Technological innovations being developed at KAUST with its industry collaborators aim to improve efficiency and sustainability of water desalination.

Seawater desalination is used extensively in the Middle East, accounting for about half of global desalination capacity, but the process is very energy intensive.

In 2023, Saudi Arabia alone had a desalination capacity of 13.2 million cubic meters per day, with most produced by large-scale plants. Future demand is set to continue. There are proposals to replace the current use of groundwater for agriculture with desalinated water, which would require a large increase in capacity.

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