4. Desalinated water production
In order to meet both the qualitative and
1–1.5 US$/m 3. The total annual desalination
capacity of the GCC countries at present (2002)
is about 2,850 MCM as shown in Table 7. Many
types of desalination processes are used such as
MSF, RO, PV, and others. MSF uses seawater and
dominates the desalination market by more than
74%. RO is sued mainly for brackish groundwater
treatment. A growing trend is toward the applica-
tion of RO in the desalting of seawater due to the
advanced development in membrane technology.
Limited numbers of MED plants are used as
shown in Fig. 2.