Adsorption processes for Martil seawater desalination, Morocco

Abstract

Morocco is facing a growing scarcity of freshwater resources driven by several factors such as climate change, population growth and traditional water use, among others. For these reasons, desalination is emerging as a strategic and sustainable alternative to drinking water demands. The aim of this work is to evaluate the potential use of Moroccan materials: natural clays (in raw and modified forms) and biomass (hydrochar and biochar) as a low-cost adsorbent for the desalination of Martil seawater (northern Morocco). On the first part of our investigation, we studied the influence of the nature ofthe choosen adsorbents on desalination capacity. On the second part, we evaluated the effect of the adsorbents dosage (mass from 1g to 3g) on the salinity of 100ml of Martil's seawater, under the same conditions. The results showed that salt removal varied from 0,0065 (g/l) to 0,0390 (g/l) accordingly to the nature of adsorbent. The maximum salt adsorption capacity obtained was observed from the thermally modified clay, being the most effective among the studied materials. On the other hand, the desalination effectiveness of the studied materials wasn't significantly influenced by the adsorbent dosage. Consequently, research confirms that there was no mass effect of these adsorbants and the dosage of 1g was suitable. Based on the results obtained from this study, it appears that thermally modified clay showed good performance as an adsorbent, and seems to be promising to improve seawater desalination in the future. Nevertheless, we suggest that additional research should be conducted to carry out studies such as the optimization of adsorbent materials, the combinaison of adsorption with other technologies, or the exploration of other biomasses to produce more efficient and regenerable adsorbents. This work is currently in progress.