Solar Desalination

A mobile water desalination plant powered by thermal energy will be inaugurated in Marsa Matrouh governorate Friday. The plant comes as part of the State's efforts to utilize scientific research in addressing problems in society.

The plant will provide needed drinking water to desert areas suffering from water shortage, a move that will create new urban societies to Bedouins and achieve sustainable development.

Agriculture Minister Ayman Farid Abu Hadid, Head of Misr el-Khair Foundation Ali Gumaa, and Marsa Matrouh Governor Badr Tantawi will inaugurate the plant.

The giant solar receiver installed on a wheat field here in California’s agricultural heartland slowly rotates to track the sun and capture its energy. The 377-foot array, however, does not generate electricity but instead creates heat used to desalinate water.

It is part of a project developed by a San Francisco area start-up called WaterFX that is tapping an abundant, if contaminated, resource in this parched region: the billions of gallons of water that lie just below the surface.

Water composes half to four-fifths of you, depending on how much body fat you have. It makes up about 85 percent of your brain, 80 percent of your blood, and 70 percent of your lean muscle. The human body, like all living organisms, survives by means of an ongoing flow of energy. You are an engine, and water is your fuel, coolant, and lubricant. Water keeps you running," states Suzanne Winckler in the UC Davis publication Groundwater.