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Solar desalination for sustainable brackish water management in arid land agriculture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2013

Andrea Ghermandi ,
Rami Messalem ,
Rivka Offenbach  and
Shabtai Cohen
Andrea Ghermandi*
Affiliation:
Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Desalination and Water Treatment, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel Graduate School of Management, Natural Resources and Environmental Management, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel
Rami Messalem
Affiliation:
Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Desalination and Water Treatment, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
Rivka Offenbach
Affiliation:
Central and Northern Arava Research and Development, M.P. Arava, Sapir, Israel
Shabtai Cohen
Affiliation:
Central and Northern Arava Research and Development, M.P. Arava, Sapir, Israel
*
*Corresponding author: aghermand@univ.haifa.ac.il
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Abstract

An agricultural facility aimed at sustainable production of crops in arid environments was built and tested in Hatzeva, Israel. The facility relies on solar-powered desalination with nanofiltration membranes to treat the local brackish water (EC=2.32 dS m−1) and produce high-quality irrigation water (EC=0.71 dS m−1). Red beet, a salt-tolerant crop, was grown with the concentrate stream (EC=4.73 dS m−1), eliminating the need for concentrate disposal and with potential net economic benefits. Agricultural experiments with variable irrigation water quality, application rate, and four staple crops (potato, maize, millet and sorghum) were conducted over two growing seasons between September 2010 and June 2011. The desalination plant operated at low pressure (4.3 bar) and energy consumption (1.37 kWh m−3) and with little maintenance over the entire study period. The results of the agricultural experiments consistently showed that irrigation with desalinated water promoted more efficient use of resources such as water and inorganic fertilizers. A reduction of 25% in the irrigation rate and use of fertilizers compared with best-practice guidelines was achieved with desalinated water, with no detectable detrimental effect on the marketable yield. On the contrary, a statistically significant yield increase was observed for sorghum (+10%). An increase in water productivity with desalinated water was observed for all four staple crops.

Keywords

arid agriculturebrackish water agriculturedesalinationnanofiltration membranesrenewable energy
Type
Preliminary Report
Information
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems , Volume 29 , Issue 3: Special Section: Themed Content: Integrated Crop-Livestock Systems , September 2014 , pp. 255 - 264
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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