Solar Dew® - The prospect of fresh water in the desert

Solar Dew® technology is a novel way to purify water produced from oil fields, contaminated with traces of oil, metals, noxious gases and potentially high levels of mineral salts. Water purification is enabled by non-porous membrane distillation combined with renewable solar energy. Access to fresh water in the desert would have far reaching benefits, i.e., it provides sustainable development opportunities for local communities whilst it provides the producer with more diverse options for water re-use as an alternative to disposing water into deep aquifers as a waste. The paper describes qualification trials of the Solar Dew system using water produced from an oil field in south Oman. Trials, executed in 2001 at small scale in the laboratory and in the field, demonstrated that the performance in year-round weather conditions consistently met targets set for quantity and quality of fresh water. Scaleup trials in 2002 aim to demonstrate that a hectare flowing system can be run, that polymer membrane materials are durable and that the system can compete with alternative means of water purification. Trial results indicate that up to 90% of the volume may be extracted as pure water, meeting international quality standards, at a rate of over 50mB3 per hectare per day.