Potential application of nanotechnology in water production systems

Abstract

Nanotechnology covers a broad range of applications making it as the most important technology of the 21st century. Its significant application in water is of special interest to Arab countries due to water challenge problem in these arid areas. The application of novel technologies like nanomaterials or 'nanomembranes' can reduce effectively the water production cost and help in reducing certain operational problems like fouling and scale. Moreover, nanotechnology can be utilised to increase water resources of the Kingdom. In the present paper, the potential applications of nanotechnology in water production systems like nanofiltration for water treatment, water desalination as pretreatment, its hybridisation with reverse osmosis membranes or multistage flash process (MSF), its extensive use in detoxification of harmful polluted water, nanosensors for contaminants detection in water and novel magnetic nanoparticles for water desalination are critically reviewed and discussed. The Kingdom's experience of nanotechnology in MSF desalination plants will be emphasised.