Seminar on "Energy consumption in seawater desalination plants in Saudi Arabia: realities and challenges "
Organized by: IRC-REPS
IRC-REPS organized a seminar featuring Dr. Saud Mohammed Bin Marshad, Desalination Specialist at East Coast Engineering Department, Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) in Saudi Arabia. Dr. Saud started his career in 1995 as Shift-In-Charge Engineer at SWCC in Khobar plant. In 2000, he was appointed as Senior Desal Engineer in phase 3 of Khobar plant. In 2009, he appointed as Operation Division Manager of Khobar plant, Phase 3. Striving for more a challenging environment, Dr. Saud moved to SWCC East Coast Engineering Department in 2013 as Desalination Specialist Engineer. He is a member of National Committee for Legislation and Standardization of Operation and Maintenance in Saudi Arabia. Dr. Saud holds a Bachelor Degree in Chemical Engineering from King Saud University in Riyadh, and obtained his Master of Business Administration (MBA) Malaysia University (Bahrain Branch). Dr. Saud has a PhD in Desalination Economy from Heriot Watt University in the United Kingdom.
During the seminar, it was discussed, that the energy consumption for the purpose of water production at seawater desalination plants in Saudi Arabia. The data that underpin the study has been collected over a period of eleven years (2000-2010), from the sixteen biggest plants in the country, which are responsible for over 98% of the total water production at sea water desalination plants in Saudi Arabia.
On the other hand there's also been an effort to understand the factors that contribute to desalination costs, which could then be used to develop appropriate models for predicting costs that can support budgeting and/or cost reductions decision making. Consequently, the seminar will present the research that has investigated the main factors affecting the cost of production in seawater desalination plants in Saudi Arabia, and how significant is each of these. Monthly and annual data spanning 2001 – 2013 were collected on total water production, type of desalination technique, sea water salinity, product water salinity, energy consumption, and total (capital and operational) unit cost of water production.
