshore wind energy developments, maritime shipping and transportation. She joined the Water Desalination & Reuse Center (WDRC) of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in August 2010 as a part-time research scientist. Her field of activity at the Center is the environmental impact and sustainability assessment of desalination technologies. From 2007-2010 Dr Lattemann participated in the European research project Membrane-based desalination – an integrated approach (MEDINA) and chaired the environmental working group of the World Health Organization Project “Desalination for safe water supply” from 2004-2007.

The greening of SWRO: Focus on intakes and outfalls
Sabine Lattemann, Riaan van der Merwe, and Gary Amy
The desalination processes requires considerable amounts of natural resources, for example, in the form of energy, chemicals, construction materials, or coastal land. Another main resource – seawater – is used as feed water for the desalination process and for dilution of the concentrate. The potential environmental concerns for the marine environment are the impingement and entrainment of organisms at the intakes, and harmful effects in the mixing zone of the concentrate around the outfalls. A review in the Journal Nature described desalination as often “chemically, energetically and operationally intensive, focused on large systems, and thus requiring considerable infusion of capital, engineering expertise and infrastructure” (Shannon et al. 2008). The need for resource-saving, low-impact ‘green’ desalination technologies is therefore evident. The concept of best available techniques (BAT) aims at the identification of state of the art technologies which prevent or reduce waste production and environmental pollution. The presentation will provide a synthesis of the potential environmental concerns of seawater desalination plants, with emphasis on intake and outfall designs, an overview of existing BAT regulations in Europe and the United States, and a ‘green paper’ concept for BAT solutions for SWRO plants which discusses the relative environmental merits of open intakes versus subsurface intakes.

Mr Tom Pankratz
Water Desalination Report
Tom Pankratz is an independent desalination consultant and editor of Water Desalination Report. He first became involved in desal while an application engineer for an intake screening company in the mid-1970’s and visited his first seawater desal facility in Abu Dhabi in 1979 while commissioning the intake screens. He soon became more involved in the process side of desalination as a corporate projects director for USFilter/Veolia and a vice president of CH2M Hill. He has served as a technical and environmental advisor on some of the world’s largest seawater desal facilities.

Seawater intakes and outfalls: An overview
Historically, most large desalination plants have been co-located with electric power plants, with both facilities sharing a common seawater intake and concentrate outfall infrastructure. However, the power industry is moving away from once-through cooling systems and more desalination plants are being developed as stand-alone facilities with purpose-built intakes and outfalls. As seawater desalination is being introduced to areas where it was not previously considered, the plants potential effects on marine biological resources and water quality have also fallen under increased scrutiny. Desalination plant intake and outfalls are the two primary elements of a desalination plant likely to cause adverse environmental impacts. Methods to mitigate this risk must be taken into consideration in their design and operation. These designs, and the modeling, monitoring, and permitting activities that surround them, can have a considerable impact on the cost of the project. This presentation will review seawater intake and concentrate outfall options for membrane desalination facilities that have been employed around the world to suit a variety of physical and environmental issues.

Session speakers and abstracts

Mr Stephen V. Amaral
Alden Research Laboratory, USA
Stephen Amaral is Principal Fisheries Biologist with Alden Research Laboratory in Massachusetts. He has B.S. and M.S. degrees in fisheries biology and 20 years of experience in the design, evaluation, and application of fish protection technologies at water intakes. Mr Amaral performs evaluations for meeting Clean Water Act Section 316(b) requirements and is the author of several comprehensive reports describing the status of fish protection and passage technologies. His recent projects include an independent technical review of intake technologies for protecting fish at a nuclear power plant, a laboratory study of new technology to protect fish eggs and larvae, a review of technologies with to protect ichthyoplankton at offshore intakes, and a field evaluation of underwater sound deterrents.

316(b) and the impingement and entrainment of marine life at seawater intakes
The protection of marine life at desalination intakes is a global environmental concern. The selection of the most cost-effective intake technology that offers the greatest protection against impingement and entrainment is a very important phase in the development of a desalination project. Targets for environmental performance vary globally, with many countries enacting regulations with very conservative performance targets. In the United States, Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act is a federal regulation that sets impingement and entrainment performance standards for cooling water intakes in the power generation industry. These standards are also generally applied to desalination intakes as well. This presentation will focus on defining impingement and entrainment, reviewing 316(b) intake performance standards in the U.S., describing standard methods for monitoring impingement and entrainment, and identifying state-of-the-art intake technologies with potential to meet conservative environmental goals.

Dr Jason Antenucci
Hatch Associates
Jason Antenucci has a PhD in Environmental Engineering with 15 years experience in surface water resource management, including lakes, reservoirs, rivers, and the coastal ocean for both the public and private sector. He has particular expertise in hydrodynamic and water quality modelling, decision support systems and outfall design and assessment. Dr Antenucci has published over 40 peer-reviewed journal papers, more than 40 conference papers and one book chapter on various topics associated with surface water management from catchment to the coastal ocean.

Field verification of near and far field brine dilution from the Perth Seawater Desalination Plant
Commissioned in November 2006, the Perth Seawater Desalination Plant was the first plant to supply desalinated water to a major Australian city, supplying 125 million litres per day. Brine from the plant is discharged into Cockburn Sound, a shallow, partially closed embayment via a 160m long, 40-port diffuser located approximately 300m from the shoreline in 10m of water. A combination of near-field and far-field experiments were conducted to validate diffuser performance. Near-field experiments focused within 100 metres of the diffuser and quantified the initial mixing under three different discharge flow rates. Two far-field experiments were conducted under calm conditions, whereby fluorescent dye was injected into the diffuser and tracked for several days in Cockburn Sound. These data, along with data collected from seasonal monitoring and high-resolution sampling, were used to validate a comprehensive three-dimensional numerical model of both the hydrodynamics and ecology of Cockburn Sound. The combination of experimental and numerical modelling results demonstrated that the saline discharge is diluted to such an extent by the action of the diffuser and natural environmental mixing processes that the Perth Seawater Desalination Plant has no measurable impact on the oxygen levels in Cockburn Sound.

Mr Gavin Broom
WorleyParsons
Gavin Broom is a Senior Principal Consultant at WorleyParsons. He has been involved in the design and operation of potable water treatment and wastewater treatment processes in Australia and southeast Asia. Mr Broom now specialises in desalination and advanced water treatment processes for municipal applications and process industries. He was the design manager for the 143 ML/day Perth Seawater Desalination Plant during the competitive bid phase and was subsequently the Chief Engineer for the design and construction phase. Mr Broom’s experience lead to WorleyParsons involvement in the Southern Seawater Desalination plant at Binningup that provides 155 ML/day of drinking water into the Perth’s Integrated Water Supply Scheme. He was the Technical Manager for this project that included many innovations and learnings from other desalination projects.

Binningup: Intake system design and construction considerations
Intakes and outfalls are not afforded the first thought when considering what major components make up a large seawater desalination plant. However the design and construction of intakes and outfalls present the one of the major risks to budget and schedule during the delivery phase; and they pose significant problems should they not operate effective during the operational phase. The location and offshore environment for the Perth and Southern Seawater desalination plants will be described with respect to the decision making process that determined the method of construction. Discussion will then focus on the operation of the Southern Seawater plant that experiences wide fluctuations in seawater quality and the impact this has on the intake and outfall. Observations from the operation of the plant will be particularly relevant to the development of other plants that will experience poor seawater quality from an open ocean environment.

Mr Keith Craig
Veolia Water Australia
Keith Craig is Technical Manager of Veolia Water Australia and has over 30 years experience in the water industry. This has included over 20 years in the public sector, initially at the NSW Public Works and then Hunter Water and 14 years at Veolia Water Australia. His activities at Veolia Water include involvement in business development, project implementation, operations management and support and research and development. Mr Craig has been involved in the Gold Coast and Sydney Desalination Projects including pilot plant studies, design review, commissioning, operations support and ongoing R&D.

Gold Coast, Sydney and Sur desalination plant intakes overview
The intakes for large desalination plants are a key part of the infrastructure for such plants. The plant location and intake design can a have a significant effect on the plant cost, seawater quality delivered to the plant and the environment. The intakes for two major plants in Australia and one plant in Oman operated by Veolia Water are reviewed. The two Australian desalination plants reviewed include the 125 ML/day Gold Coast plant and the 250 ML/day Sydney plant. These plants have been operating for approximately 3 and 2 years respectively and have achieved a high level of performance. Both plant intakes use an open intake system to deliver water to the plants. The design, control method for marine fouling and operating results for the plant intakes are reviewed for these plants. The Sur plant in Oman in the Middle East has a capacity of 80 ML/day and is the largest plant worldwide utilising a beach well for the plant intake. Such an intake can provide advantages particularly with seawater quality with filtration through the beach wells providing very high quality seawater to the plant which can provide a benefit to the plant operating performance particularly the pre-treatment and reverse osmosis stages. The Sur beach well design and operating performance and advantages are reviewed for this plant.

Mr Tim Kildea
SA Water
Tim Kildea has over eighteen years experience working on temperate and tropical marine ecosystems, in the capacity of both a research scientist and marine consultant. His skills encompass a broad palette, predominantly focusing on macroalgal and microalgal ecology, water quality and environmental impact assessment. The skills developed have been utilised in a wide range of projects, which have lead to international collaborations in India, New Zealand, Brazil and Taiwan. Mr Kildea’s current focus is assessing and minimising potential impacts associated with the construction and operation of the Adelaide Desalination Plant in South Australia. He has published in journals, technical reports and presented numerous papers at both national and international conferences.

Environmental performance monitoring of SWRO plants – where to from here?
Desalination has come to the fore in Australia as a means of “water proofing” Australian coastal cities against drought. The construction of large desalination plants along the coast has generated considerable public debate, with questions raised by the community about the potential impacts of these plants on the local environment. In response to these concerns detailed monitoring studies have been developed to assess the environmental performance of these plants. These studies have provided a substantial volume of information, which in general is lost in the grey literature of internal reports to regulatory bodies. The presentation will discuss “known knowns and the known unknowns”, suggesting methods for site selection and environmental performance monitoring for the construction and operation of SWRO desalination plants, based on experiences acquired from the Adelaide Desalination Plant. In particular the discussion will focus on validating diffuser performance, ecotoxicology experiments, entrainment and options for long term environmental monitoring.

A/Prof. Adrian Law
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Adrian Law Wing Keung received his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley. He was a practicing engineer in the USA for more than 7 years, before joining the academic faculty of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. His current research focuses on using the knowledge of environmental fluid mechanics to improve the design of membrane and desalination systems. He was recognized with the Wesley Horner Award by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and two Outstanding Technical Paper Awards by the Bechtel Corporation, USA. He was also UPS Foundation Visiting Professor at Stanford University, William Mong Research Fellow at the University of Hong Kong, and also Faculty Fellow of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology. Currently, he is the Executive Committee Member of the International Association of Hydro-environment Engineering and Research (IAHR) Asian Pacific Division, Vice-Chair of the Joint IAHR-IWA Committee on Marine Outfall Systems, as well as in the Editorial Board of two related journals in this area. In Singapore, he is also the co-Director of the DHI-NTU Water and Environment Research Centre under the Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute (NEWRI), as well as an active research member in the Singapore Membrane Technology Centre.

The environmental fluid mechanics of SWRO brine discharge
With increasing world population (7 Billion last year and projected to increase to 9.5 billion in 2050), urbanization and climate change, the need for further water resources is critical. Globally, sea water desalination with Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) is an increasingly popular option implemented to augment the water supply for many coastal cities (e.g. Singapore, Sydney, etc). Significant advancements have occurred in recent years in membrane technology, process control and brine management, and together they have led to a considerable reduction in the water production cost. At the same time, the output capacity of SWRO plants is increasing rapidly to achieve an economy of scale, and the brine flow rate to the sea has also increased correspondingly. At present, the brine is mostly discharged back to the surrounding coastal waters for large scale SWRO plants. In the design of the outfall, it is critical to ensure a good mixing of the brine discharge with the ambient water throughout the flow range. Hence, a good knowledge of the environmental fluid mechanics involved is essential. The talk will cover the physical understandings of the near-field mixing of SWRO brine discharges in open waters, and the outfall design approaches currently being adopted. The available methodology and software that can be used to assist in the analysis will also be reviewed.

Dr Thomas M. Missimer
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia
Thomas Missimer is a visiting professor at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. He has been involved in the design and construction of subsurface intakes for brackish-water and seawater reverse osmosis facilities since 1977 (over 50 facility designs constructed). He is the author of the book “Water supply development, concentrate disposal, and aquifer storage for membrane water treatment facilities” and six other books. He won the Best Paper Presentation Award from the International Desalination Association in Washington, DC in 1991. Dr Missimer is currently directing research on the development of new subsurface intake designs in the seabed of the Red Sea and on the life-cycle costs of seawater reverse osmosis systems using conventional verses subsurface intakes along with several graduate students.

Subsurface intakes: Feasibility assessment, design and operation, and environmental considerations
Thomas Missimer, Sabine Lattemann
Subsurface intakes for seawater reverse osmosis desalination facilities provide a higher quality raw water quality compared to conventional open-ocean intakes. They can commonly significantly reduce the operational costs of seawater desalination and reduce the environmental impacts by eliminating issues related to impingement and entrainment of marine organisms. There are two classes of subsurface intake types; wells and galleries. Well types include convention vertical wells, horizontal wells, and Ranney or collector wells. Gallery intakes include beach galleries and seabed filters. The feasibility and selection of the intake type is based on the desired feedwater flow volume and the local geology and hydrology of the specific site. Subsurface intakes remove suspended sediments, algae, bacteria, and reduce the concentration of organic molecules that impact the biofouling of seawater RO plants. The processes occurring in the improvement of raw water quality include straining and biologically activity that allows breakdown of organic materials. Typical silt density index measurements on raw water produced from subsurface intakes are below 3 in virtually all cases and commonly are below 1.

Dr Chuyang Tang
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Dr Chuyang Y. Tang is a faculty member in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University. He obtained his PhD degree from Stanford University. Dr Tang’s research focuses on the use of membrane technology for wastewater reclamation, seawater desalination, energy production, and resource recovery. He is also interested in the application of surface and interfacial science and nanotechnology for water and energy applications. Dr. Tang has published more than 60 research papers in international refereed journals.

A positive case for brine discharge
Brine management is a key challenge for seawater desalination. In this presentation, the key issues in brine discharge will be discussed. Novel methods for brine discharge will be examined. In particular, the beneficial use of brine will be explored.

Mr Riaan van der Merwe
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia
Riaan van der Merwe is currently a PhD Candidate at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), supervised by Prof. Gary Amy and Dr Sabine Lattemann. His current research project will generate scientific results on possible environmental impacts, assessing changes in population diversity specific to marine microorganisms in near-field areas of seawater desalination plants. He was awarded an MSc in Environmental Management from the University of the Free State, South Africa (2008). Prior to joining KAUST, he was working as a Senior Environmental Consultant in Al-Khobar for over 4 years. During this time he was responsible for the management of projects and conducted comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) for Saudi Aramco and other principal role players within the Saudi Arabian oil & gas, mining, petrochemical, infrastructure and energy sectors.

Environmental impact and management of concentrate and chemical discharges from seawater desalination plants
Sabine Lattemann, Riaan van der Merwe
A key concern of desalination plants are the concentrate and chemical discharges into the sea. Depending on the composition of the waste product (salinity, oxygen levels, possible residuals from the pretreatment and cleaning processes), the outfall design (open pipe, diffuser, co-discharge with power plant cooling water) and the outfall location (near-shore outfall, submerged offshore outfall), it may be harmful to the marine environment in the discharge location. The presentation will give an overview on the use of chemicals in desalination plants and will discuss potential environmental concerns of the concentrate and chemical discharges into the sea based on case studies from different parts of the world. Emphasis will be given to the management of the concentrate discharge through a combination of toxicity and monitoring studies, hydrodynamic modeling of the discharge, and design and location of the outfall.

Dr Diane Wiesner
During 12 years at Australian Water Association, the last 5 years as Principal Scientist, Diane Wiesner played a major role in setting up the membrane and desalination specialist network and initiated the organisation’s biennial specialist conferences in membranes and desalination, and also in biosolids. She also developed and ran the highly successful one day technical Seminars and two day Master Classes. Prior to her time at AWA, Diane spent 9 years an environmental consultant, and extended period as a Visiting Research Fellow at UNSW during which she also did part time teaching at Sydney University and Open TAFE. Dr Wiesner now works as an independent research scientist and technical writer. She has a PhD, an MSc in environmental science and an MA from Adelaide University.

The environmental performance of the Perth Seawater Desalination Plant concentrate return system after five years of continuous operation
Prior to commencement of operations at the Perth SWRO, a regulatory regime based on hydrodynamic modelling of the dispersal of the saline plume was used to determine a series of monitoring points at which test data could be collected under a regular program. Key environmental criteria on which data was sought were dispersion of the brine using hydrodynamic models to obtain an optimal dilution ratio, dissolved oxygen levels in Cockburn Sound into which the discharge was dispersed, and ecosystem survival: the short and long term health of marine species in Cockburn Sound. The presentation poses four questions that arise with this data: (1) How quickly does the salinity of ambient waters in the Sound return to background levels after brine discharge and should this be a concern in Cockburn Sound? (2) Why focus on dissolved oxygen levels in Cockburn Sound when waters at discharge could be expected to have an elevated dissolved oxygen profile? (3) Should the focus of attention be more on chemical residues contained in a discharge than its salinity – additives such as biocides, disinfectants and even anti-scalants? And (4) How good and reliable is the regime of WET Testing now in place?

Associated events

The following events are being held in association with this workshop:

• GWI Desalination Short School, on Friday May 18, 2012, in association with Global Water Intelligence and ICEWaRM. Online registration will be available soon.
• Wine tour of the McLaren Vale region, 10:00 am to 4:30 pm on Saturday May 19, 2012 (subject to interest). In a deluxe mini-coach, the tour will visit several quality wineries and a chocolate factory. Lunch will be at Woodstock winery consisting of shared regional platters with coffee and cake. The cost is $90 per person. Indicate your interest in the online workshop registration.

Venue

The venue for this workshop is the Learning Centre at SA Water House in central Adelaide, South Australia’s first 6 Star Green Star building.

Accommodation

The Medina Grand Adelaide Treasury and the Hilton Adelaide are both located on Victoria Square and a short walk from SA Water House.

Medina Grand Adelaide Treasury

The Medina Grand Adelaide Treasury offers workshop delegates Premier Studio Rooms at $170 per night or Premier One Bedroom Apartments at $195 per night, subject to availability.

Medina say: “Embrace the stunning elegance of Medina Grand Adelaide Treasury, superbly located in the heart of Adelaide in the historic, heritage-listed former Treasury. Your stay in this friendly city can only be enhanced by the historic charm of Medina Grand Adelaide Treasury, situated at the true heart of the city’s CBD, overlooking Victoria Square and adjacent to the Town Hall. Originally the offices for the State Treasury, Medina has completely restored and rejuvenated its heritage features making it one of the country’s most appealing boutique hotels.”

To book, contact the hotel directly on 08 8112 0000 or email mgat@medina.com.au and refer to the delegate tariff for the “NCEDA Intakes Outfalls workshop” for valid rates.

Hilton Adelaide

The Hilton Adelaide offers workshop delegates Guest Rooms at $185 per night, subject to availability.

Hilton say: “Beautifully located overlooking Victoria Square, the Hilton Adelaide hotel is at the heart of the city’s entertainment, shopping and dining precincts. The Central Market, Chinatown and Gouger Street, Adelaide’s most vibrant dining destinations, are just next to this Adelaide hotel. Catch a tram from outside the hotel to seaside Glenelg or along North Terrace to the Casino, the River Precinct and the Entertainment Center.”

To book, contact the hotel on 08 8217 2000 or book online and specify the “Government” tariff.

Register now!

Places are limited. Registration is $990 (including GST) for the two-day workshop. Centre members (Participating Organisations) are offered a 25% discount on registrations. WSAA and AWA members are offered a 10% discount. Postgraduate students from Centre members can attend for free with their supervisors. Register and pay online with a credit card. Your ticket is your tax invoice.

Questions?

Contact events@desalination.edu.au with any questions.

Unlike earlier Funding Rounds which sought research on any Roadmap topic, this fourth funding round is primarily seeking projects targeted at gaps in the Roadmap topics, and projects addressing specific needs raised by industry.

Other organisations wishing to participate in the funding round are encouraged to contact the Centre for information on how to get involved.

Expressions of Interest must be submitted by January 23, 2012.

The Centre’s research activity is funded under the Australian Government’s Water for the Future program.

I came across an activist website from South Australia campaigning against the proposed Whyalla seawater desalination plant which will supply water to the Olympic Dam project. The activist presents in front of a slogan which announces “desal brine kills”. While the website proclaims its intent to “represent the concerns of independent experts, scientists and industry”, no evidence is presented that desal plant brine from a well designed outfall and diffuser does in fact kill anything. However, five years of operating experience from the large Kwinana desalination plant in Perth shows discharge of concentrate from the diffuser has had no adverse impact on marine life. This plant has operated at 100% capacity for all that time and is located on Cockburn Sound, a relatively confined water body. In fact there is such abundance of marine life around the diffuser pipework, it looks more like an artificial reef!

This month the Centre exhibited at ChemFest – a celebration of science held at Curtin University in November. Our display had five different types of water for people to taste – including water from a seawater desalination plant. The response was overwhelming, with hundreds of children and adults sampling the water and learning about desalination. It was heartening to see such open minds absorbing the science and engineering of desalination and its vital role in providing sustainable water security in Perth.

We continue to see the team here at NCEDA grow and develop, with Warren Hays accepting a two-year contract to manage the Desal Discovery Centre. We have also had valuable help from George Horvath, an experienced desalination technical expert, in establishing a number of our projects at the Rockingham Desalination Research Facility.

We expect 2012 to be a year of growth of the core business of the NCEDA as a number of projects approach completion, a new funding round is opened and we host an international workshop on intakes and outfalls in Adelaide in May.

May I extend the compliments of the season to all our valued friends and supporters as we look forward to great opportunities and many new achievements to come.

Neil Palmer
0417 996 126
ceo@desalination.edu.au
Follow us on Twitter: @DiscoverDesal

Funding Round 4 opening Monday

The Centre’s fourth funding round will open for Expressions of Interest from Participating Organisations on Monday November 28, 2011. EOI forms and funding guidelines will be available for download on our website from Monday.

This funding round is primarily seeking projects targeted at gaps in the Roadmap topics, and projects addressing specific needs raised by industry.

Other organisations wishing to participate in the funding round are encouraged to contact the Centre for information on how to get involved.

Completed Expressions of Interest must be submitted by Monday January 23, 2012.

The Centre’s research activity is funded under the Australian Government’s Water for the Future program.

Honours scholarship winners near project completion

Four winners of NCEDA $10,000 Honours scholarships will have completed their research projects by the end of the year.

Honours research funded by NCEDA in the 2011 awards included:

• Jilleen Donaldson, Deakin University: Understanding public perceptions of desalination in Victoria
• John Hayles, Flinders University: Impact of environmental parameters on the growth and morphology of diatom species
• Sian La Vars, Flinders University: The effects of salinity on diatoms: Chemical characterisation of potential biofouling compounds produced
• Natasha Hulse, Victoria University: Knowledge and affect in risk perception of recycled and desalinated water
• David Everitt, University of Wollongong: Removal of salinity and trace organics from coal seam gas water reverse osmosis membranes

Desal Directions will feature outcomes from the graduates’ projects in 2012.

Postgraduate study and employment of PhD graduates in the desalination industry is being encouraged by NCEDA, and the Centre awarded more than $580,000 in desal research scholarships during 2011.

Public discover taste for desal

Hundreds of WA schoolchildren and their parents were introduced to the clean taste of desalination when NCEDA staff offered samples of treated water at this year’s Chemfest.

Celebrating the International Year of Chemistry, the science extravaganza was held at Curtin Stadium on November 12.

The free public event provided an opportunity for the Perth community to explore the chemistry in their everyday lives. Open to people of all ages, it sparked curiosity about the wonder of chemistry through entertaining and engaging shows, demonstrations and interactive activities.

Attended by an estimated 2000 people, visitors to the NCEDA stand were able to meet NCEDA staff, see membrane and pressure vessel cutaways, watch a working desal model and video footage. The highlight however, was certainly the water taste test which proved to be much harder than expected as people were asked to correctly identify five water samples. Visitors tasted tap, spring, distilled, salty, and desalinated water in a challenge to correctly identify all five and observe the differences between them.

Desal Discovery Centre Manager, Warren Hays, says many people voiced surprise at how good the desalinated water tasted and how difficult it was to identify all the samples correctly.

Red Tides Workshop, Oman, Feb 8-9, 2012

The NCEDA is proud to be jointly presenting a two day international workshop in Oman on 7-8 February 2012 with the Middle East Desalination Research Centre on the subject of harmful algal blooms and their impact on seawater desalination plants. A common phenomenon in seawater in tropical and temperate climates, an international panel of presenters will discuss incidence, control and impact of harmful algal blooms (a common form is the “red tide”).

For further information contact Neil Palmer or David Furukawa.

International Desalination Intakes and Outfalls Workshop, Adelaide, May 16-17, 2012

Save the date for the next NCEDA research and industry workshop, to be held in Adelaide on 16-17 May 2012.

International and national researchers and industry leaders will present current best practice in seawater intakes and discharges, examine case studies, and consider challenges for future research. Topics scheduled include open, submerged, and seawater well intakes; brine dilution; fluid mechanics; and environmental impacts and mitigation.

More information on the workshop will be available on our website in the new year.

Summer trials at Rockingham

Three research projects are due to run extensive trials on desal units at the Rockingham Desalination Research Facility over the summer months.

Manager Mike Blackwood says a Victoria University student will be visiting the Centre to test a solar desalination unit, and Murdoch University researcher Trevor Pryor will work on the memsys Vacuum Multi Effect Membrane Distillation unit destined for use in the remote Tjuntjuntjara Aboriginal community.

Two MED units from the University of Western Australia are also being installed on new skids and a new hot water system has been sourced and will be connected for trials before Christmas.

Mr Blackwood says the RDRF pilot plant has been successfully running its seawater and freshwater bores to the storage tank system with the feed pumps circulating the feed water through the distribution main.

Two units have been running simultaneously connected to internal tie-in points within the main building. One is a single membrane reverse osmosis unit which is being used to increase the salinity (higher than available seawater) of the feed water, sending it back to the storage tank.

The second is the memsys unit which uses heat as its main energy source – for example, solar or waste heat from an industrial process or a generator set. Any product and brine water not required has been successfully returned to the re-injection aquifer.

Manager appointed to lead Desal Discovery Centre

A former Head of Learning Area at St Stephen’s School, Perth, has accepted the position of Manager of the Desal Discovery Centre (DDC).

Warren Hays is a career educator, working at St Stephen’s School’s Carramar Campus since 2004, and previously at the Duncraig Campus as a Head of Department for seven years, following 14 years as a secondary maths and computer science teacher.

Mr Hays has been working this year to manage the design and establishment of the Desal Discovery Centre, a new water science education attraction at Rockingham. The DDC boasts a state of the art media and conference room and a purpose built science and water testing laboratory.

In a strong collaboration with the Water Corporation, Mr Hays has led the development of a 3D movie on the desalination process, a key attraction for school groups visiting the Desal Discovery Centre. The movie follows the journey of a water drop, Crystal, through the desalination process on her way to becoming Crystal Clear. It addresses many of the misunderstandings around desalination and is designed to be a springboard for further discussion and exploration. The movie will be shown in 3D in the DDC’s multimedia room and distributed in 2D by the Water Corporation to schools in Western Australia.

Mr Hays is focusing on the Centre’s community engagement and outreach to schools and other interested groups. The DDC will provide hands on water science education while exploring the science of the desalination process.

Its location alongside the NCEDA’s pilot testing facility will also give visiting students exposure to a part of the research process that sees projects progress from the lab through to commercial applications.

The Centre has so far received donated equipment from ERI, Siemens, BEL and Hydronautics, and the pledge of a SkyHydrant emergency desal unit as used in developing nations from SkyJuice Foundation. The DDC will also benefit by support from its gold sponsors – Osmoflo and Valoriza.

Mr Hays is now working on the 2012 schedule of school visits to the new Rockingham Centre, which will also be open to the public during designated open days next year. He is looking for companies and organisations interested in supporting the DDC and its science education activities, and is also keen to talk with teachers wanting to book classes for visits next year. For further information contact him at W.Hays@murdoch.edu.au or on 08 9360 7177.

Technical expertise boosted at Rockingham

Technical consultant George Horvath has joined the Rockingham Desalination Research Facility to oversee research trial requirements and workshop practice compliance to mining and manufacturing industry and state government standards.

Former Project Manager and Engineer at Osmoflo in South Australia, Mr Horvath has worked on many reverse osmosis plants around Australia and helped establish plants for companies including Santos, Coopers, Coca Cola, Origin and ADrail in his 14 years of service.

He also helped build and trial Osmoflo’s TGA (medically approved) water treatment plants for dialysis purposes including their first unit into the international market.

Mr Horvath has joined NCEDA to assist with procurement of essential items for research operations and data analysis, and verification and proving of plants within trialling periods.

He is providing advice on building, designing and engaging in assembly and commissioning to job specifics and creating a good local supplier database with safe work practices to assist development of the centre.

His previous roles have included positions in the manufacturing industry, fisheries and resource sector and as a Materials Controller for the Woodside North West Shelf flare platform.

New desal scientist at Murdoch University: Dr Linda Li

In November Dr Dan (Linda) Li joined Murdoch University as a lecturer in Environmental Engineering. Her current research interests include the development of advanced materials and membranes for gas separation, wastewater treatment, seawater desalination, and other applications.

Dr Li received her PhD degree from Chemical Engineering at Monash University under the supervision of Prof. Huanting Wang in 2009. She then started her postdoctoral research in the same research group, working on zeolites-polymer composite membranes for low energy desalination and fast stimuli-responsive polymer hydrogels as a new class of draw agent for forward osmosis desalination. Over last few years, Dr Li has published more than 20 peer-reviewed papers in high-ranking journals.

Researcher Profile: Professor Michael Monteiro

University of Queensland scientists are developing novel organic membranes with high selectivity, high water permeation rates with low energy requirements.

Leading the NCEDA-funded research to deliver the next generation in membrane technology is Professor Michael Monteiro, an Australian Research Council Future Fellow based at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at the Brisbane university.

Prof. Monteiro says that with the new methods developed by his team, these membranes have the potential to be made on industrial scales.

Prof. Monteiro has established an international reputation in the field of ‘living’ radical polymerisation to produce highly complex polymer architectures and nanostructures in water.

His recent collaborative work on using polymeric systems in biology is highly regarded internationally and he was appointed to the Editorial Advisory Board of Macromolecules for three years – the top polymer journal – and welcomed as a plenary and invited speaker at many international conferences.

Prof. Monteiro has previously held positions at universities in Canada, the Netherlands and Sydney and been Principal Scientist at Sydney company Gradipore Ltd.

In the Netherlands, his research group was the first to develop polymer nanostructures with controlled size, morphology and block copolymer composition using the Australian invented RAFT technology, a significant step in its commercialisation success.

Other collaborative research discovered a self-regulation mechanism for copper-mediated living radical polymerisation, which led to the making of ultrahigh and ultrafast polymers using copper to catalyse the polymerization, contributing considerable commercial significance for application in high heat distortion temperature PVC materials and ultra-strong coatings.

Prof. Monteiro is inventor on seven patents including modified rubber polymer latex and dendritic molecules, has published over 140 peer reviewed publications and has over 4500 citations.

He has won nine national science, innovation travel and leadership awards, and received a Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship.

Professor Monteiro’s research has attracted ARC Discovery grants, ACR Linkage, ARC LIEF, NHMRC and Queensland state government funding in excess of $7 million and he is on the editorial board of the Journal of Polymer Science Part A Polymer Chemistry and The Open Macromolecules Journal.

His research into reducing heavy metals at minute levels for the purification of waterled to his invitation to the Australian Academy of Science High Flyers Think Tank – developing best practices and technologies for water management and sustainability. He has consulted widely across Europe, the US, Australia and India.

Shark found living in new WA desal plant

Courtesy of Water Corporation, this is the Binningup desalination plant’s underground intake station during construction in 2010. Now filled with seawater, it is the home of a carpet shark just discovered during a routine maintenance inspection. The shark apparently swam into the 500 metre intake pipeline before intake screens were fitted.

Media coverage, links and articles

‘Research team checks desalination brine discharge’, ABC TV News, Sep 27, 2011

‘Latest trends in optimising desalination technology’, by NCEDA CEO Neil Palmer, Sustainability Matters, Oct 24, 2011

NCEDA is seeking a Commercialisation Manager; applications close Dec 2, 2011

Gold Industry Sponsors

The NCEDA is grateful for the generous support of our Gold Industry Sponsors.

The story is available on the ABC News website.

The National Water Commission released its third biennial assessment of the implementation of the National Water Initiative on September 14. In a Canberra speech about the assessment, NWC Chair Ms Chloe Munro, declared: “Our cities and towns have more certain water supplies than a decade ago, because actions taken under the National Water Initiative have made water use more efficient and sustainable.”

Ms Munro explained: “Major capital investments have improved the security of water supply in Australia’s urban centres by bringing online additional supply options.”

Since the NWC was established in 2004, water utilities in our five mainland state capitals have invested more than $10 billion in major seawater desalination and wastewater projects. These desalination projects are now able to supply up to 30 per cent of current urban demand.

Desalination is a significant new (and affordable) water supply from a sustainable source that is not affected by drought or climate change and allows for population growth. In simple terms, if managed effectively, this new source of urban water can mean severe restrictions become a thing of the past. It is pleasing to see the NWC recognising the contribution of desalination to urban water security.

September has been a big month for desal in Australia, and I would like to express my sincere thanks, on behalf of the NCEDA staff, to everyone who contributed through sponsorship, organisation and help towards the successful opening of the Rockingham Desalination Research Facility and the Desal Discovery Centre on September 4.

Our thanks to Senator the Hon Don Farrell, Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water who announced the latest round of projects funded from the $20 million provided from the Australian Government’s National Urban Water and Desalination Plan.

Thanks also to the Hon Bill Marmion, WA Minister for Water; Environment who officially opened the RDRF and Desal Discovery Centre. The WA Government contributed $3 million to the establishment of the RDRF.

It was an event to remember with 400 people from all over the world attending, with many more on a waiting list. Photos of our September opening can be viewed on Flickr.

We have now moved into the new facilities and welcome visitors and enquiries for tours. The real work now begins to successfully demonstrate and scale up the ideas that are being generated by our researchers from the Centre’s 14 Participating Organisations.

Neil Palmer
0417 996 126
ceo@desalination.edu.au
Follow us on Twitter: @DiscoverDesal

$5 million Rockingham Desalination Research Facility opening

Australia’s first $5m dedicated Desalination Research Facility and Desal Discovery Centre have attracted national and international attention since the September 4 opening. All the official news, photographs and even some video of the new Centre facilities official proceedings – including statements from the Australian and WA state governments – can be seen in detail on our website.

Shown in the photo are the Hon Bill Marmion, WA Minister for Water; Environment (left) and Senator the Hon Don Farrell, Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water (right).

Centre’s desal pioneer honoured

Murdoch University Vice Chancellor Professor Richard Higgott, Honorary Professor David Furukawa, and NCEDA CEO Neil Palmer

NCEDA’s Chief Scientific Officer David Furukawa has received a rare honour from the Centre’s Administrating Organisation, Murdoch University. New Murdoch Vice Chancellor Professor Richard Higgott bestowed the rare title of Honorary Professor upon the desal pioneer – only the third the university has awarded – on September 4. Professor Higgott is shown (left) with Honorary Professor Furukawa (centre) and NCEDA CEO Neil Palmer (right).

Read the full story and watch the YouTube clip of the presentation on our website.

IDA World Congress

Centre staff and scientists presented at the IDA World Congress on Desalination Solutions held in Perth from September 4-9, and session overviews, detailed coverage and congress news are featured on our website. Our blog includes 16 stories and NCEDA researcher papers which were presented. Also, Water Corporation CEO Sue Murphy’s IDA presentation is now available on YouTube.

NCEDA also hosted, at the Perth Zoo, a well-attended Australian Cultural Night for delegates as part of the Congress. Delegates came face-to-face with Australian Aborigines who performed indigenous dances and didgeridoo music, and Australian native animals. There was also live country music and a showcase of WA food, wine, art and jewellery. Some of the photos of the evening can be seen in our IDA World Congress Flickr gallery.

Centre scientist Hiep Le wins international award

Hiep Le, Principal Process Engineer with leading Australian desalination company Osmoflo, is the winner of the International Desalination Association’s “Emerging Leaders Achievement Award in Desalination and Water Reuse”. Osmoflo is a Gold Industry Sponsor of the National Centre of Excellence in Desalination Australia, and Hiep is a participant in an NCEDA research project.

Hiep was selected from a field of more than 80 global applicants. His success was announced at the recent IDA World Congress in Perth, Western Australia.

The award recognises an outstanding contribution by the recipient to the desalination and reuse industry along with a record of accomplishment and positive leadership. It includes a cash prize of US$5000 sponsored by Saline Water Conversion Corporation, a Saudi government corporation responsible for desalinating seawater to augment the supply of potable water to Saudi coastal and inland cities.

Key desalination industry leaders who supported his submission included NCEDA Chief Scientific Officer Professor David Furukawa, Graham Dooley, former Managing Director of United Utilities Australia and current Chairman of Osmoflo, and Neil Palmer, CEO of NCEDA.

“I am honoured to receive this award. It means a lot to receive international recognition, but I am thankful for all the people who have guided and supported me over the years and the great opportunities I have had,” said Hiep. He looks forward to using the cash prize to expand his global network of desalination specialists.

GWI Perth short course another sell-out success

Global Water Intelligence and NCEDA held a one-day training course in the new Desal Discovery Centre earlier this month following the success of a similar Singapore event in July. The course gave attendees an overview of some of the most technically advanced SWRO projects in the world. Water Desalination Report’s Tom Pankratz and Water Consultants International’s John Tonner presented. Topics including a project’s raison d’etre and delivery method, finance and feasability/pilot studies, plant specifications, environmental concerns, technologies and equipment, through to commissioning, testing and post-completion issues. The current global picture for desalination market conditions and market forecasts were also discussed.

Researcher profile: Professor Goen Ho

Environmental Engineering Professor Goen Ho is investigating the control of organic membrane fouling through limiting and controlling extracellular microbial products.

The Murdoch University Professor is working with five other scientists in Australia, Singapore and the US on the NCEDA-funded research project.

His research will look at forward osmosis (FO) and its potential application in desalination. FO will be used as a simple testing platform for bacterial extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) fouling behaviour compared with reverse osmosis (RO).

As an emerging new technology, knowledge about biofouling of FO membranes will enable the Centre to lead future large scale applications and will enhance collaborative links with researchers at Nanyang Technological University.

Professor Ho’s project will investigate whether the majority of EPS fouling RO membranes originate from the source water, are produced by bacteria on the membranes themselves, or are from biofilms in other locations of the RO plant such as intake pipes or cartridge filters.

The research will identify the source of most problematic EPS in order to develop the best removal strategies such as filtration/selective capture or biofilm removal/disruption strategies. This will provide solutions for industry to reduce fouling rates of RO membranes.

The study will also identify which conditions increase EPS fouling of membranes and EPS production using suitable model polysaccharides and biofilm-forming bacterial isolates. This will lead to improved dosing regimens of chemical additives during desalination to reduce membrane fouling and increase membrane lifetime.

Professor Ho has implemented large-scale water saving initiatives at industries in Kwinana, and at Newmont’s five gold mining and refining operations across Australia and New Zealand. He also specialises in wastewater recycling using subsurface irrigation of vegetation, recycling greywater from laundries, bathrooms and land developments.

Professor Ho also plans to expand a water accounting tool he developed, which is currently being used by Western Australian Department of Water and the Water Corporation, nationally and internationally. The tool was created to complement new energy and carbon counting schemes.

Professor Ho is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia and distinguished Fellow of the International Water Association.

Research partners in his NCEDA project are scientists from the Environmental Biotechnology Cooperative Research Centre, Singapore Membrane Technology Centre and Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, University of California and the Chemistry Centre in Perth.

Gold Industry Sponsors

The NCEDA is grateful for the generous support of our Gold Industry Sponsors.

Follow NCEDA on Twitter: @DiscoverDesal

Post-Congress coverage

WaterWorld Weekly, September 8, 2011

Thursday, September 8

IDAWorldCongress Thursday: Environment and Health session
NCEDA analysis of IDA World Congress technical sessions: Management of drinking water quality from seawater desalination: Case studies from Western Australia

IDAWorldCongress Thursday: General session
NCEDA analysis of IDA World Congress technical sessions: Turning water into oil: Desalination – a process to enhance world oil resources

IDAWorldCongress Thursday: Greenmark lifecycle initiative mooted to tackle industry’s growing desal membrane waste issue
The international desalination industry is being urged to address its growing reverse osmosis membrane waste problem and turn it into recycling and reuse opportunities. Membranes yet have the potential to be converted for lower grade use by charities for aid in developing nations, recycled as a carbon source in steelmaking, or combusted in waste treatment.

Wednesday, September 7

IDAWorldCongress Wednesday: Industry called into action for the good of humanity
The humanitarian gift of desalination units from Australian industry volunteers is breathing life into some poverty-stricken villages and refugee camps in Africa and Asia.

IDAWorldCongress Wednesday: Membrane Systems Performance and Operation I – Innovation Experiences session
NCEDA analysis of IDA World Congress technical sessions: Validation testing of a full scale RO system for pathogen removal

IDAWorldCongress Wednesday: Materials session
NCEDA analysis of IDA World Congress technical sessions: Corrosion behavior of some superaustenitic, superduplex and superferritic materials in seawater environment; Perth seawater desalination plant materials selection; Critical components of SWRO desalination plants

NCEDA paper at IDAWorldCongress: Reuse of Reverse Osmosis Desalination Membranes
This study aimed to assess the technical feasibility of removing the dense polyamide active layer of RO membranes, with the intent to reuse degraded RO into porous low pressure membranes.

NCEDA paper at IDAWorldCongress: Capacitive Deionisation as a Useful Tool for Inland Brackish Water Desalination
Capacitive deionisation has been evaluated in this study to treat synthetic solutions and actual brackish ground water.

NCEDA paper at IDAWorldCongress: Pretreatment of Seawater for Organic Removal using Powder Activated Carbon
This study investigated the effect of powder activated carbon dosed in a submerged membrane reactor in removing organic matter from seawater.

Tuesday, September 6

IDAWorldCongress Tuesday: Membrane Technology session
NCEDA analysis of IDA World Congress technical sessions: Utilizing nanotechnology to enhance membrane performance for seawater desalination

IDAWorldCongress Tuesday: Energy Sources, Use and Efficiency session
NCEDA analysis of IDA World Congress technical sessions: Solar thermal energy seawater desalination and Desalination in remote areas: A prediction-based approach

IDA press briefing: The State of Desalination 2011
Lisa Henthorne, Tom Pankratz, and Sue Murphy press briefing on The State of Desalination 2011.

NCEDA paper: Pilot plant removal of scale precursor ions to enhance RO water recovery
Prof. Stephen Gray from Victoria University presents the results of pilot-plant scale investigation of the feasibility of removing calcium scale precursor ions from saline municipal wastewater via precipitation, thereby increasing the achievable water recovery.

NCEDA paper: Mono/di-ammonium phosphate fertilisers as draw solutions for forward osmosis desalination
Dr Ho Kyong Shon from University of Technology Sydney presents on forward osmosis, an emerging and a novel low energy technology for desalination particularly advantageous if the draw solution separation and recovery is not necessary, and one such situation being to desalinate water for irrigation.

Monday, September 5

Monday Commercial Issues session
NCEDA analysis of Monday technical sessions: cost modeling of desalination systems and commercial issues plenary session.

Fifty four generous industry partners now support NCEDA
New Honorary Professor at Murdoch University David Furukawa told IDA World Congress delegates that the Centre of Excellence in Desalination Australia now had support from 54 generous industry partners in addition to its consortium of 13 universities and CSIRO.

Perth gets water for just $1 a tonne; desal cheap insurance
WA Water Minister Bill Marmion said that by the end of 2012 half of Perth’s water would come from its two desalination plants. Forty four apprentices and trainees benefited from working on the new plant at Binningup according to Federal Senator Don Farrell, who described desalination as innovative thinking, climate independent and investment for the long term. Water Corporation CEO Sue Murphy said Perth residents were fortunate to only pay $1 a tonne for water delivered to their door, with desalination providing cheap insurance for long term water security at between $50-$100 a year per household. She said desalination was not the energy guzzler it was often unfortunately portrayed as in the media, and that using a home hairdryer or running the airconditioning used more energy. Ms Murphy said paying a premium for renewable energy so as not to use greenhouse gases in running WA’s desal plants was an important move towards the Water Corporation’s aims of achieving a zero carbon footprint.

Branson says water and desal good business investment
Sir Richard Branson today told delegates at the IDA World Congress in Perth that the water and desalination industries offer one of the biggest business opportunities of the 21st Century. Speaking from the remains of his recently destroyed island home in the Caribbean, Branson told of his investment in desalination via Virgin’s Green Fund into Seven Seas Water which designs, builds and operates units throughout the Americas. He extolled the virtues of desalination as smart technology which could help solve the issue of 60% of the world’s population now suffering water scarcity, with forecast population growth to outstrip current natural resources and climate change threatening life as we know it. He placed it on a par with the oil and gas industry, yet said it hadn’t attracted the pace or level of investment. He encouraged the establishment of an international prize in desalination science which would foster innovation through incentivised competition, and welcomed discussions on how Virgin could contribute.

Sunday, September 4

Honorary Professorship for Chief Scientific Officer David Furukawa
David Furukawa, Chief Scientific Officer for the National Centre of Excellence in Desalination Australia, has been awarded an Honorary Professorship by Murdoch University.

Australia’s first Desal Discovery Centre and $5 million Desal Research Facility opened – plus $3.8 million for new research
Australia’s first Desal Discovery Centre and dedicated Desalination Research Facility have been officially opened by WA Water Minister Bill Marmion in front of hundreds of visiting international water experts. Parliamentary Secretary for Sustainability and Urban Water Senator Don Farrell announced the federally-funded Centre has offered $3.8 million to fund 11 innovative new desalination research projects across Australia – boosting the number of NCEDA projects to 33.