Come up with more efficient water desalination methods for Saudi Arabia- and win a prize!
 

Here's how you can help increase the number of future muslim jihadists
intent on destroying western civilization by insuring they have enough
water to grow future generations of themselves:

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NineSigma, representing the General Electric Company and Saudi Aramco
Entrepreneurship Center, seeks to significantly lower the cost of
seawater desalination using innovative renewable energy processes or new
materials.

Successful technologies must:

Exceed current desalination benchmarks:
Cost = $0.50/m3

Meet WHO standards for potable water (250-500 ppm NaCl)
Be implementable and economically viable in arid regions.

Processes or materials with supporting data are preferred, but there is
also a strong interest in highly innovative conceptual approaches.

Respondents must validate their cost projections by using the rubric
provided here and in the Response Template. Cost reduction, technical
feasibility, and ease of implementation will be considered in award
determinations.

BACKGROUND

Global freshwater and groundwater resources are being depleted at an
alarming rate all around the world. Freshwater scarcity, demographic
changes, and industrialization are driving an urgent need to increase
the global, sustainable supply of freshwater resources.

Over the coming decades, investments in water projects are forecasted to
be $50 billion in Saudi Arabia and $300 billion globally. Water
production will contribute significantly to increased energy use.
Current desalination techniques are typically very energy intensive:
energy consumption can account for up to 70% of the desalination costs.

The goal of this quest is to identify novel ways to lower desalination
costs. These approaches might include development of new advanced
materials, innovative uses of renewable energy, and/or integrating
desalination with processes like mineral recovery.

ABOUT THIS QUEST

Participants in this competition vie for up to four US$50,000 cash
prizes and may have the opportunity to collaborate with GE and/or Saudi
Aramco Entrepreneurship Center to develop proposed solutions.

Participants must complete the proposal template and submit it by July
16, 2014. The completed document will serve as an introduction to the
respondent’s technology and expertise, and should provide compelling
evidence that the respondent has the capability to develop and
demonstrate the proposed technology. Up to 4 of the most promising
respondents will each receive a US$50,000 cash prize.

The schematic below represents the elements that should go into
validating cost projections. If a conceptual approach is proposed,
please provide some rationale for the numbers used in the calculations.

Please make the following assumptions in your cost calculations:

Pretreatment and brine disposal is “free.”

Energy inputs from external sources into the process should be
valued at US$0.15/kWh.

If net energy is generated by the process, it may be credited
against overall process costs at US$0.15/kWh.

Valuable minerals recovered from the process should be priced
at international prices, and that value may be subtracted
from the overall process costs.


http://www.eip-water.eu/re-desalinat...d-saudi-aramco