Prof. Bader Shafaga Al-Anzi receives a Registered Patent from the United States of America
Represented by OVPR’s Patents and Intellectual Property Office, Kuwait University has recently registered a patent at the United States Patent and Trademark Office with the efforts of Prof. Bader Shafaga Al-Anzi - Department of Environmental Technology at the Faculty of Life Sciences.
Prof. Yousef Al-Roumi, Kuwait University's President, said that Kuwait University is proud to have elite researchers like Prof. Bader Al-Anzi who was able to invent a system that can contribute to improving Kuwait’s environment and achieving Kuwait’s 2035 Vision and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The registered patent can also assist in upgrading Kuwait University’s classification in the QS World University Rankings. In continuation of its policy of advancing scientific research, Kuwait University is intensifying its efforts in supporting researchers to pursue high quality research that generates distinguished outputs.
Dr. Haneen Al-Ghabra, Assistant Vice President for External Research Collaboration & Consultation, said that Prof. Al-Anzi’s invention effectively enhances Kuwait’s marine environment and addresses water pollution challenges. She further indicated that the Research Sector is continuously encouraging researchers to engage in advanced and innovative research, yielding scientific inventions of potential benefit to the State of Kuwait.
The significance of this patent lies in discovering a hybrid-energy and zero-pollution water desalination system as a completely integrated system for desalinating seawater and treating the rejected brine from desalination plants to produce diluted, low saline water then return it back to the sea or use it in other applications or in green energy production. The system is based on linking scientifically controlled multi techniques.
Prof. Bader Al-Anzi said that with the world’s population continuously increasing, fresh water sources are polluted and therefore water scarcity and access to fresh water have become a global concern. Moreover, despite all the water that exists on earth, most of it is saltwater that is not suitable for human consumption or irrigation purposes. In order to overcome this problem faced by most countries around the world, a system of water desalination techniques is used to increase water resources and balance between supply and demand. However, desalination plants produce large amounts of unwanted solution/water discharged to the sea on a daily basis.
Prof. Bader Al-Anzi further mentioned that this solution is a high-salinity brine that negatively affects marine life in nearby coastal areas. The low dissolved oxygen (lack of Oxygenation) is one of the threats posed by the continuous discharge of brine into seawater.