The Water–Food–Energy Nexus

Abstract

Water, food, energy, and quality of life go hand in hand. The food we eat, the house we live in, the transports we use, and the things we cannot do without 24/7/365 determine our quality of life and require sustainable and steady supplies of water, food, and energy. Exponential growth in population and the fundamental right to have basic food and standards of living require increasing amounts of water and energy. The quantity of available freshwater and energy sources that directly affect the cost of production (irrigation and energy) and the transportation (energy) of food are diminishing. In addition, there is increased water pollution due to industrial uses of water. The direct use of such water for human consumption as well as irrigation for food production is prohibitive and requires technological solutions. Securing sustainable water, food, and energy supplies are more important challenges today for scientists and engineers than ever before. With the above in mind, Professors Mujtaba and Elbashir organized workshops in Qatar and in India in 2015. The Qatar workshop was on energy and water security and was coordinated by Professors Mujtaba and Elbashir and funded by the British Council (UK) and Texas A&M University (USA). Thirteen participants from the UK and 15 from Qatar (academics and industrialists) presented stimulating and state-of-the-art research and knowledge transfer ideas in energy and water over 3 days. The Indian workshop was on water, food, and energy nexus and was coordinated by professors Mujtaba and Srinivasan and funded by the Royal Society (UK) and the Department of Science and Technology (India). Three participants from the UK and 15 from India (academics and industrialists) presented stimulating and state-of-the-art research and knowledge transfer ideas in water, food, and energy over 3 days. A total of 40 presentations were made and both events received a great deal of national press coverage. The developments in energy-efficient water production, management, wastewater treatment, and energy-efficient processes for food and essential commodities were widely discussed at these workshops. This book presents those technical discussions for wider public benefit around the globe. The book has 37 contributions (most from the two workshops mentioned earlier) and is divided into four sections: • Section I: Water • Section II: Food • Section III: Energy • Section IV: Sustainable Future Section I includes 10 contributions on water desalination, water management, and wastewater treatment. Water desalination covers the state of the art in mode-based research in desalination together with the global water–energy challenge in desalination and forward osmosis-based desalination for agricultural irrigation. Water management covers topics on sustainable water management in industrial cities, water network synthesis, and water quality monitoring. Wastewater treatment includes four contributions on the removal of endocrine, water conservation, life cycle assessment into the synthesis of wastewater treatment plants, and appropriate technologies for supplying safe drinking water. Section II includes five contributions on food. The contributions cover advances in cereal processing, clean technology for sustainable food security, bioenergy in food production, water and energy consumption in food processing, and a mathematical model for food cooking undergoing phase changes. Section III includes 16 contributions on fossil fuel, biofuel, synthetic fuel, and renewable energy, and carbon capture. Fossil fuel includes two contributions on energy-efficient crude oil transport and the process industry economics of crude oil and petroleum derivatives. Biofuel has two contributions: biodiesel production from renewable sources and synthesis of biodiesel from used cooking oil. Synthetic fuel and renewable energy includes five contributions on gas-to-liquid (GTL)-derived synthetic fuel, the role of alternative aviation fuel, a modeling approach for the GTL Fischer–Tropsch reactor and carbon footprint, a distributed renewable energy system and management, and demand for and generation of a smart grid. Carbon capture contains seven contributions on the rotating packed bed for carbon capture, integration of natural gas combined cycle power generation and chemical absorption based carbon capture, postcombustion carbon capture, integration of supercritical coal-fired power plant and carbon capture, experimental and theoretical modeling of carbon capture and sequestration chain, and the performance of organic polymers for carbon capture. Section IV includes six contributions on a sustainable future. The topics cover the role of molecular thermodynamics in developing processes and products for a sustainable future, green engineering in process systems, the fundamental aspect of petrochemical water splitting, petrochemical approaches to solar hydrogen generation, a design and operation strategy of energy-efficient process, and the sustainability of process, supply chain, and enterprise.