DESOLINATION partners have just held their 4th progress meeting at Lund University!

DESOLINATION partners have just held their 4th progress meeting at Lund University!

by | Dec 13, 2023 | News, Project meetings

Credentials: Hilde Skar Olsen, Lunds Tekniska Högskola

Once again, DESOLINATION project partners came together to share their progress and coordinate their next steps. This time, our consortium had the pleasure of being hosted by the Membrane Group of the University of Lund in Sweden, for a hybrid meeting!

The DESOLINATION project began in 2021 and aims to build a unique plant producing fresh water from waste heat recovered from concentrating solar power (CSP) plants. The demonstrator will be sent to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for testing in 2025.

After reviewing all our progress, our team had the chance to visit the laboratories of the Membrane Group at Lund University, where they will test the membrane desalination concept on pilot scale.

This physical meeting was great opportunity to organize discussion groups between two of our workpackages dealing with the optimization of the CSP thermal cycle for desalination and how to optimize desalination processes.

Many thanks to all the partners for these valuable exchanges, which help move the project forward!

Together, let’s demonstrate how concentrated solar power can be coupled with an advanced desalination system to produce freshwater!

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Join our “New developments in membranes” online workshop

Join our “New developments in membranes” online workshop

by | Dec 7, 2023 | News, Results - Forward osmosis membranes, Workshop

In the last days, our project member, Prof. Frank Lipnizki from the Department of Chemical Engineering of Lund University (Sweden) has had the opportunity to organise a workshop on “New Membrane Developments” with some great international speakers.

The online workshop is free-of-charge and took place on Thursday 7th of December from 9:00 – 11:00am.

The aim of the workshop is to provide an overview on recent developments of membrane with focus on water and wastewater. For this, the LUND team has invited some of the leading researchers in the field from Japan, Egypt, India and Sweden.

Membranes are the centre of all the stages of the desalination process, nanofiltration (NF) pre-treatment, Forward Osmosis (FO) and Membrane Distillation (MD) processes. In DESOLINATION, modelling and small-scale testing activities will target the optimization of all steps of hybrid membrane separations. First, NF membranes will be used to reduce fouling and scaling effect in FO. Then, the FO separation membrane will be fine-tuned to ensure control over high water flux in combination with low reverse flux from the draw to the feed solution and thus maximize the efficiency and use of the osmotic pressure difference between the seawater and the draw solution. Lastly, the MD separation membrane needs to optimize the removal of pure water from the draw solution and must therefore be adapted to the chemical and physical properties of the draw solution designed for thermal heat recovery, as well as to the temperature and pressure conditions required for the VMD recovery process.

AGENDA

09:00 – Welcome (Prof. Frank Lipnizki, Lund University, Sweden)

09:05  – Prof. Takeo Yamaguchi (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan): Modification of antifouling membrane surfaces

09:30 – Prof. Marwa Shalaby (National Research Centre Cairo, Egypt):  Water shortage and membrane applications

09:55 – Prof. Sabu Thomas (Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, India): Polysaccharide based membranes for water purification: Recent advances

10:20 – Prof. (assoc.) Naser Tavajohi (Umeå University, Sweden): A greener approach to PVDF membrane production

10:45 – Final Discussion (ALL)

11:00 – End

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 335 628 157 200
Passcode: y3oLXa

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ENLIT Europe 2023 – the DESOLINATION project was exhibiting at the energy forum!

ENLIT Europe 2023 – the DESOLINATION project was exhibiting at the energy forum!

by | Nov 30, 2023 | Events, News

From November 28 to 30, the DESOLINATION project had the opportunity to exhibit at #EnlitEurope 2023, an end-to-end, inclusive and ever-growing forum addressing all aspects of the energy agenda in Paris Expo Porte de Versailles.

An excellent opportunity for our EU-funded projects (participating in programmes such as Horizon Europe, Life and CEF), to showcase our achievements and results to energy investors and other stakeholders, enabling a basis for discussion for the implementation of sustainable measures in the field of energy transition.

Our team, represented by Damien Serret from TEMISTh, Lola Mosseri-Lefebvre and Solène Fovelle from Euroquality, was delighted to meet partner organisations from various EU-funded projects at Enlit Europe 2023 and tell them more about how additive manufacturing can help improve energy efficiency to save CO2 and produce fresh water at 📍𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝟳. 𝟮.𝗛𝟴𝟬-𝟮𝟬 (Pavilion 7 – Entrance A2).

On the third floor, in the Decarbonation section, our project partner Aalborg CSP A/S, represented by Miguel Herrador Moreno, also took the opportunity to promote the project and explain its role as responsible for overseeing the development of the plant’s concentrated solar power (CSP) desalination system.

Having developed the first desalination system powered by concentrated solar power, Aalborg CSP A/S is responsible for overseeing and supporting the development of the plant to ensure its industrial potential for post-project use.

See all EU projects present!
See entire EUPZ programme here

During the Hub Sessions, the projects participating in the EU Projects Zone will share our best practices, findings and technologies.

“Reshaping energy landscapes:

The key role of R&I for RES” hub session

29 Nov 2023

EU Projects Zone Hub – Theatre 2 (Hall 7.2)

EU Projects – ETIPs Forum

On Wednesday, DESOLINATION, represented by Damien Serret from project partner TEMISth, took part in a hub session promoted by the ETIPs FORUM focusing on the role of Research & Innovation (R&I) in the deployment of renewable energies (RES) and enhanced energy storage capacities.

An interactive discussion will brainstorm and debate possible ways to promote the market uptake of key energy technologies pivotal for increasing RES share at the European and national levels and to ensure that Member States align with the latest EU policy requirements.

The debate will see the participation of ETIP Hydropower, ETIP Bioenergy and Batteries Europe, the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA), and the European project Energetic.

About ENLIT

Launched in 2017, The EU Projects Zone has welcomed a growing number of EU funded projects showcasing their findings at our annual Conference and Exhibition, involving hundreds of partners and contributing to an engaging programme.

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Membrane Desalination 2023 (MEMDES2023)

Membrane Desalination 2023 (MEMDES2023)

by | Nov 19, 2023 | Events, News, Results - Forward osmosis membranes

Join the DESOLINATION project partners at the 6th International Conference on Desalination using Membrane Technology in Sitges (Spain) from 19th to 22nd November 2023 to discuss the latest developments in desalination using membrane technology!

Three of our project partners Nadin Al-Jariry, Jonas Hedlund from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Luleå University of Technology, Muhammad Suleman from Lund University, and Irena Petrinić, Ross D. Jansen-van Vuuren, Thomas Luxbacher, and Hermina Bukšek from the University of Maribor, had the opportunity to present our project to leading academic researchers, scientists and engineers from the membrane desalination sector and associated industries, as well as to representatives of governmental organizations, international agencies and aid organizations.

The Univeristy of Maribor presented ‘Thermo-responsive Polyalkylene Glycol-based draw solutions for forward osmosis in seawater desalination‘ as a poster contribution.

Together with Lund University, they also gave an oral presentation focusing on ‘Modeling forward osmosis-membrane distillation hybrid process for seawater desalination: flux prediction and process optimization‘ co-prepared by Suleman Muhammad, Al-Rudainy Basel, Petrinić Irena, and Frank Lipnizki.

Download our poster

Presentation extracted from the event website

Growing population, changing climate and increasing urbanisation require increasing freshwater supply and the sustainable water usage for industries and agriculture is of top priority. One of the most viable solutions is to tap from the seawater and wastewater. Membrane technologies have been established as the golden standard for desalination to address the global deficit for clean water. However, it is still expensive, which is one of the main obstacles for prevalent adoption of membranes.

Innovation is key to reduce the energy consumption and the total cost. This can be advanced by developing high performance reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes, robust module and process design, as well as other novel desalination technologies. We have seen promise in breaking the permselectivity trade-off using state-of-the-art nanomaterials. Biomimetic single ion channel and artificial water channel have shown exciting results in bench tests. The Sixth International Conference on Membrane Desalination 2023 (MEMDES 2023) is the dedicated forum to disseminate the cutting-edge research and development in this regard.

More information about the event
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Soós Ernő International Scientific Conference (VSZI’23)

Soós Ernő International Scientific Conference (VSZI’23)

by | Oct 20, 2023 | Events, News, Results - Draw solution

After presenting the ‘Implementation of thermo-responsive polyalkylene glycol-based draw solutions in the forward osmosis process‘ (co-prepared by I. Petrinić, N. Jančič, and H. Bukšek) at Soós Ernő’s international scientific conference on Water and wastewater treatment in the industry in 2022 (VSZI’22), our project partner, the University of Maribor, is back with a new presentation for the 2023 edition!

Irena Petrinić, Ross D. Jansen-van Vuuren, Ana Ambrož, Thomas Luxbacher, and Hermina Bukšek, from the University of Maribor (DESOLINATION partner) gave an oral presentation focusing on ‘Thermo-responsive PAG based commercial draw solutions for forward osmosis‘ at Soós Ernő 2023 (VSZI’23) organised by the Soós Ernő Research and Development Center, University of Pannonia Nagykanizsa – University Center for Circular Economy and the Foundation for Higher Education of Kanizsa.

The production of clean drinking water is also a priority in countries with abundant water resources and growing solvent demand. The main goal of the research center, founded in 2014, is to carry out international researches in the field of water purification and water treatment, by using the research results and experience in water purification and water treatment in the Nagykanizsa region which is based on decades of history. It is also of utmost importance for us to train specialists who are able to solve various water and waste water treatment problems in industries and public utilities.

In order to support this goal and provide the future professionals, talent management is needed. Elementary and high school students can have the insight into the work of the research center as we offer them lectures, open lab sessions and summer camps, all promoting natural sciences.

The annual Soós Ernő International Scientific Conference, through the presentations and discussions of scientific and industrial professionals in the field of water and waste water treatment, will allow knowledge sharing, networking and exchange of experience which are essential for development,

Download VSZI'22 poster
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