A biofuel research facility in Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), is tackling the dual challenges of food and water security, while simultaneously providing a sustainable source of aviation fuel.
CH2M, along with its clients, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (Masdar Institute) and the Sustainable Bioenergy Research Consortium (SBRC), are working together with industry, academia, and government on the world’s first research facility using desert lands irrigated by seawater to produce both bioenergy for aviation, as well as raise farmed fish and shrimp for food.
CH2M is providing engineering design and construction oversight of this sophisticated research facility. This innovative project uses seawater to raise fish and shrimp for food, whose nutrient-rich wastewater then fertilizes plants rich in oils that can be harvested for aviation biofuel production. The plants are salt-tolerant halophytes that thrive in arid, desert conditions, such as those common in the UAE. The wastewater is diverted into a cultivated mangrove forest, further removing nutrients and providing valuable carbon storage, before the naturally-filtered and treated effluent is discharged back into the sea.
“We are very proud to be involved in such an innovative and groundbreaking project,” said CH2M’s Global Water Business Group President Peter Nicol. “We have drawn on the knowledge and expertise of our global technology leaders in the fields of agri-engineering and science to design the complex elements of this project. We look forward to its successful operation and the scalability of the system being realized.”