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Characterizing the fossil fuel impacts in water desalination plants in Kuwait: A Life Cycle Assessment approach

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  • Al-Shayji, Khawla
  • Aleisa, Esra

Abstract

This study provides a detailed quantified baseline for the environmental effects of desalination in Kuwait. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is applied to model the environmental impacts of all nine desalination plant in the country both using Multistage Flash Desalination (MSF) and Reverse osmosis technologies at two scales: per one ton and on annual production. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is used to investigate which fossil fuel types is significantly contributing to increased environmental burden of desalination. The results indicate that although 12.2% of Kuwait's electrical energy is generated using crude oil, crude oil alone contributes 63% to the global warming. The results also show that desalination in Kuwait contributes 7.89E+08 kg Sb eq. to abiotic depletion, 1.15E+08 kg SO2 eq. to acidification, 1.91E+07 kg PO4 eq. to eutrophication, 2.71E+10 kg CO2 eq. to global warming, 2.47E+04 kg CFC-11 eq. to ozone layer depletion, 6.45E+09 kg 1,4-DB eq. to human toxicity, 6.03E+12 kg 1,4-DB eq. to marine aquatic ecotoxicity, and 7.53E+06 kg C2H4 eq. to photochemical oxidation. ANOVA reveals that natural gas has the lowest environmental impact, except on abiotic depletion; and that crude oil contributes almost four times more to global warming than other fuels used.

Suggested Citation

  • Al-Shayji, Khawla & Aleisa, Esra, 2018. "Characterizing the fossil fuel impacts in water desalination plants in Kuwait: A Life Cycle Assessment approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 681-692.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:158:y:2018:i:c:p:681-692
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2018.06.077
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Anwar Aljuwaisseri & Esra Aleisa & Khawla Alshayji, 2023. "Environmental and economic analysis for desalinating seawater of high salinity using reverse osmosis: a life cycle assessment approach," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(5), pages 4539-4574, May.
    2. Panagopoulos, Argyris, 2020. "A comparative study on minimum and actual energy consumption for the treatment of desalination brine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    3. Daneshzand, Farzaneh & Asali, Mehdi & Al-Sobhi, Saad A. & Diabat, Ali & Elkamel, Ali, 2022. "A simulation-based optimization scheme for phase-out of natural gas subsidies considering welfare and economic measures," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    4. Abdirizak Omar & Mouadh Addassi & Volker Vahrenkamp & Hussein Hoteit, 2021. "Co-Optimization of CO 2 Storage and Enhanced Gas Recovery Using Carbonated Water and Supercritical CO 2," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-21, November.
    5. Li, Guang & Zhang, Ke & Yang, Bin & Liu, Fan & Weng, Yujing & Liu, Zheyu & Fang, Yitian, 2019. "Life cycle analysis of a coal to hydrogen process based on ash agglomerating fluidized bed gasification," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 638-646.
    6. Olabi, A.G. & Wilberforce, Tabbi & Abdelkareem, Mohammad Ali, 2021. "Fuel cell application in the automotive industry and future perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    7. A. G. Olabi & Tabbi Wilberforce & Khaled Elsaid & Tareq Salameh & Enas Taha Sayed & Khaled Saleh Husain & Mohammad Ali Abdelkareem, 2021. "Selection Guidelines for Wind Energy Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-34, June.

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