TNO and Elemental Water Makers receive prestigious MBR Global Water Awards for desalination

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum honoured 10 winners from eight countries at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award cermony in Dubai, UAE, on 27 April.

Two award winners were from the Netherlands. Elemental Water Makers won the Innovative Projects Award. Research institute TNO won an award in the category institutions.

The award is worth 1 million US dollar and was launched by the sheikh to encourage the worldwide development of innovative and sustainable solutions for clean-water scarcity, using solar power.

 All winners of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award.

Solar powered RO
The first place in the category Innovative Projects Award went to the company Elemental Water Makers from the Netherlands, for a solar-powered Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant to produce drinking water.

The young Dutch start up entered the competition with its plant on the British Virgin Islands. The plant produces 12,500 liters of fresh water each day using only 12 kWp solar energy.

The low energy consumption is possible as the seawater is pressurized by gravity before it is desalinised by the reverse osmosis process.

Founders Reinoud Feenstra (left on top photo) and Sid Vollebregt (right) received the award in Dubai from the initiator of the award Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (middle).

Membrane distillation
The first place in the category Innovative Research and Development Award - International Institutions, went to the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), in cooperation with the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa), for a solar-powered desalination technology based on TNO’s high-efficiency membrane distillation concept.

Desalination using solar energy
The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award is patronised by UAE water aid foundation (Suqia), an initiative to provide water for people world wide.

In his keynote speech, chairman HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer of UAE water aid, noted that the award aims to stimulate finding solutions to water scarcity and the provision of clean water using modern technologies, and purification and desalination of water using solar energy.

“We are committed to achieving one of the key objectives set by the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives foundation, which is to combat poverty and diseases by contributing to finding permanent and sustainable solutions to water scarcity around the world”, the chairman said.

About UAE water aid (Suqia)
Suqia was launched in June 2014 as a campaign by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to provide drinking water to 5 million people around the world. It concluded successfully after collecting AED 180 million in 18 days, enough to complete projects to provide drinking water to the needy around the world.

Suqia works to combat poverty and disease, one of the objectives set by the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives.

 Solar panels of the drinking water plant of Elemental Water Makers on the British Virgin Islands.

About Elemental Water Makers
Elemental Water Makers started five years ago solving fresh water scarcity, using only the elements sea, sun, earth & wind. It responds to the growing importance of sea water desalination driven by renewable energy, embraced by policy makers, developers, managers and property owners.

The company is active on four contingents with desalination projects on the British & US Virgin Islands, Canary Islands, Belize, Cape Verde, and in Mozambique, Indonesia.

About TNO
TNO is a Dutch national research institute on applied science and developed new technologies to enable low cost water desalination.

The institute has built up extensive knowledge of membrane distillation, pertraction and physical separation processes such as extraction, adsorption, crystallisation, advanced oxidation and electrochemical and biochemical treatment.

This news item was originally published on the website of the Government of Dubai.

Read also on this website
● Elemental Water Makers to build solar-driven desalination plant for municipality of Cape Verde, 20 January 2016
● First solar-driven desalination plant by Elemental Water Makers up and running on Virgin Islands, 17 July 2015
● TNO's MemPower wins innovation challenge at Saudi Water & Power forum 2015, 21 January 2015

More information
UAE Water Aid Foundation
c/o Dubai Electricity And Water Authority
www.suqia.ae/en

Elemental Water Makers
Delft, the Netherlands
+31 6 292 94 357
www.elementalwatermakers.com

TNO
Zeist, the Netherlands
+31 88 866 22 58
www.tno.nl/en/watertreatment

Hand out of the award to Elemental Water Makers in Dubai on 27 April.

Technical director and co-founder Reinoud Feenstra of Elemental Water Makers commenting on receiving the MBR award.