Environmentally-driven design of a floating desalination platform (Case study: reverse osmosis floating desalination platform of ras gharib, Egypt)

Abstract

Floating desalination plants are fairly new technologies and are not as common as the traditional land-based desalination plants. Almost none of the proposed nor installed projects' designers indicates that the design is environmentally driven, and only few designs are environmentally assessed. This paper aims to highlight the significant role of the environmental practices to achieve a sustainable design, where most of the environmental impact assessment procedures are performed prior to the design phase. Throughout the research, comparing alternatives and analyzing the baseline provided reliable technical help in the tasks of selecting the proposed project's location, desalination technology, power source and platform configuration. Thus, detailed technical descriptions of different systems are presented. Finally, environmental impacts associated with the operation of the proposed floating desalination plant in the selected location are assessed to give guidance on the monitoring and mitigation processes necessary to enhance the process performance, minimize the adverse environmental impacts and ensure the project's sustainability.

Keywords

• floating desalination platforms
• wind energy
• solar energy
• environmental impact assessment
• sustainable design