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Doha, Qatar: The Water Technology Unit established at the Centre for Advanced Materials (CAM) at Qatar University (QU) will be a strategic industrial research niche that addresses current and emerging issues relating to water quality and scarcity.
The global urban population facing water scarcity is projected to double from 930 million in 2016 to 1.7–2.4 billion people in 2050, UNESCO disclosed recently.
Qatar, among one of the world’s water-stressed countries, has, over the years, met the increasing water demand, despite an annual increase in water consumption. To tackle the issue, Qatar, like its GCC neighbours, relies on desalination plants to overcome water scarcity. The country has increased storage capacity from 1,000 to 2,400mn gallons, increasing 140% in Kahramaa’s drinking water reserves.
As part of its efforts to drive the country’s water security goals and sustainable water consumption, the WTU at CAM aims to build its capacity and develop local expertise to support the water desalination and treatment industry in Qatar, Professor Mohammad Irshidat, the Director of CAM told The Peninsula.
QU established WTU with Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC). He disclosed that WTU would gradually become the full fledge centre to cater for the local industry and community and become the hub of excellence in desalination and water treatment in the region.
According to Prof Irshidat, CAM has been dedicated to providing unique excellence in material technologies. He added that CAM’s roadmap is based on Qatar’s needs, National Development Strategy, and QU’s research priorities pillars. In this regard, CAM through WTU has resulted in significant breakthrough technologies.
“Eventually, the WTU will meet the national demand for water security in Qatar by ensuring high water quality, sufficient water quantity, and no disaster in water resources in Qatar. Most of all, WTU will focus on ensuring water security by performing water research activities,” Prof. Irshidat said.
“Central to this is the use of conventional and innovative technologies that will help provide technical support to the water desalination and treatment industry in Qatar to ensure that desalinated, treated or handled water in Qatar meets the global standard levels suitable for the targeted purposes, which will be achieved by using state-of-the-art equipment and technologies,” he added.
The CAM director noted that WTU would establish a multi-disciplinary research programme covering water desalination and treatment, including, but not limited to, membrane fabrication and fouling control, pretreatment, brine management, and troubleshooting. The unit will also integrate nanotechnologies with existing water treatment practices to optimise the efficiency of conventional water desalination and treatment technologies and develop new nanotechnology-enhanced membranes, materials and processes.
“The research programme of the WTU aligns with the research priorities of Qatar University and coincides with the strategic goals of the National Vision 2030, which targets the expansion of Qatar’s desalination capacity and strengthening the national desalination technical and expertise capacity,” Prof. Irshidat stressed.
