Innovation in applications and operations
- Advancements in pre- and post-treatment
- Desalination for agriculture, food, beverage, medicine
- Industrial wastewater treatment
- Lessons learned, safety
- O&M, troubleshooting
- Mega projects and plants
- Stand-alone off-grid systems
- Regional case study experiences
- Novel pre-treatment solutions-practical examples
Advanced techniques and processes
- Dynamic RO processes (Batch/Semi-batch/CCRO/RF-RO)
- High recovery processes and high energy efficiencies
- Ultra-high pressure processes
- Electrochemical processes ((F)CDI, ED, etc.)
- Osmotically driven processes (FO, PRO)
- Osmotically assisted processes (OARO, LSRRO, etc.)
- Advancements in thermal processes
- New desalination techniques
- Salinity gradient power
Resource recovery and reuse
- Circular water economy (water reuse)
- Innovative process concepts (ZLD, MLD)
- Brine valorization and mining
- Brine concentration
- Recycling of the end-of-life membranes
- Advanced wastewater treatment for reuse
- Direct/indirect potable reuse
Membrane development and fabrication
- Preparation of inorganic, organic and mixed-matrix membranes
- Advanced membranes and surface modifications
- Novel fabrication methods
- Membranes characterization
- Low-cost ceramic membranes
Modelling and simulation in desalination processes
- Mass transfer and transport through membranes
- Heat and mass transfer and process intensification in thermal desalination
Fouling, scaling and mitigation strategies
- Antifouling membrane/heat exchanger surface modifications
- Cleaning strategies
- Monitoring and characterization of fouling
Environmental impact and ecosystem protection
- PFAS, pollutants, microplastics etc.
- Water quality monitoring
- Brine disposal management
- Water positive/resilience
- Chemical-free pretreatment
- Environmental monitoring
- Lifecycle assessment and environmental footprint
Climate change adaptation and resilience
- Designing desalination systems to cope with climate change (extreme weather conditions, sea level rise, etc.)
- Enhancing water security in drought-prone regions
- Emergency and decentralized desalination systems (off-grid, mobile units, etc.)
Policy and regulatory frameworks
- Regulatory frameworks for desalination and water reuse
- Integration of desalination in national water strategies
- Public perception, community engagement
Digitalization and smart desalination
- Machine learning, use of AI
- Digital twins
- Big data
- Smart infrastructures
Sustainability and energy
- Desalination and net zero
- Desalination for green hydrogen production
- Desalination for emerging technologies (Data centers)
- Decarbonization in desalination/carbon footprint
- Desalination using renewable energy
- Co-generation
- Energy efficiency
- Energy recovery systems
