Cooling

With around 60-80% of electricity used for air conditioning, and a big portion of potable water being supplied by desalination plants, sustaining life in in hot arid countries is uniquely energy intensive.

District Cooling Plants (DCPs) have a potential to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions by more than 30%. However, DCPs usually rely on wet cooling towers for dissipation of the excess heat to the ambient, which involves considerable loss of fresh water; a common problem in hot arid countries with highest demand for air cooling and also relies on costly and energy intensive desalination processes.

Moreover, wet cooling towers can spread humidifier fever, a serious health risk with similar symptoms as mild influenza, and Legionella, which can be deadly. Hence huge evaporation loss in densely populated urban centers in Qatar and GCC is an imperative environmental issue which necessitates effective and practical solutions.

This patented technology, i.e. the “Self-Sustainable District Cooling and Desalination (SSDD)”, (US patent # 62/241724), introduces a totally new concept for maximization of water and energy use efficiency in district cooling plants in hot arid countries while preserving the environment. The system couples district cooling plants with desalination processes using a hybrid reverse osmosis and thermal desalination equipped with Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) system.

The invention closes the water and energy circuits in DC plants, which considerably enhances the overall water and energy efficiencies and eliminates the common environmental problem related to brine disposal and evaporative cooling health risks. The technology is applicable on full industrial scale, as it relies on widely tested components available in local and international markets.

The new technology has revealed a breakthrough in terms of reducing energy consumption by 20-30% and water consumption by more than 70% in cooling towers, while producing a surplus fresh water more than 1000 liters per day per refrigeration ton of the district cooling capacity.