Investigation on the Effect of Nano-Photo Catalysis Using Solar Energy as a Pre-Treatment for Reverse Osmosis Desalination Process

Sultanate of Oman is experiencing rapid increase in water demand due industrialization and population growth. Desalination contributes nearly 35-40% of water demand in Sultanate and almost all desalination plants are based on conventional energy sources. Due its abundance availability throughout the year in Sultanate of Oman use of solar energy in desalination is a right choice. The efficiency of solar photocatalysis for the treatment of pollutants present in saline water was investigated. Zinc oxide (ZnO),Nano photocatalyst in the presence of polyamide (PA) were used under direct sunlight in batch process. The degradation of pollutants present in saline water was evaluated through various parameters, total organic carbon (TOC), dissolved oxygen (DO), totaldissolved solids (TDS), pH, and salinity.