Adsorption Desalination Plant

The Adsorption Desalination Plant is one of the energy projects in Saudi Vision 2030, and the world's first industrial-scale application of adsorption cooling technology for water desalination, coupled with industrial-sized salt crystallization. It produces about five thousand m of desalinated water daily. It was inaugurated on February 21, 2017, and is located in al-Uyaynah, which is administratively affiliated with Diriyah Governorate in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The plant was constructed to achieve sustainable development in the water sector, develop water resources, and conserve the environment, in line with the goals of Saudi Vision 2030. The desalination plant works to achieve the principle of zero salt return, reduce the negative impact on the environment resulting from operating desalination plants, and raise overall efficiency.

The Adsorption Desalination Plant relies on solar energy to provide the electricity and heat necessary for its operation. It consumes about 3.5 MW of thermal energy and approximately 1.5 MW of electrical energy, with daily production of five thousand m of desalinated water for Rabigh city and seven hundred km of crystalline salt.

Work on the plant project began in 2017, starting with the stage of designing an innovative water desalination system, verifying its effectiveness by keeping it under analysis, testing, and evaluation, and developing it inside the Kingdom with global partnerships. King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology works to provide technical support to Saudi Water Authority to build a multi-hybrid desalination and crystallization plant, by combining the desalination, co-cooling, and salt crystallization systems, and connecting them to a renewable energy source in the main desalination plant in Rabigh.

The construction of the Adsorption Desalination Plant aims to leverage the use of direct renewable energy in water desalination and thermal desalination, test the principle of zero salt return from practical, economic, and technical aspects, and prove the scientific precedent of the desalination plant in a small industrial field. Additionally, it aims to localize and transfer the novel procedures and technologies of water in cooperation with local universities and institutions, and an international partner. Moreover, it makes good use of national capabilities and national and local content.

The adsorption desalination cum cooling (ADC) systems used in the Adsorption Desalination Plant are compatible with countries in Asia, the Middle East, and the Gulf countries in the fields of water desalination, cooling, and air conditioning. These systems operate with heat generated by solar energy, or waste heat from power generation plants and oil and gas refineries.

The Adsorption Desalination Plant project supports a number of sub-projects, including a pilot plant project in the Solar Village in al-Uyaynah and a small commercial industrial plant project in Rabigh city.

The Adsorption Desalination Plant has obtained two patents, produces seven hundred kg of crystalline salt per day, and reduces 3.7 million t of carbon emissions annually.