OREANDA-NEWS. June 05, 2014. The Aramco Entrepreneurship Center (AEC) and GE Ecomagination have launched an open global technology challenge to improve energy efficiency in seawater desalination.

The USD 200,000 challenge will be awarded to four winners at a prize of USD50,000 each. Part of the agenda of this global contest is to encourage the Kingdom’s entrepreneurs/innovators to propose new efficient low-cost desalination technology solutions that can be readily deployed creating new innovative local businesses.

AEC encourages innovators to submit their proposals to www.ninesights.com/community/ecomagination. The deadline to submit entries is July 16, and winners will be announced in September.

Current desalination techniques are very energy intensive, and Saudi Aramco and GE hope to encourage, identify and promote innovative ideas that can make a big difference. Energy consumption at a desalination plant can account for greater than 50 percent of the plant’s costs. Any effort to increase energy efficiency and to reduce consumption, therefore, is the key to ensuring that the Kingdom receives the most value for its natural resources — value that can be used to develop the Kingdom and its people.

Sami Khursani, acting managing director of AEC, said, “Through this challenge, we hope to inspire local and global innovators to bring their talents to this exciting topic and help drive local manufacturing of efficient desalination plants and empower local entrepreneurs.

“Aramco Entrepreneurship is partnering with GE not only to identify new solutions to lowering desalination costs but also to identify possible attractive new technologies and create new industries in Saudi Arabia,” he said.

Nabil Al-Khowaiter, AEC’s director of special projects, said, “Finding a more efficient method of desalinating seawater will be a game-changer in our collective pursuit of a more sustainable energy future across the globe,” adding that since Saudi Arabia is one of the top users of desalination processes, it can also be a world leader in finding new, more efficient methods and providing these solutions to the world.

“With existing techniques, this increased reliance could contribute dramatically to increased energy use,” he said.

The technology challenge was defined after invited representatives from local universities (such as King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, King Saud University and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals), research institutes (such as King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology) and AEC team members Rashid Khan and Al-Khowaiter met in January 2014 to identify the greatest technical challenge for Saudi Arabia where innovative solutions can create the most positive impact on the Kingdom’s economy. 

The challenge was later endorsed by the HE Abdulrahman Al-Ibrahim, Governor of SWCC, Saudi Arabian Saline Water Conversion Corp. (SWCC). SWCC owns and operates the Kingdom’s desalination plants, which account for 25 percent of the world’s total desalination capacity.

The open innovation challenge strives to identify new innovative solutions to lower total desalination costs and emissions through renewable energy sources, incorporating advanced materials and integrating processes better. Solutions must be innovative, impactful, feasible, and scalable across the globe, keeping in mind that there are many new concepts and patents evolving providing an opportunity to deploy the most innovative solutions in the Kingdom.

The goal of the open innovation is to source the best innovations from around the world.

The solution should address high-priority Kingdom challenges — desalination and clean energy.
Create new business opportunities.

Create opportunity cost saving — 1.5 million bbl per day.

Enhance the Aramco Entrepreneurship Center’s global image and exposure to the best enterpreneurs around the globe on this key topic.