A Pathway to Cutting Carbon Emissions from Desalination in Qatar

Introduction

Qatar has a relatively efficient desalination sector. Most of the country’s desalination facilities are integrated within power plants, such as those located at Ras Abu Fontas (known as “independent/integrated water and power plants” or IWPPs). This significantly reduces energy use and emissions by directing heat discharge from natural gas-based electricity generation towards multi-stage flash (MSF)¹ or multi-effect distillation (MED) facilities,² both of which use thermal processes.

This chapter argues that Qatar could further reduce carbon emissions from desalination in the short term, and potentially eliminate all emissions from desalination in the long term. Early investments in developing new technologies could dramatically accelerate progress towards achieving Qatar’s environmental goals.

In the short term, efficiency could be increased at existing IWPPs through minor adjustments and upgrades to existing infrastructure. This also applies to Qatar’s growing number of reverse osmosis (RO) facilities, which utilize some of the latest filtration and membrane technologies to desalinate brackish water³ and seawater.

In the medium-to-long term, as Qatar’s energy mix begins to incorporate clean energy technologies that do not discharge heat (for example, solar photovoltaics and wind), the water sector will come under pressure to transition to cleaner methods of desalination. This would require extensive research and development (R&D) efforts to ensure the feasibility of clean desalination for large-scale applications.

Qatar would benefit from a long-term strategy to drastically ramp up investments in desalination R&D to ensure the country’s long-term water security. This includes solar, wind, and hydrogen-powered desalination, as well as investing in polymer research, anti-scaling/anti-fouling methods, and brine management solutions.

 

Qatar’s Existing Desalination Infrastructure

Qatar is an arid country with limited rainfall and freshwater sources. Groundwater, once the only freshwater source, has been heavily depleted throughout the years due to over-abstraction, mainly for agriculture. Furthermore, the rate of natural groundwater recharge is relatively slow due to low rainfall and high evaporation.⁴In 1955, Qatar began desalinating seawater to meet growing water demand. Today, approximately 99% of its municipal water demand is met through desalination.⁵

Desalination in Qatar is dominated by thermal technology, including multi-stage flash (MSF) distillation and multi-effect distillation (MED). Thermal desalination was initially the method of choice, due to the availability of low-cost fuel and its suitability for the Gulf’s highly saline feedwater. Membrane-based processes⁶ such as reverse osmosis⁷ (RO) were introduced in the mid-2010s, after the commissioning of the Ras Abu Fontas A3 desalination plant. RO technology gained momentum due to its lower capital costs, lower energy consumption, lower brine temperature, and generally higher recovery rates, which means less brine⁸ output.⁹

Fossil fuel-powered desalination releases 4.7–18.2 times more CO₂ than conventional surface water treatment processes in order to produce a given quantity of potable water. Life cycle assessment (LCA) studies have shown that CO₂ emissions from MSF, MED, and RO systems range between 9.41-25, 7.01-17.6, and 1.75-2.79 kg CO₂ per m³ of desalinated water, respectively. These numbers vary widely, depending on the energy source, type of fuel, water salinity, and technologies used in the desalination process. RO emits between a quarter and a third of the CO₂ produced by MSF and MED.¹⁰

The CO₂ emissions from MSF and MED desalination in Qatar are estimated to be lower than global averages. This is partly due to the use of natural gas, which emits less CO₂ at end use, per unit of energy generated, than other fuels such as coal. However,  the extensive use of cogeneration—exploiting residual heat from other industrial processes—is the primary reason for these lower emissions. In Qatar’s case, large-scale desalination plants use low-pressure steam from power plants nearby, making water desalination a byproduct of power generation. An LCA study conducted on three different MSF plants in Qatar that employed cogeneration reported emissions ranging between 7.32–12.6 kg CO₂ per m³, which is between 22.2 – 49.6% less than general reported values.¹¹

Qatar’s third National Development Strategy confirms its commitment to RO for desalination to reduce the country’s carbon footprint.¹² Qatar has expanded its RO facilities significantly over the past decade and a half. While RO processes are less energy-intensive, requiring just 16-20% of the energy to operate, thermal desalination is still a viable technology in Qatar.¹³ This is mainly due to thermal technologies being more reliable than other methods when treating seawater that is of high salinity,¹⁴ high turbidity,¹⁵ low quality, and high temperature. Furthermore, thermal desalination plants require minimal pre-and post-treatment for red tides¹⁶ compared to RO technology.¹⁷

Given the various advantages and shortcomings of thermal and membrane technologies, hybrid thermal/membrane configurations may be a sustainable option to reduce carbon emissions and energy operation costs. This is thanks to increased recovery rates and effluent water quality, which reduce the strain on energy consumption, scale, fouling, and production costs.¹⁸ Umm Al Houl Power, an electricity and desalination plant in Qatar, is an example of a hybrid desalination system incorporating both MSF and RO technologies, although the plants run independently.

 

Desalination and Emissions Reductions in the Short Term

While Qatar has launched many initiatives towards its decarbonization goals, there are some short-term opportunities in the desalination sector that could catalyze emissions reductions over the longer term:

 

Strengthening Water Conservation and Demand Management

 One short-term measure would be to strengthen water conservation and demand management. This could be achieved by implementing comprehensive water conservation measures, both upstream and downstream, to reduce energy use and the associated carbon emissions. For example, water conservation initiatives and policies could include raising public awareness about water conservation and penalizing over-consumption.

In addition, as part of the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation’s (Kahramaa) initiatives to reduce the loss of desalinated water, Qatar could improve its distribution infrastructure. In October 2024, Qatar’s Council of Ministers announced it was incorporating the “Gulf Technical Regulation for Water-Consumption Conservation Products,” drafted by the GCC Standardization Organization, into Qatari regulation. The regulation aims to enhance water efficiency by setting standards for water-saving products, and by decreasing leaks. It also aims to reduce individual water consumption and increase competition between suppliers of water-saving technologies and high-quality tools.¹⁹

 

Supporting Desalination Research

Another way to enhance technological efficiency in the short term would be to increase funding for desalination research and pilot studies, building on Qatar’s existing investments in fundamental and applied research. This could be done by accelerating partnerships between research institutions and industry, such as the 20-year collaboration between the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI) and the Qatar Electricity and Water Corporation (QEWC) for the Multi-Effect Distillation with Absorption (MED-AB) pilot plant in Qatar. MED-AB is an innovative desalination technology developed at QEERI to reduce energy consumption and water production costs. Initially installed in Dukhan (western Qatar), with a nominal capacity of 25 m³/day, this pilot plant can handle seawater with a salt content as high as 57,500 parts per million (ppm), significantly higher than the average salinity of oceans (33,000 to 37,000 ppm).²⁰

One way to save and reduce costs is through collaborative research on desalination technologies, with neighboring GCC countries facing similar environmental conditions. One example of a replicable technology can be found in Saudi Arabia’s Adsorption Desalination Plant in Al-Uyaynah, which relies on industrial-scale crystalline adsorption cooling and has reduced the kingdom’s CO₂ emissions by  3.7 million tonnes annually.²¹ Given the climate crisis and the urgent need to reduce carbon footprints, it is important to support such research and the integration of renewable energy into desalination.

 

Establishing a National Desalination Innovation Hub

Another goal achievable in the short term would be the creation of a National Desalination Innovation Hub, which could serve as a centralized facility where researchers, industry experts, and policymakers could collaborate on innovative desalination projects. This could include hosting regular conferences and workshops to share knowledge and foster innovation. To incentivize local and regional research, the hub could award an international desalination research prize, modeled after Saudi Arabia’s Global Prize for Innovation in Desalination.²² This would incentivize innovation and collaboration with local and regional researchers, aligned with Qatar’s sustainability goals.

 

The Medium-to-Long Term: The Case for a Qatari National Desalination Strategy 2025-2060

A national desalination strategy for the coming 30-35 years could guide Qatar’s public, private, and nongovernmental sectors towards lower emissions and lower costs. Such a strategy could shape future policies, research, and investments in desalination, provided that progress is regularly monitored and evaluated, and that its goals are updated on a regular basis. The strategy could be geared towards 1) ensuring a smooth transition to the next generation of desalination technologies in Qatar, and 2) turning Qatar into a global leader in desalination research.

The first 25 years of this National Desalination Strategy 2025-2060 (Desal Strategy) would be dedicated to R&D, while the following 10 years would be dedicated to large-scale deployment of the newly developed desalination technologies to replace or upgrade retiring infrastructure.

Qatar’s plans to diversify its energy mix in the coming decades offers an opportunity for the water sector.²³ Today, hydrocarbon-based thermal electricity generation accounts for 90% of the country’s total capacity.²⁴ By 2030, clean and primarily non-thermal energy sources will account for 18% of the total,²⁵ which means the share of thermal electricity will decline to 82%. Solar, wind, hydrogen, and other clean energy sources are potential alternative sources of energy for desalination facilities to replace natural gas.

However, increasing the share of solar and wind power in Qatar’s energy mix could reduce the heat discharge from natural gas power plants, on which MSF and MED desalination facilities rely. The proposed Desal Strategy could prioritize research to address this issue.

Unlike solar and wind power, hydrogen power generation discharges a certain amount of heat (that varies by process), which makes it a potential alternative to natural gas in Qatar’s IWPPs.²⁶ Recent studies show that it is possible for existing natural gas IWPPs to be adapted to use hydrogen, although this concept requires extensive R&D.²⁷ In this case, the proposed Desal Strategy would play a key role in incentivizing hydrogen-powered desalination research, while also prioritizing solar, wind, and other low carbon solutions. Qatar could be a leader in this field and capitalize on the intellectual property gained through R&D, which would then create new export revenue streams. Another potential growth area is the development of integrated desalination and green hydrogen production facilities, since green hydrogen is produced more effectively using distilled water.²⁸

Beyond energy, there are other priority issues for Qatar’s desalination sector, namely research on polymers,²⁹ anti-scaling/anti-fouling methods,³⁰ and brine mining management.³¹ Figure 1 outlines how these issues could be integrated into the Desal Strategy and how they could increase efficiency, extend the lifetime of heavy machinery at desalination facilities, and provide new mineral sources and revenue streams.

 

 

To achieve the ambitious goals of the Desal Strategy, public and private investments would be needed to enhance and expand Qatar’s R&D base. This would require increasing funding for existing research institutions, including QEERI, the Center for Advanced Materials at Qatar University, and the Gulf Organization for Research and Development (GORD). The Qatar Research, Development, and Innovation Council (QRDI) could put up dedicated grant funding to accelerate research on solar, wind and hydrogen-powered desalination. Qatar has a comparative advantage in the desalination sector due its decades of experience and relatively highly skilled workforce in the sector, but continuous investment is needed to ensure competitiveness in the long run.

The Desal Strategy would require coordination between several government entities, as proposed in Figure 2. QRDI would be responsible for grant funding programs for R&D in all priority areas, establishing a national innovation hub for desalination, and launching research awards to attract global talent. Kahramaa, as the national utility company, would serve as a sector expert and main stakeholder. The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MECC) and QatarEnergy are key stakeholders due to their central role in Qatar’s energy transition. Finally, we propose the establishment of a National Desalination Committee, which, in close coordination with the National Planning Council (NPC), would be responsible for drafting the strategy and coordinating between stakeholders.

 

 

Scientific and policy research institutions such as the GORD, QEERI, the Center for Advanced Materials in Qatar University, and Earthna: Center for a Sustainable Future, could also play a role by providing consultations and supporting policy development. Their engagement in the strategy’s drafting stage would be crucial given their position as potential grant recipients. New technologies or methods that are developed through QRDI-funded R&D programs would in turn be subjected to a feasibility study. If an R&D project shows promise, then Kahramaa and QEWC (and/or its foreign investment arm, Nebras Power) could determine whether or not to launch a pilot program to explore the possibility of scaling up and/or capitalizing on this technology for domestic and export desalination markets. For example, the growing need for water and high solar energy potential in the MENA region, which receives 22-26% of the earth’s total solar energy, makes it an ideal market for exports of solar-powered desalination technology.³² As for integrated desalination and green hydrogen facilities, Qatar could target the East Asian market, where there is growing demand for hydrogen power.³³ Newly developed wind-aided brine management techniques could also be deployed to support clients who want to reduce brine waste or retrieve valuable minerals.³⁴

The private sector could also play a key role in the research, development and piloting of new technologies. Using private investment, enterprises in Qatar could compete for tenders from the national utility company to construct low-emissions IWPPs based on new solar, wind, or hydrogen-powered desalination technologies. This could help reduce risk and encourage private sector participation in the sector. Qatar has already experimented with privately run IWPPs, which have shown potential to succeed and lower costs.³⁵ Qatar could focus on developing programs to encourage local companies to participate in and support pilot studies, as well as providing financial incentives for entities to collaborate with research institutions and utilize technologies or processes that reduce carbon emissions.

To monitor, evaluate, and capitalize on progress in achieving the goals outlined in the Desal Strategy, the National Desalination Committee (ideally domiciled within the NPC) would be responsible for convening stakeholder meetings, designing and managing periodic monitoring and evaluation efforts, and synthesizing the latest findings and evidence from R&D and implementation.

 

Conclusion

Investments in R&D on desalination could open new avenues for Qatar as it endeavors to increase efficiency and reduce emissions in its desalination sector. In the short term, this means finding solutions for demand management and incentivizing private sector participation to increase competition and develop expertise. In the medium-to-long term, Qatar could benefit significantly from the development of an ambitious and coherent desalination strategy that shapes research and development priorities and streamlines the pilot testing and deployment of new technologies.

This would require establishing a desalination innovation hub to expand the country’s research base. Qatar has a comparative advantage in desalination, stemming from decades of experience. With a comprehensive and targeted strategy, the desalination sector could generate new sources of revenue, leverage the emerging hydrogen energy market, and support solar-powered desalination efforts worldwide. This would contribute to emission reductions in desalination and create new export opportunities for Qatari companies.

 

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Endnote

¹ Multi-stage flash (MSF): A thermal desalination process that distills seawater by “flashing” water, or evaporating then rapidly depressurizing it and condensing the steam into distilled water, over multiple stages.

² Multi-effect distillation (MED): A thermal desalination process where seawater is heated to lower temperatures (<70°C) by spraying it onto tubes containing steam, then the evaporated water is collected in tubes to heat feed water in the next stage or “effect”.

³ Brackish Water: Naturally occurring water with a salinity level between freshwater and seawater.

⁴ Yasir Elginaid Mohieldeen, Elnaiem Ali Elobaid, and Rifaat Abdalla, “GIS-based framework for artificial aquifer recharge to secure sustainable strategic water reserves in Qatar arid environment peninsula,” Scientific Reports 11, no.1 (September 2021), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97593-w.

⁵ Mehzabeen Mannan, Mohamed Alhaj, Abdel Nasser Mabrouk, and Sami G. Al-Ghamdi, “Examining the life-cycle environmental impacts of desalination: A case study in the State of Qatar,” Desalination 452 (February 2019): 238-246, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2018.11.017.

⁶ Membrane-based Processes: Water treatment or desalination technologies that use semipermeable membranes to separate dissolved salts and minerals from water. Examples include RO, nanofiltration, and electrodialysis.

⁷ Reverse Osmosis (RO): A water treatment process in which feed water enters a semipermeable membrane under higher than osmotic pressure, to separate out dissolved salts and minerals.

⁸ Brine: The byproduct of desalination; highly saline water containing the salts separated from the desalinated water. It is far more concentrated in salts relative to feed water.

⁹ Aref Shokri and Mahdi Sanavi Fard, “Techno-economic assessment of water desalination: Future outlooks and challenges,” Process Safety and Environmental Protection 169 (January 2023): 564–578, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psep.2022.11.007.

¹⁰ Huyen Trang Do Thi and András József Tóth, “Investigation of Carbon Footprints of Three Desalination Technologies: Reverse Osmosis (RO), Multi-Stage Flash Distillation (MSF), and Multi-Effect Distillation (MED),” Periodica Polytechnica Chemical Engineering 67, no.1 (February 2023): 1-8, https://doi.org/10.3311/PPch.20901.

¹¹ Muhammad Mannan et al., “Examining the Life-Cycle Environmental Impacts of Desalination: A Case Study in the State of Qatar,” Desalination 452 (2019): 238, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2018.11.017.

¹² Planning and Statistics Authority, Third Qatar National Development Strategy (2024-2030), (Doha, Qatar: National Planning Council, 2024), https://www.npc.qa/en/planning/nds3/Documents/QNDS3_EN.pdf.

¹³ Gemma Raluy, Luis Serra, and Javier Uche, “Life cycle assessment of MSF, MED and RO desalination technologies,” Energy 31, no. 13 (October 2006): 2361-2372, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2006.02.005.

¹⁴ Salinity: The amount of dissolved salts in water, typically measured in parts per thousand (ppt) or grams of salt per liter (g/L) of water.

¹⁵ Turbidity: The cloudiness or haziness of a liquid, typically due to the presence of suspended particles that cause water to appear less transparent.

¹⁶ Red tides: A harmful algal bloom where certain types of algae, such as dinoflagellates, proliferate in coastal waters, discoloring the water and excreting toxins that potentially harm marine life and human health.

¹⁷ Mannan et al., “Examining the Life-Cycle Environmental Impacts,” p. 239.

¹⁸ Huyen Trang Do Thi and András József Tóth, “Investigation of Carbon Footprints of Three Desalination Technologies: Reverse Osmosis (RO), Multi-Stage Flash Distillation (MSF), and Multi-Effect Distillation (MED),” Periodica Polytechnica Chemical Engineering 67, no.1 (February 2023): 43, https://doi.org/10.3311/PPch.20901.

¹⁹ “Gulf Technical Regulation to enhance sustainability of Qatar water resources,” The Peninsula, October 18, 2024, https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/18/10/2024/gulf-technical-regulation-to-enhance-sustainability-of-qatar-water-resources.

²⁰ Shahzada Aly, Jasir Jawad, Husnain Manzoor, Simjo Simson, Jenny Lawler, and Abdel Nasser Mabrouk, “Pilot testing of a novel integrated Multi Effect Distillation-Absorber compressor (MED-AB) technology for high performance seawater desalination,” Desalination 521 (January 2022), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2021.115388.

²¹ “Adsorption Desalination Plant,” Saudipedia, accessed January 19, 2025, https://saudipedia.com/en/article/866/government-and-politics/water-and-agriculture/adsorption-desalination-plant.

²² “About GPID,” Global Prize for Innovation in Water Desalination, accessed January 12, 2025, https://gpid.net/.

²³ Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation (Kahramaa), Qatar National Renewable Energy Strategy, (Doha, Qatar: Kahramaa, August 28, 2024), 13, https://km.qa/RenewableEnergy/Documents/QNRES_Strategy_EN.pdfhttps://km.qa/RenewableEnergy/Documents/QNRES_Strategy_EN.pdf.

²⁴ Kahramaa, Qatar National Renewable Energy Strategy, 21.

²⁵ Ibid.

²⁶ Olivia Bolt, “Hydrogen Energy: Working and Uses,” Energy Theory, March 4, 2024, https://energytheory.com/hydrogen-energy-work/.

²⁷ Du Wen, Po-Chih Kuo, and Muhammad Aziz, “Novel renewable seawater desalination system using hydrogen as energy carrier for self-sustaining community,” Desalination 579 (June 2024): 117475, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2024.117475.

²⁸ Hani Tohme et. al., Green H₂ as new growth pocket for desalination – Once it takes off at scale, Article, (Dubai, UAE: Roland Berger, 2023), 7-10, https://www.rolandberger.com/publications/publication_pdf/Green-H2-as-new-growth-pocket-for-desalination.pdf.

²⁹ Christopher M. Fellows, “What does the seawater desalination industry need from polymer scientists?”, Polymer International 74, no.2 (February 2025), 87-94, https://doi.org/10.1002/pi.6721.

³⁰ Thomas Horseman et. al, “Wetting, Scaling, and Fouling in Membrane Distillation: State-of-the-Art Insights on Fundamental Mechanisms and Mitigation Strategies,” ACS ES&T Engineering 1, no.1 (October 2020), https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346044457_Wetting_Scaling_and_Fouling_in_Membrane_Distillation_State-of-the-Art_Insights_on_Fundamental_Mechanisms_and_Mitigation_Strategies.

³¹ Tomer Erfat, “From Sustainable to Self-Sustained: The Future of Seawater Desalination Merges Sustainability with Profitability,” IDE Technologies, September 5, 2023, https://ide-tech.com/en/blog/from-sustainable-to-self-sustained-the-future-of-seawater-desalination-merges-sustainability-with-profitability/.

³² World Bank, Renewable Energy Desalination: An Emerging Solution to Close the Water Gap in the Middle East and North Africa, (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2012), 81-84, https://www.doi.org/10.1596/978-0-8213-8838-9.

³³ Karthik Kumar, “Green Hydrogen in Asia: A Brief Survey of Existing Programmes and Projects,” Orrick, July 26, 2023, https://www.orrick.com/en/Insights/2023/07/Green-Hydrogen-in-Asia-A-Brief-Survey-of-Existing-Programmes-and-Projects.

³⁴ Shefaa Mansour, Hassan A. Arafat, and Shadi W. Hasan, “Brine Management in Desalination Plants,” in Desalination Sustainability: A Technical, Socioeconomic, and Environmental Approach, wd/ Hassan Arafat (Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier, 2017), 220-221.

³⁵ Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC), Annual Report 2023, (Doha, Qatar: QEWC, March 2024), 14, https://www.qewc.com/qewc/en/download/annual-reports-year-2023/.