DESOLINATION project reaches major milestone in Saudi Arabia

DESOLINATION project reaches major milestone in Saudi Arabia

by | Nov 24, 2025 | Article, Milestones, News, Results - Pilot plant preparation

Key components arrive at King Saud University demonstration site 

DESOLINATION moves closer to validation of the CSP-desalination system with the arrival of critical system components at our demonstration site at King Saud University (KSU) in Saudi Arabia. This marks a major step forward in bringing our innovative combined CSP and desalination technology closer to operation. The full demonstration plant is expected to be running from February 2026 onwards.

Adaptive coupling container on site 

The first container, housing the Adaptive Coupling system, has successfully arrived at KSU and is currently awaiting connection. The Adaptive Coupling is a sophisticated control and integration system that dynamically manages the energy flows between multiple subsystems. It acts as the “intelligent bridge” that optimally stores and distributes thermal energy between the supercritical CO₂ CSP power cycle, the air Brayton CSP power cycle and the desalination unit, controlling heat transfers between subsystems of the plant.  

Heat exchanger installation complete 

In March 2025, the DESOLINATION heat exchanger was successfully installed on site, an innovative heat exchanger that efficiently facilitates heat transfer between the sCO₂ power cycle and the thermal storage and desalination components. To accommodate this critical component, the existing towers at King Saud University were modified, ensuring proper integration with the overall system architecture and enabling optimal heat transfer efficiency throughout the plant. 

What is a Heat Exchanger?

Upcoming arrivals 

The project timeline continues to progress on schedule, with two major components expected to arrive in December 2025: 

  • Desalination unit: Currently in its final manufacturing stage in Germany, this container has completed all necessary certifications and is awaiting final certification from the Saudi Arabian Embassy before shipment. 
  • Air-cooler condenser: The dry cooler has been designed and manufactured, ready for deployment to enhance the system’s thermal management capabilities. 

    Comprehensive system integration 

    Beyond the main containers, significant progress has been made across all project components: 

    • The molten salt thermal storage system design has been completed and adapted to integrate within the containers as much as possible, with procurement currently underway. 
    • The electrical cabinet design has been finalized, incorporating all necessary controls and monitoring systems. 
    • Functional descriptions for all system stages have been developed and are being continuously refined to align with the final design specifications. 
    • Site preparation continues, with the foundation design under development to accommodate both the desalination system and gas supply components. 
            Looking ahead

            With the electricity source pre-approved by KSU authorities and discussions initiated with the main gas suppliers (CO₂ and N₂), the project is advancing toward the commissioning phase. The Adaptive Coupling is planned to be commissioned alongside the desalination system once all containers are positioned according to the finalized layout design. 

            The DESOLINATION demonstration progresses rapidly towards a combined concentrated solar power and desalinated water production and partners are awaiting the plant inauguration planned for the first quarter of 2026 in King Saud University.  

            Join us at NWO CHAINS 2025!

            Join us at NWO CHAINS 2025!

            by | Oct 23, 2025 | Article, Upcoming events

            December 2-3, 2025 | NH Koningshof, Veldhoven, The Netherlands

            The DESOLINATION project will be presented at NWO CHAINS 2025, the premier annual Dutch chemistry conference that brings together the Netherlands’ vibrant chemistry community.

            About NWO CHAINS

            NWO CHAINS is the annual Dutch chemistry conference where chemists, from PhD students and postdocs to professors and R&D scientists, in science and industry come together. This flagship event provides an exceptional platform for scientific networking, knowledge exchange, and fostering collaborations across all chemical disciplines.

            Event Details

            Dates: December 2-3, 2025
            Venue: NH Koningshof, Veldhoven

            Shuttle buses will be arranged to transport attendees from Eindhoven Central station to the venue and back.

            Register here
            Why Attend?

            With at least 400 poster presentations and several demonstration spots on the exhibition floor, NWO CHAINS 2025 offers unparalleled opportunities to:

            • Connect with leading researchers and industry professionals
            • Discover cutting-edge developments in chemistry and related fields
            • Explore potential synergies with the DESOLINATION project
            • Engage with innovations in sustainable chemical processes and materials

            We look forward to engaging with the chemistry community and sharing DESOLINATION’s advances in sustainable desalination technologies at this important gathering.

            Experimental and Numerical Study of Supercritical CO₂ Cooler: A DESOLINATION Contribution Awarded at the 6th European sCO₂ Conference

            Experimental and Numerical Study of Supercritical CO₂ Cooler: A DESOLINATION Contribution Awarded at the 6th European sCO₂ Conference

            by | May 14, 2025 | Article, Publications

            As part of the Horizon 2020 DESOLINATION project, a new study titled “Experimental and numerical study of supercritical CO₂ cooler” was presented at the 6th European Conference on Supercritical CO₂ (sCO₂) for Energy Systems, held from 9–11 April 2025 in Delft, Netherlands.

            The research, led by LUT University in collaboration with TEMISTH, received the Best Paper Award at the conference in recognition of its scientific quality and relevance.

            Read publication
            Investigating PCHE Performance in Supercritical CO₂ Power Cycles

            The study focuses on the thermo-hydraulic performance of a printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) operating with supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO₂) — a working fluid at the core of DESOLINATION’s innovative power block. PCHEs are a compact and high-efficiency solution suitable for the extreme conditions of sCO₂-based energy systems, such as those integrated into concentrated solar power (CSP) and desalination technologies.

            Using a combination of experimental testing and computational fluid dynamics (CFD), the team evaluated the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of sCO₂ flowing through PCHE microchannels. The study targeted the pseudo-critical region, where CO₂ exhibits rapid property variations that enhance heat transfer but complicate predictive modelling.

            Supporting DESOLINATION’s Objectives

            This work directly contributes to DESOLINATION’s goal of developing an efficient, solar-powered desalination system by improving the performance prediction and design of key components in the sCO₂ power cycle. In particular, it provides validated tools and insights essential for integrating high-efficiency heat exchangers into the project’s future demonstration plant.

            Read publication

            Authors: Giuseppe Petruccelli, Teemu Turunen-Saaresti, Damien Serret, Aki Grönman, Aurélien Conrozier, and Amir Momeni Dolatabadi.

            DOI: 10.17185/duepublico/83320

            Key Results
            • Experimental data were gathered under a wide range of operating conditions at LUT University’s transcritical CO₂ test facility, providing a valuable benchmark for validation of numerical models.
            • The CFD simulations, incorporating real-gas behaviour and the SST k-ω turbulence model, showed good agreement with the measured pressure drops and outlet temperatures.
            • A new friction factor correlation was derived from the experimental results. It accounts for surface roughness and achieved a prediction accuracy within ±10% of the measured values — an important advancement over existing correlations.
            • The study also revealed that commonly used heat transfer correlations tend to underestimate performance in high-Reynolds number, sCO₂ microchannel flows, underlining the need for more tailored predictive models.
            Conference Recognition

            The 6th European sCO₂ Conference brought together over 100 experts from academia and industry to discuss the latest innovations in sCO₂ technology. In addition to the technical sessions, DESOLINATION was also highlighted during the Friday morning keynote by Dr. Gioele Di Marcoberardino (UNIBS), which presented the project’s overall goals and progress to date.

            🏆 The paper received the Best Paper Award at the conference, recognising the quality and relevance of the research to the international sCO₂ research and engineering community. This recognition highlights DESOLINATION’s contribution to advancing component-level understanding crucial for the development of integrated solar-powered desalination systems.

            🔬 The DESOLINATION consortium congratulates the authors — Giuseppe Petruccelli, Teemu Turunen-Saaresti, Damien Serret, Aki Grönman, Aurélien Conrozier, and Amir Momeni Dolatabadi — on this well-deserved recognition, and for their valuable contribution to the future of sustainable energy and water systems.

            The Moder Power Sytems (MPS) magazine publishes an article on our sCO2 webinar series under the theme “Carbon dioxide: working fluid of the future?”

            The Moder Power Sytems (MPS) magazine publishes an article on our sCO2 webinar series under the theme “Carbon dioxide: working fluid of the future?”

            by | Feb 14, 2024 | Article

            Exciting news: ETN Global‘s sCO2 webinar series “R&D Activities on sCO2 in Europe (and beyond)”, of which the DESOLINATION project is a part, has been highlighted in the prestigious MPS (Modern Power Systems) magazine!

            Find the article on sCO2 webinar series under the theme “Carbon dioxide: working fluid of the future?” on pages 12-15 of MPS (Modern Power Systems)‘s January/February issue!

            Read the article

            Our webinar series on R&D Activities on sCO2 in Europe (and beyond) highlight 9 groundbreaking projects (see below) funded by EU Horizon programme.

            With a focus on innovation and sustainability, we cover projects on solar power, waste heat recovery, and nuclear plant decay heat removal.

            ETN sCO2 includes the following projects: CARBOSOLA (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR)) | COMPASsCO2 Horizon2020 | CO2OLHEAT | DESOLINATION | iSOP project | SCARABEUSPROJECT | sCO2-Efekt (Czech national project) | sCO2-for-NPP Project | SOLARSCO2OL Project

            Join our sixth episode in webinar series “R&D Activities on sCO2 in Europe (and beyond)” titled “Balance of plant” on 14 February. Registration is FREE, but mandatory below…

            Want to join one of our webinars? Register here!

            Zoom on the ETN sCO2 Working Group

            The Supercritical CO2 Working Group was officially launched in August 2020. Its objectives are to develop, enable and optimise the use of supercritical CO2 power cycles by:

                • Highlighting potential use, applications and benefits.
                • Paving the way for funding opportunities by highlighting the research needs on sCO2 based power cycles, in order to contribute to their deployment in the future energy system.
                • Addressing operational issues/effects on components (turbomachinery, heat exchangers, combustion systems) related to the use of sCO2.
                • Exploring market opportunities.
                • Assessing and addressing operational safety aspects of sCO2-cycles based power plants.
                • Fostering the use of sCO2 as working fluid for power generation.
                • Creating a database of European open test beds

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            Press release: DESOLINATION presented in the French Plein Soleil Webzine!

            Press release: DESOLINATION presented in the French Plein Soleil Webzine!

            by | Jun 19, 2021 | Article, Press release

            Plein Soleil, a leading French digital magazine focused on renewable energy in buildings, has featured our innovative project DESOLINATION. We invite you to visit their website to read the full press release and learn more about this exciting venture.

            DESOLINATION, an evocative neologism, represents a pioneering €10 million European project involving 19 partners from 12 EU countries. The initiative aims to develop a unique and efficient coupling of concentrated solar power and seawater desalination techniques. The first pilot plant will be deployed in Saudi Arabia, signalling a major step forward in sustainable water production.

            Commencing on 1 June 2021, and running through May 2025, the Horizon 2020 DESOLINATION project will introduce groundbreaking technologies to enhance both independent and coupled systems of solar power and desalination. The final demonstration system will be a 2 MW power plant in Saudi Arabia, combining these two promising technologies to achieve unprecedented efficiencies.

            Affordable, Low-Carbon Solar Freshwater

            Focusing on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, DESOLINATION will test and deploy its prototype at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Leveraging high solar resources and significant demand for desalinated water, the prototype aims to deliver renewable electricity at low costs (<€90/MWh) and affordable freshwater (<€0.9/m3). Additionally, the system will substantially reduce CO2 emissions compared to traditional desalination methods: 30% reduction compared to direct osmosis systems, 40% compared to reverse osmosis, and 70% compared to thermal desalination.

            DESOLINATION will innovate in various domains. On the solar power front, CO2 blends will drive more efficient and cost-effective power cycles with controllable parameters. In water desalination, direct osmosis will be developed and linked to membrane distillation, utilising waste heat from the power cycle to produce freshwater. This unique combination will enable the disruptive coupled system to achieve high efficiency in converting waste heat to freshwater.

            Throughout the project, EU and GCC countries will collaborate to deliver a high-level technological demonstrator. DESOLINATION brings together some of the world’s leading experts in concentrated solar power, CO2 energy cycle design, desalination processes, separation membranes, and system integration to meet the project’s objectives and ensure strong market uptake post-completion. The project includes 19 partners from 9 EU countries and 3 GCC countries, comprising 13 top universities and research centres and 6 industrial and SME partners.

            Visit Plein Soleil’s website to read the full press release and discover more about the innovative DESOLINATION project.

            Read the full press release
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