Better Utilization Of Energy Research Articles

Exogenous putrescine plays a switch-like influence on the pH stress adaptability of biofilm-based activated sludge.

Microbial community adaptability to pH stress plays a crucial role in biofilm formation. This study aims to investigate the regulatory mechanisms of exogenous putrescine on pH stress, as well as enhance understanding and application for the technical measures and molecular mechanisms of biofilm regulation. Findings demonstrated that exogenous putrescine acted as a switch-like distributor affecting microorganism pH stress, thus promoting biofilm formation under acid conditions while inhibiting it under alkaline conditions. As pH decreases, the protonation degree of putrescine increases, making putrescine more readily adsorbed. Protonated exogenous putrescine could increase cell membrane permeability, facilitating its entry into the cell. Subsequently, putrescine consumed intracellular H+ by enhancing the glutamate-based acid resistance strategy and the γ-aminobutyric acid metabolic pathway to reduce acid stress on cells. Furthermore, putrescine stimulated ATPase expression, allowing for better utilization of energy in H+ transmembrane transport and enhancing oxidative phosphorylation activity. However, putrescine protonation was limited under alkaline conditions, and the intracellular H+ consumption further exacerbated alkali stress and inhibits cellular metabolic activity. Exogenous putrescine promoted the proportion of fungi and acidophilic bacteria under acidic stress and alkaliphilic bacteria under alkali stress while having a limited impact on fungi in alkaline biofilms. Increasing Bdellovibrio under alkali conditions with putrescine further aggravated the biofilm decomposition. This research shed light on the unclear relationship between exogenous putrescine, environmental pH, and pH stress adaptability of biofilm. By judiciously employing putrescine, biofilm formation could be controlled to meet the needs of engineering applications with different characteristics.IMPORTANCEThe objective of this study is to unravel the regulatory mechanism by which exogenous putrescine influences biofilm pH stress adaptability and understand the role of environmental pH in this intricate process. Our findings revealed that exogenous putrescine functioned as a switch-like distributor affecting the pH stress adaptability of biofilm-based activated sludge, which promoted energy utilization for growth and reproduction processes under acidic conditions while limiting biofilm development to conserve energy under alkaline conditions. This study not only clarified the previously ambiguous relationship between exogenous putrescine, environmental pH, and biofilm pH stress adaptability but also offered fresh insights into enhancing biofilm stability within extreme environments. Through the modulation of energy utilization, exerting control over biofilm growth and achieving more effective engineering goals could be possible.

Development and Performance Comparison of AC and DC Data Logger for Solar PV Application in Agriculture

Energy demand has outpaced energy supply. The use of renewable energy is one solution to this energy demand - supply imbalance. For better utilization of energy at the rural areas, a study was conducted to compare the performance of solar systems with and without inverter. The design and development for a low-cost ac and dc data recorder for PV systems is presented in this study. The data logger prototype consists of a micro converter, SD card, and current and voltage sensors. It measures the daily power usage of both ac and dc appliances. The data logger is interfaced with a personal computer, a mobile device, and an LED display, and it provides the daily energy consumption, the average energy consumption, the charging and discharging conditions, and system failure information. The designed hardware was tested under variety of load and no-load conditions, and the graph for various parameters both ac and dc appliances were then analyzed. This technology captures data in milliseconds with human-impossible precision. Microsoft Excel can aggregate all data and generate a graph for each microsecond, which enhances accuracy, eliminates human error, and saves time. This will improve the economy and make them more energy independent.

A hybrid combination of EV charging stations with renewable energy sources for powering a residential community. A techno‐economic perspective

AbstractIn this study, the performance of PV/wind/Diesel/battery schemes to satisfy the electrical load requirements of a residential community in five Nigerian cities: Sokoto, Katsina, Dutse, Jos, Gusau, and Zaria, have been techno‐economically evaluated. Two cases were considered: First, the hybrid system is designed to satisfy a residential community's load demand. Second, the system is optimized to satisfy both the requirements of electrical vehicles (EV) and the residential community. All simulations were carried out in MATLAB and validated by HOMER. For better utilization of energy, EV charging was carried out during periods of significant excess energy. The daily travel distance for EVs was set between 25 and 65 km. Sokoto and Gusau have the lowest LCOE (0.312) and NPC ($1.71 M) for a hybrid scheme without an EV battery charging, while Zaria has the highest (0.325 and $1.78 M). On the other hand, Sokoto and Gusau have the lowest LCOE (0.306) and NPC ($1.81 M) for a hybrid scheme with EV battery charging, whereas Zaria has the highest (0.32 and $1.89 M). Furthermore, as the EV travel distance increases, NPC rises, while the LCOE is highly sensitive to seasonal power requirements. The system has successfully utilized excess energy without compromising its financial viability. The novelty of the work presented in this paper is that for the first time a hybrid renewable energy system incorporating EV charging has been designed for various locations in Nigeria, which may aid policymakers in determining suitable locations for these schemes.

English

The share of biogas in renewable energy sources is increasing as variety of feedstocks are now used for biogas production among which lignocellulosic biomass is emerging feedstock that can be used after proper pretreatment under best suited temperature. Although lot of pretreatments and temperature combinations have been tested but still there is a gap that can be filled by the current study focused on the effect of the temperature gradient (mesophilic and thermophilic) on biogas production potential of maize straw and rice husk using a modified Gompertz equation. Pretreatment was done by using alkali (NaOH and Ca(OH)2) and acids (HCl and H2SO4) each at 2, 4 and 6%.The pretreatment of crop residue with 6% NaOH degraded lignin contents significantly. The pretreated crop residue was further used for biogas production. A multistage anaerobic bioreactor containing three diagonally inline reactors provided with one water bath connected to reactors for better utilization of energy was used for biogas production. The temperature of water bath was adjusted to that the first reactor achieved 37°C and 55 °C for different experiments. The working temperatures found to be 31-37°C and 46-55°C were achieved to maintain the internal temperature of the reactors within mesophilic and thermophilice temperature ranges, respectively. The 36 days incubation time was equally divided for three reactors. The biogas production rate was297 mL/g-VSadded and 244.07 mL/g-VSadded from maize straw and rice husk under mesophilic conditions, respectively. The results showed an increased biogas yield for both feedstocks under mesophilic conditions as compared to thermophilic conditions. The central reactor showed better production as compared to other two rectors in all experiments.

Energy, exergy analysis of conceptually designed monochloromethane production process from hydrochlorination of methanol

In this work, an integrated Exergetic evaluation was proposed to establish a better utilization of energy within the system and to achieve a sustainable environment. A simulation file was brought into being for the Synthesis of Monochloromethane (MCM) from hydrochlorination of methanol process with the ASPEN HYSYS simulator. An explorative analysis on thermodynamic derivatives like Energy and Exergy for the entire process subunits (and/or components) was carried out, which includes the quantity of Energy loss, exergy destruction and exergy efficiency among all process components. From the calculated figures in all of them, the reactor followed by the absorber has maximum exergy destruction of 138 MW and 29 MW respectively. Moreover, an observation found that exergy destruction of 266 MW was engaged with Heat Exchanger Network (HEN) i.e., 47.5 % of total MCM pant destruction. Retrofit design is the possible way to reduce the exergy destruction rate employed with HEN without any interruption to the properties of process streams. This retrofit design confines exergy destruction to 187 MW which is 38.8 % of total process destruction. The total energy, exergy efficiencies are 85.45 % and 93.9 % respectively.

An Unequally Clustered Multi-hop Routing Protocol Based on Fuzzy Logic for Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is associated with a new exemplification of a real-time embedded system used for various applications that make the traditional infrastructure-based network seem infeasible. Due to imbalanced energy consumption among nodes, WSN has challenges with better utilization of energy and system enhancement. Clustering has been a better approach in this sequence. Therefore, this paper will utilize a fuzzy logic-based clustering protocol (unequal clustering) with multi-hop transmission for load balancing, energy consumption minimization, and network lifetime prolongation. The protocol forms unequal clusters with cluster head (CH) being selected by fuzzy logic with competition radius. Node distance to the base station, concentration, and residual energy are input variables. The simulation and results section displays the outperformance of the proposed protocol, where the low-energy adaptive clustering hierarchy (LEACH), energy-aware multi-hop multi-path hierarchical (EAMMH), energy-aware unequal clustering fuzzy (EAUCF), and two-tier distributed fuzzy logic-based protocol (TTDFP) for efficient data aggregation in multi-hop wireless sensor networks algorithms.

Priority-Mobility Aware Clustering Routing Algorithm for Lifetime Improvement of Dynamic Wireless Sensor Network

Wireless sensor network with mobility is rapidly evolving and increasing in the recent decade. The cluster and hierarchical routing strategy demonstrates major changes in the lifespan of the network and the scalability. The latency, average energy consumption, packet distribution ratio is highly impacted due to a lack of coordination between cluster head and extreme mobile network nodes. Overall efficiency of highly mobile wireless sensor network is reduced by current techniques such as mobility-conscious media access control, sleep/wakeup scheduling and transmission of real-time services in wireless sensor network. This paper proposes a novel Priority-Mobility Aware Clustering Routing algorithm (p-MACRON) for high delivery of packets by assigning fair weightage to each and every packet of node. To automatically decide the scheduling policy, reinforcement learning approach is integrated. The mixed approach of priority and self-learning results into better utilization of energy. The experimental result shows comparisons of slotted sense multiple access protocol, AODV, MEMAC and P-MACRON, in which proposed algorithm delivered better results in terms of interval, packet size and simulation time.

Impact of osmotic and thermal isolation barrier on concentration and temperature polarization and energy efficiency in a novel FO-MD integrated module

In this study, a novel integrated forward osmosis - membrane distillation (FO-MD) module equipped with an isolation barrier carefully placed between the FO and MD membranes is experimentally investigated, and its performance is compared with a conventional hybrid module. The function of the isolation barrier is to osmotically and thermally separate the FO draw solution (DS) and MD feed channels. A systematic approach is adopted to compare the flux through both modules under (i) different and similar hydrodynamic conditions, (ii) different DS concentrations and temperatures, and (iii) different feed solution concentrations. All experiments were performed for 9 h each in batch mode using a custom-made compact module. New FO and MD membrane sheets were mounted for each experiment to ensure similarity in operating conditions. The proposed module design increased the flux by 22.1% using the same module dimensions but different hydrodynamic conditions. The flux increased by 16.6% using the same hydrodynamic conditions but different module dimensions. The FO/MD energy ratio reduced from 0.89 to 0.64 for the novel module, indicating better utilization of energy (primarily from MD). The gain output ratio (GOR) increased on average by 15.8% for the novel module compared to the conventional module, with a maximum increment of 20.7%. The temperature and concentration polarization coefficients in the MD operations showed improvements of 17.4% and 2.6%, respectively. The presence of the isolation barrier inside the integrated module indicated promising improvements of the flux and internal heat recovery, and further significant enhancements are expected for larger scale modules. Additionally, the novel module design offers unprecedented process integration opportunities for FO-MD as well as other membrane hybrid systems.

Study of a Bidirectional Power Converter Integrated with Battery/Ultracapacitor Dual-Energy Storage

A patented bidirectional power converter was studied as an interface to connect the DC-bus of driving inverter, battery energy storage (BES), and ultracapacitor (UC) to solve the problem that the driving motor damages the battery life during acceleration and deceleration in electric vehicles (EVs). The proposed concept was to adopt a multiport switch to control the power flow and achieve the different operating mode transitions for the better utilization of energy. In addition, in order to improve the conversion efficiency, the proposed converter used a coupled inductor and interleaved-pulse-width-modulation (IPWM) control to achieve a high voltage conversion ratio (i.e., bidirectional high step-up/down conversion characteristics). This study discussed the steady-state operation and characteristic analysis of the proposed converter. Finally, a 500 W power converter prototype with specifications of 72 V DC-bus, 24 V BES, and 48 V UC was built, and the feasibility was verified by simulation and experiment results. The highest efficiency points of the realized prototype were 97.4%, 95.5%, 97.2%, 97.1%, and 95.3% for the UC charge, battery charge, UC discharge, the dual-energy in series discharge, and battery discharge modes, respectively.

THE IMPACT OF MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS, ECO-INNOVATIONS AND ENERGY EFFICACY ON FIRM’S ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE

The current study aims to explore the effect of ecological innovations, energy efficiency and management accounting systems in influencing firms’ environmental performance of Indonesian manufacturing companies. The study further analyzed the relationship of ecological innovation, energy efficiency, and management accounting system with an organization’s economic performance. The present study is therefore novel in addressing the vital connection of technology with organizations’ performance in ecologically driven settings. The total valid sample for the present study is 310. The results of PLS-SEM confirm that all selected variables have a positive and significant impact on economic performance and environmental performance in the manufacturing sector in Indonesia. Moreover, the outcomes of the PLS-SEM confirm that economic and environmental performances have positively and expressively impacted by management accounting system, energy efficiency, and ecological innovations. The outcomes of partial least square structural equation modeling also indicate that efficient and better utilization of energy and management accounting system provide an improve economic and environmental condition for the Indonesian manufacturing sector. The study further recommended that the government needs to regulate some policy in which adoption of the management accounting system for all small, medium and large firms are compulsory in order to get sustainable development and environment.

A practical technique to measure transformer losses in high frequency SMPS

All electronic gadgets today employ high frequency Switch Mode Power Supplies. As the number of such gadgets is increasing rapidly, the focus is on improving the efficiency of power conversion and better utilization of energy. It is always a challenge for the practicing power supply engineers to exactly apportion and evaluate the total losses in the power converters. While it is relatively easy to compute and measure the power losses in semiconductor devices, it is practically difficult to measure the power losses in magnetic components. The data sheets provided by the manufacturers, for core loss and thermal resistance, do act as a starting point in the design stage but, always the designers felt the need to know the exact power loss in the ferrite high frequency transformers and their thermal resistance values. The data sheets provide thermal resistance values only for the cores and it is necessary to quantify value for a fully wound transformers. Copper losses in high frequency transformers are very significant and too involved to compute. In this paper, we propose a simple and practical technique, which precisely depicts the actual power loss in a high frequency ferrite core transformer. With this technique various ferrite cores can be characterized for their hysteresis losses at varying flux densities and frequencies. We can also precisely compute the thermal resistance of the Ferrite transformers.

Energy Efficient Perturb and Observe Maximum Power Point Algorithm with Moving Average Filter for Photovoltaic Systems

Utilization of renewable energy resources is gaining more importance due to improved rate of returns on investment and the technology. Solar energy is the main resource at present to receive wide spread acceptance due to the maturity of the technology among all renewable energy resources. The power production from the solar source largely depends upon the irradiance and the temperature and hence requires complex control strategies for better utilization of energy. Many researchers have been working on improving the solar power extraction by way of maximum power point tracking and other means. This paper presents the modified Perturb and Observe (P&O) algorithm with Moving Average Filter (MAF) to extract the maximum power from the solar for photovoltaic systems. The paper also presents a buck converter controlled by the modified algorithm to charge the battery of a photovoltaic system. The proposed system is simulated and implemented in hardware. The simulation and experimental results show a good performance of the modified algorithm and its suitability for photovoltaic applications.

Development of a mini tractor drawn semiautomatic two row planter cum fertilizer applicator

The potato planter is a very important machine, there is not much research available to show its effect on growth of plant or yield. But it proves its importance in time bounded operation, conservation and better utilization of energy, increased productivity of labour and overall precision in farm operations. Now days the majority of farmers are small and marginal and they cannot afford big sized tractors, so some cheaper mechanization for various farm operations is needed. Planting or sowing operation needs more accuracy than other farm operations, as costly seeds and fertilizer can be saved by using appropriate planting machine for respective crops. In fact, mini tractors are current demand for farmers as it can perform all the operations like big tractors with appropriate matching implement. By considering the above facts and to introduce a low cost appropriate technology for semiautomatic potato planter that can be operated by mini tractor, a mini tractor operated semiautomatic potato planter has been developed. The potato planter places potato tubers and fertilizer simultaneously at appropriate depth and the cost of operation of the planter is 1562 Rs./ha which is almost half (3285 Rs./ha) compared to medium sized tractor operated planter. So, the mini tractor drawn semi automatic planter is recommended for the farmers of planting of potato.

Response of turkeys fed wheat-barley-rye based diets to xylanase supplementation

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of xylanase on performance, nitrogen corrected apparent metabolizable energy (AMEn), relative gastrointestinal (GIT) weights, caecal fermentation and microbiota profile of turkeys fed wheat-barley-rye based diets. Four hundred eighty female Hybrid Converter turkey poults (1-day-old) were placed in one of two experimental treatments: a control diet (CTR) formulated to be marginally deficient in metabolizable energy, and the same diet supplemented with 16,000 BXU/kg of xylanase (XYL). Treatments had fifteen replicate pens per diet, with 16 birds each. Feed was supplied in four phases of three weeks per phase. On d 1, 21, 42, 63 and 84 body weight was measured, and feed intake (FI) recorded. Body weight gain (BWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were then calculated. On d 84 the last day of the study excreta samples were collected to determine AMEn. The profile of volatile fatty acids (VFA), lactic acid and branched-chain fatty acids (BCFA) in addition to the microbial community structure by the percentage of guanine plus cytosine (G+C) profile method in the caecal digesta were analysed on d 84. Statistical comparisons were performed using one-way ANOVA (JMP Pro 12). Xylanase supplementation over the 12 week study improved FCR (P<0.01) from 2.09 to 2.02. Birds supplemented with xylanase tended on average to be 163g heavier than the control birds, with no significant effects observed on FI. The AMEn in birds fed the XYL diets was numerically greater than that observed for CTR birds. No differences were found between treatments neither in VFA, lactic acid, BCFA concentrations nor in relative GIT weights. The percentage of G+C at 35–43, 50–56 and 66–70 regions differed significantly, indicating a shift in the microbial community structure between CTR and XYL-fed birds. Supplementation of turkey diets with xylanase improved performance, probably due to a better utilization of energy and the provision of oligosaccharides which specifically encourage proliferation of specific populations of bacteria in the caeca.

Thermal Analysis of Solar Flat Plate Collector using Phase Change Material

Objective: The objective of the paper is to study the performance of solar flat plate collector using phase change material. Methods/analysis: A phase change material (PCM) was combined with the thermal energy storage system to study the performance of Integrated Collector Cum Storage Solar Water Heater (ICSSWH). The Latent Heat Storage (LHS) was preferred as it stores the excess thermal energy beyond the sunshine and releasing it when there is energy demand. There are many phase change materials that melt and solidify over a range of temperature, among that paraffin wax was selected as it is cost effective and provides better thermal efficiency for longer duration. Findings: Regardless of the daily operations, the Integrated Collector Cum Storage Solar Water Heater (ICSSWH) gives good thermal efficiency for longer duration by using paraffin wax. In contrast to the conventional solar water heater the integrated PCM storage tank with solar water heater is more efficient because of its large storage capacity, isothermal nature during the charging and discharging and smaller size. During the discharging process, the heat transfer fluid gained large amount of heat from the PCM and it withstood heat for nearly more than five hours. During the night, it was found that the Latent Heat Storage (LHS) was effective as it allows minimum energy losses and conservation of energy. The maximum water outlet temperature was achieved by using paraffin wax and so this PCM can be considered as the most beneficial for the solar application from techno-economical aspects. Application/Improvements: The mentioned thermal system is used for water heating and space heating as it is cost effective. The system can be further be modified by combining with Sensible Heat Storage (SHS) for better utilization of energy.

Effects of a Specific Blend of Essential Oil on Rumen Degradability, Total Tract Digestibility and Fermentation Characteristics in Rumen Fistulated Cows

Essential oils had been received much attention due to their antimicrobial properties against a wide range of microorganisms that manipulate rumen fermentation towards a better utilization of energy and protein. Six fistulated non-lactating Friesian dairy cows were used to investigate the effect of adding Crina® Ruminants (blend of essential oil) with 1g per cow per day to total mixed ration (grass silage, maize silage, soybean meal, rapeseed meal and wheat) of 7 kg per day on the in-situ rumen dry matter degradability (ISDMD) and total tract digestibility using TiO2 as marker. Fistulated cows were used as 3x2 Latin Square with factorial arrangement of treatment (with or without Crina® addition) in two periods. Each period extended for 45days (30 days pre-experimental phase and 15 days experimental phase). Ruminal fluid samples were collected to investigate the rumen fermentation parameters (ruminal pH value, volatile fatty acid (VFAs), and ammonia nitrogen (NH3N) as well as acetate propionate ratio). The results indicated that adding of Crina® to ruminant diet had significantly decreased ISDMD of grass silage and total mixed ration especially at long incubation time (12 and 48 hours). The ISDMD and in-situ rumen crude protein degradability of soybean and rapeseed meal significantly increased due to Crina® addition. Crina® had no effect on total tract digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), starch, ether extract (EE), crude fiber (CF) and fiber fractions. Rumen fermentation parameters did not affected due to addition of Crina®. Results concluded that Crina® could limit the degradability of grass silage, increased degradability of soybean and rapeseed meal and had no effect on rumen fermentation characteristics.

Salt stress reveals differential antioxidant and energetics responses in glycophyte (Brassica juncea L.) and halophyte (Sesuvium portulacastrum L.)

Salt stress, considered as one of the major factors, decreases crop productivity world-wide and hence, investigations are being made to understand the cellular basis of salt tolerance in plants. In our earlier studies, maintenance of redox homeostasis and energetics were found as key determinants of salt tolerance in a halophyte Sesuvium portulacastrum (high salt accumulator). The redox homeostasis is defined as integrated ratio of different redox couples present inside the cell. In recent years, it has also been proposed as general stress response regulator in plants, bacteria as well as animals. In view of this, present study was performed to compare responses of redox state and energetics of S. portulacastrum with a glycophyte Brassica juncea (low salt accumulator). The data revealed activation of antioxidant defense in S. portulacastrum which either avoided or delayed the accumulation of different reactive oxygen species (ROS). In contrast, due to the lack of co-ordination, although the non-enzymatic antioxidants were increased, significant oxidative damage was seen in B. juncea. Further, the decreased NADPH oxidase activity suggested that basal redox signaling was also affected in B. juncea. In order to correlate these changes with chloroplastic and mitochondrial electron transport chain, NADP/NADPH and NAD/NADH ratios were measured. The NADP/NADPH ratio suggested that the process of photosynthesis was minimally affected in S. portulacastrum which might have contributed to its lower level of ROS under salt stress. The comparatively lower NAD/NADH and ATP/ADP ratios in S. portulacastrum as compared to B. juncea indicated the active and better utilization of energy generated to support different processes associated with salt tolerance. Thus, the findings suggest that co-ordinated regulation of antioxidant defense to avoid oxidative damage and proper utilization of energy are the key determinants of salt-tolerance in plants.

Numerical Simulation Analysis on Explosion Stress Field of Different Charge Construction

There are different blasting stress field which around the blast hole caused by different charge when explosives exploded in the rock. Simulation analysis on borehole wall pressure and explosion stress field of rock at different charging structure was done by ANSYS/LS-DYNA. The simulation results indicate: stress of coupling charge is the maximum, water-decouple charge is the latter and air-decouple charge is the minimum; and whether air-decouple or water-decouple charge, peak stress value of model decreased along with the increasing of decouple coefficient, but the air-decouple charge show more obvious. Therefore, water-decouple blasting has good energy utilization.

Emissions investigation for a novel medical waste incinerator

Medical waste constitutes one of the waste streams that should be dealt with special priority due to its potential negative impact on public health and on the environment. Incineration is a process that is widely used for the treatment of medical waste. However, self-supporting combustion of medical waste cannot avoid releasing many hazardous pollutants into our environment. The most favored solutions are firing additional fuels of high calorific value and direct purification by air pollution control devices (APCD). This process entails not only large first time investment but also an increase in the operation cost. A novel incinerator is proposed for better utilization of energy of the incineration process. Its originality is essentially due to combining a feeder, a rotary grate, a cylindrical gasifier and a “coaxial” secondary combustion chamber into a unique unit. The structure of the incinerator as well as the principle of the incineration process is presented in this paper. A full-scale trial of the novel incinerator with APCD was carried out from March to May 2008 to investigate how the distinct configuration influenced the incineration process. Data on PM, CO, NO X , O 2 were recorded by a continuous emission monitoring system during the study period. Heavy metals and PCCD/Fs were also sampled and measured. Measuring results were compared with the China and U.S. EPA guidelines. The concentrations of contaminants were below their respective limits in emission control standards. Results from testing the novel medical waste incinerator confirmed that this technology has a good suitability for neutralization of medical wastes and purification of flue gases.

The continued challenge of capacity building in desalination

Desalination has become a major source of fresh water almost everywhere. The best choice for providing fresh water in the Middle East and North Africa, especially in the Arabian Gulf countries, was through seawater desalination with ground water as back up. Desalination in the Arabian Gulf countries is an example of the fast growth of the desalination industry. It is expected to show a steady growth in the coming years. Existing plants will experience expansions in their capacities. New plants will be constructed. The long experience of the Arabian Gulf countries in the desalination field together with massive desalting capacities represent a continued challenge in capacity building. More efforts in training for desalination technology are needed, together with human resources management, planning, academic education and research. A capacity-building program is necessary not only to improve the operation and maintenance of existing desalination plants but also to build an integrated adoption of this sustainable technology in the region. This paper will focus on discussing the need and necessity of research in desalination by reviewing possible improvement of the current desalination processes regarding lower water production cost, better utilization of energy, environmental aspects, etc. A training program for desalination technology to enhance human resources and expertise via academic education and research is outlined.