Using Desalination to Adapt to Drought in East Africa

Oliver Rogers

December 7 2013

Abstract

As climate change intensifies, some areas around the globe are experiencing heightened
temperatures. Combined with long periods without rain, these heat waves can affect an
area severely, lowering crop yields as well as decreasing the amount of drinking water
available to the population. This is exactly what happened in the Horn of East Africa in
2011; a year-long dryspell forced many people to evacuate their homes, and resulted in
the deaths of hundreds of thousands. By converting saltwater to freshwater, desalination
has the potential to alleviate some of the negative effects of drought by providing a new
source of drinkable water. Several methods of desalination were analyzed, as well as
different ways of supplying energy to the proposed plant. Because there are many rural
parts of this region isolated from metropolitan areas, a second solution was proposed to
cater to the needs of this separate demographic. This solution, the solar still, requires
minimal expertise and no external energy besides that of sunlight. These two solutions,
operating in tandem would allow the area to better adapt to torrential drought.
I. Introduction

As temperatures increase around the globe, some areas experience profound heat

and drought, creating scarcities for human’s most essential resource: fresh water. One of

the most affected areas is the Horn of East Africa, spanning Kenya, Ethiopia and

Somalia. Combatting the dry periods proves to be a significant challenge; in a recent dry

season, the population lost hundreds of thousands of lives. One possible way to alleviate

the effects of these droughts is desalination, or the conversion of saltwater to freshwater.

However, this process is quite inefficient and ends up consuming more energy, and

effectively more money, than most infrastructures can support. The production of 1000

m3 per day of freshwater requires 10,000 tons of oil per year [1]. With alternative

energies, specifically solar power, desalination could become a reality in developing

countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, as sunlight is evidently more affordable

and abundant than alternative energy sources, namely fossil fuels such as coal and petrol.

Three industrial processes exist to separate brine, a salt-dense solution, and

freshwater. Each one uses a different form of energy. In the first method, reverse

osmosis, mechanical energy is used in the form of high pressure. The second method,

electrodialysis, uses electrical energy via an electric potential gradient. Finally, in the

multi-stage flash distillation process, thermal energy is required to boil the input brine.

Solar distillation is a method of desalination that uses sunlight directly. A

relatively ancient system, solar distillation was first performed in 1872 in Chile to

provide drinking water for an isolated mining community. While technological

developments continue, the fundamental process is still applicable today and is unique

because of its minimal functional requirements: sunlight and raw water.

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 To find which method of desalination is the best fit for East Africa, one must look

at several factors. Aside from the obvious parameters of freshwater output and energy

input, the economics of constructing and operating a plant are also important; sufficient

materials and manpower must be present at the construction site, certainly a constraint for

remote locations, such as rural Somalia or Ethiopia.

By analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of each desalination process, it

will become clear what kind of plant would be optimal for the East African region. As the

area is not homogenous, different settings, rural and urban, oceanfront and inland, will be

considered.

II. Background

While more than 70% of earth’s surface is covered by water, most of it is unfit for

human consumption; only 3% is freshwater and 99.7% of that 3% is lost in groundwater,

glaciers, and mountainous regions. Potential for increased water availability is practically

endless [1].

All over the globe, low freshwater supply is increasingly becoming a serious

issue. Today, three billion people live without access to a potable source of water (i.e.

drinking water) and it is predicted that by the year 2025, demand for drinking water will

exceed supply by 56% [1]. As the rate of global population growth increases, more water

infrastructure is necessary, not just because there will be more thirsty humans, but

because the hydro footprint of each person increases as the populations become more

developed. Developing countries are becoming increasingly urbanized and industrial;

water is used in many new applications, such as modern plumbing, irrigation, and large

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factories. Compounding this problem is global temperature rise, likely anthropogenically

caused, in the form of fossil fuels, methane from bovine agriculture, and other human-

induced pollutants.

In the crosshair of this problem is The Horn of Africa, where in 2011, a

catastrophic drought took place that threatened the livelihood of roughly 9.5 million

people. Affecting all levels of agriculture, the dry period lasted about a year and caused

widespread malnutrition and unsanitary conditions that lead to as many as 250 thousand

deaths. In this time of crisis, foreign aid became necessary and, according to the UN

Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Human Affairs, the countries on the Horn

requested a combined 2.48 Billion USD [2]. Situated so close to the ocean, this area

would benefit substantially from an effective desalination infrastructure, using their

abundant resource of saltwater and sunlight to decrease their freshwater shortage.

Many desalination techniques exist, but the ones that will be considered in this

paper are Reverse osmosis, electrodialysis and multi-stage flash distillation [3]. These

methods are most commonly used around the world and each represent a different form

of energy to drive the system. As well as these industrial methods, a simple solar still

design bears consideration as a small-scale alternative.

Reverse osmosis uses a semipermeable membrane to move solvent, pure water,

from an area of high solute concentration (saltwater) to an area of low solute

concentration (freshwater). Osmosis dictates

that solvent moves from high to low

concentrations, so pressure is used to reverse

this process and pump the water through the

Figure 1: Reverse Osmosis Diagram

(Source: http://www.hcti.com/sm/aboutro/hctiphotos/reverse_osmosis.jpg) 3
 membrane, away from the saltwater, or as it’s more commonly referred, brine. Energy is

used to drive a high-pressure pump which, for saltwater, must create a pressure of 800 to

1180 psi. On smaller scales, his process can be made more efficient by using a pressure

recovery pump, such as the Clark Pump, which uses the pressure of the resultant brine to

drive a piston that pressurizes the feed water [4]. Because the membrane is engineered to

operate in only one direction (i.e. fresh water should not move back to the brine),

traditional methods of removing solid residue from the membrane, such as backpulsing

with water, are insufficient. The feed water, therefore, must be pretreated to ameliorate

the quality, thereby keeping the membranes cleaner and more efficient. Pretreatment

ranges from macro-scale methods like screening the water for solids, to micro-scale

methods such as dosing the water with chlorine to kill bacteria, or altering the pH to turn

carbonate (CO32-) into a carbonic acid (H2CO3), a water-soluble compound which will

not collect on the membrane [5].

Electrodialysis uses ion-exchange membranes (i.e. membranes which only accept

certain particles to pass through) and an electric potential difference to perform the

desalination process. By alternating the identity of the ion-exchange membranes, thereby

placing each Cl- acceptor adjacent to Na+ acceptors, the system gathers the ions into brine

streams separate from the freshwater [6]. Similar to reverse

osmosis, electrodialysis causes residue to form on the ion-

exchange membranes, but this problem is easily fixed by

switching the polarity of the potential difference; this

cleaning method is known as electrodialysis reversal [7].

Figure 2: Electrodialysis Diagram
(Source:
http://www.hcti.com/sm/aboutro/
hctiphotos/reverse_osmosis.jpg)
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 Multi-stage flash distillation is a process that heats up brine to a temperature

above the boiling point in a given chamber, when this happens, pure water evaporates out

of the brine solution and condenses on the piping containing unheated brine, where it

drips into a collection network, while the rest of the hot brine solution moves to another

chamber with a different boiling point, and the system iterates until the brine has moved

through every chamber [3].

Figure 3: Diagram of Multi-Stage Flash Distillation

(Source: http://www.hcti.com/sm/aboutro/hctiphotos/reverse_osmosis.jpg)

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 The solar still is the simplest of the desalination processes. It is built with a

transparent roof, so that solar irradiance can pass through and be absorbed by the water

and a black basin surface. In these saturated conditions, heat evaporates pure water and

rises until it makes contact with the cool inner surface of the roof. The droplets move

down the inclined roof and into a collection vessel [8].

1) Sunlight enters solar still through transparent cover

2) Solar energy heats black absorbing pan, causing saltwater to evaporate steam

3) Steam contacts cover and condenses

4) Water droplets drip down into collection vessel and

Figure 4: Diagram of a Solar Still

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III. Discussion

When comparing methods of desalination for the Horn of East Africa, one must

separate the analysis for an urban population and a rural population. An urban population,

like Nairobi, Kenya, is relatively rich in human capital, with engineers ready to design a

plant and construction workers who can build it. In a rural village, such as Farlibaax,

Somalia, which was devastated by the 2011 drought, there is only one road connecting

the population to the outside world. A desalination plant in a village like this would have

to be simple enough to operate without a technician on call. As is evident, there is a

duality of solutions: one for the more modernized parts of East Africa and one for rural

villages.

In an urban area, there are sufficient materials and manpower to construct a

desalination plant of any of the above varieties. Still, capital costs for desalination plants

are in the order of billions of dollars; an Australian desalination plant built in 2012 cost

5.7 Billion USD [9]. The most important parameter in determining the design

specifications for a plant in a city such as Nairobi or Mogadishu is the cost of putting in

place and operating the desalination system.

All of the desalination methods require an energy source; because the very

problem being combatted is partially caused by greenhouse gas emissions and their effect

on climate change, it is logical to choose a renewable energy source for the desalination.

Solar power is the obvious choice, because unlike wind or hydroelectric power, solar

radiation is abundant all over the East African area. Solar energy can be converted to

electrical energy using photovoltaic cells, so theoretically, it could support the reverse

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osmosis and electrodialysis processes, which do not run on thermal energy as multi-stage

flash distillation and solar stills can.

Electrical energy is also quite scarce in East African urban areas. In May of 2013,

the whole country of Kenya experienced a blackout for several days [10]. According to

Reuters, “Kenya Power supplies 1,250 megawatts of power to over 2 million customers

connected on the national grid, against a demand of 1,700 megawatts.” By developing an

infrastructure of solar panels with photovoltaic cells, the desalination plants could also

help to combat East Africa’s electrical energy shortage. Depending on the current

scarcity of water in the given urban area, a portion of the electrical energy generated by

the solar panels could be bought by the grid, thereby decreasing the economic loss

incurred by building and operating the desalination plant.

The two electrically-powered desalination processes, reverse osmosis and

electrodialysis, differ primarily in the nature of their membranes. While reverse osmosis

membranes segregate based on the size of particles, electrodialysis membranes use fine-

tuned membranes that allow ions based on their identity [5]. The latter produces water

with higher purity, but is more expensive when the solute concentration is higher than

3000 ppm. The Indian Ocean, the most saline ocean, contains 32000 to 37000 ppm, so

reverse osmosis is advantageous for East Africa [11].

The rural village location does not have access to any of the manpower or

materials that would go into the proposed urban solar photovoltaic reverse osmosis

desalination plant, so an alternative solution must be more rudimentary. The most

important constraint for this project is that it must be able to run with minimal technical

upkeep. The first desalination plant design, the solar still, presents the most realistic

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solution. Most importantly solar stills are charcacterized by “the ease of construction

performed by local people from locally available materials.” Once the structure has been

put in place, the only energies necessary are the thermal energy of the sun (evaporating

the saltwater) and the mechanical energy of gravity (carrying the water from the inside of

the roof to the container). Echoing the above conclusion, Bouchekima (2003) finds that

“solar stills represent the best technical solution to supply remote villages or settlements

with fresh water without depending on high technology and expertise.”

IV. Conclusion

To help the Horn of Africa adapt to an increasingly scarce water supply, an

infrastructure of desalination was looked into. Various parameters were evaluated;

proposed systems differ based on the type of energy source, the method of desalination,

and the socio-economic landscape of the location.

Because global temperature rise, and the resulting dryness in East Africa, is

connected to anthropogenic fossil fuel use, the choices of energy source were solely

renewable. While some desalination plants run on wind power, solar power fit better

because of the region’s characteristically large amount of sunlight. Photovoltaic cells,

generating electrical energy, proved desirable over solar thermal energy because of the

possibility of selling surplus electricity.

While the four methods each have their respective advantages in industrial

application, the reverse osmosis process was found favorable for two main reasons. First,

it uses electrical energy, which can be sold back to the grid when freshwater is less

scarce. Second, as compared to other electrically driven desalination methods, reverse

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osmosis is favorable for higher solute concentrations because of the nature of the

separation membranes.

For a rural area, without access to modern technology, a second solution was

found. With solar stills, an isolated population could desalinate water using basic

materials such as wood and glass.

V. Recommendation

As the paper illustrates, the proposed solution is two-fold. First, a reverse-osmosis

desalination plant powered by photovoltaic solar panels would be built close to Nairobi,

the largest city in East Africa. Second, for the rural village solution, agents for national

government or NGOs would discuss desalination with local leaders and supply them with

the building instructions as well as any tools or materials that the village is lacking. This

may include glass or clear plastic roofing so that maximum sunlight enters the still or

black tar coating for the bottom of the still so that the raw water heats as efficiently as

possible. By desalinating saltwater with these two systems, East African populations will

be able to adapt to the increasingly hot and dry conditions that have been projected to

characterize the area in the near future.

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 VI. Works Cited

[1] M. Shatat, M. Worall, and S. Riffat, "Opportunities for solar water desalination
worldwide: Review," Sustainable Cities and Society, vol. 9, pp. 67-80, 2013.

[2] UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Human Affairs “Horn of Africa
Drought Crisis Interim Situation Report,” (ReliefWeb), 2011,
http://reliefweb.int/report/somalia/horn-africa-drought-crisis-interim-situation-
report-4-august-2011 (Accessed: October 20 2013)

[3] D. Tellez, H. Lom, P. Chargoy, L. Rosas, M. Mendoza, M. Coatl, et al.,

"Evaluation of technologies for a desalination operation and disposal in the
Tularosa Basin, New Mexico," Desalination, vol. 249, pp. 983-990, 2009.

[4] Spectra Watermakers Inc, “The Spectra-Clark Pump,” 2013

http://www.spectrawatermakers.com/technology/clark-pump.html (Accessed:
October 29 2013)

[5] Lenntech BV, “Reverse Osmosis Pretreatment,” 2013

http://www.lenntech.com/ro/ro-pretreatment.htm (Accessed: November 2 2013)

[6] A. Zagorodni, “Ion Exchange Materials: Properties and Applications,” 2006

http://www.ionexchange.books.kth.se/ (Accessed: October 29 2013)

[7] General Electric Company, “Electrodialysis Reversal,” 2013

http://www.gewater.com/products/electrodialysis-reversal-edr.html (Accessed:
October 29 2013)

[8] B. Bouchekima, "A small solar desalination plant for the production of drinking
water in remote arid areas of southern Algeria," Desalination, vol. 159, pp. 197-
204, 2003.

[9] Department of Energy and Finance State Government Victoria, “Public Private
Partnerships,” 2012 http://www.dtf.vic.gov.au/Infrastructure-Delivery/Public-
private-partnerships (Accessed: October 29 2013)

[10] K. Henderson, “Kenya Hit by National Blackout after Power Grid Failure,” 2013
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/28/us-kenya-power-
idUSBRE94R0IS20130528 (Accessed: October 29 2013)

[11] V. Kanayev, J. Morgan, P. Verlaan, “Indian Ocean,” (Encyclopedia Britannica),

2013 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/285876/Indian-
Ocean/22777/Surface-salinity?anchor=ref150281 (Accessed: November 2 2013)

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