Oman plans to use solid waste to fuel water desalination

Oman Monday 23/May/2016 22:48 PM
By: Times News Service
Oman plans to use solid waste to fuel water desalination

Muscat: Oman plans to desalinate ocean water using solid municipal waste as fuel, senior officials of the Sultanate’s waste management agency said.
“Our study says by using 2,100 tonnes of solid waste per day we can produce 18 million cubic metres of water per annum. That’s 30 per cent of the capacity of all existing desalination operational plants in Oman,” Shaikh Mohammed Sulaiman Al Harthy, Executive Vice President, Strategic Development Be’ah, told Times of Oman on the sidelines the first Oman Waste and Environmental Services Exhibition and Conference (OWES).
“Our studies say we could desalinate water with the energy that we get out of the waste energy plants. It’s a simple concept. The energy you get out of there you put into a reverse osmosis process where you desalinate water,” said Al Harthy of Be’ah, which is responsible for solid waste management in Oman. He added that nearly all studies have been completed, with the final study being “almost ready”.
“We are revealing it at this point and it looks promising,” Al Harthy told Times of Oman, adding, “We are talking to concerned authorities to see how we could take it forward.”
Inadequate records, laws
Speaking about the solid waste management problem in the Sultanate, several experts stressed the need for a shift from traditional land disposal to Waste-to-Energy efforts and creating a national database of solid and industrial waste.
“There is no set regulation. There is no correct national database on waste. We could export waste, but we need to know the cost involved. Our waste is rich in energy and could be used for energy production,” said Ali Al-Alawi, senior corporate environment advisor, Petroleum Development Oman (PDO).
“We must utilise energy concepts, as Oman is facing a natural gas shortage,” he noted.
In his speech, Mahad Baawain, Director of the Centre of Environment Studies and Research, Sultan Qaboos University, called for advanced research and development to support the business of municipal solid waste (MSW) management.
“MSW should be looked at as a non-conventional resource and be part of a national integrated business market,” he said.
Stressing the need to minimise waste, the speakers agreed that Oman faces inadequate data and records about waste, insufficient laws and regulations, and inadequate numbers of experienced waste management staff.