Training session #1

We ended the week with our first training session for Honduras farmers. When we first started out, we envisioned training "traditional" farmers, or farmers that grow things on the ground. UPi found a few shrimp farmers that use seawater that were interested in learning about desalination, so they were added to the mix. I think the training went fairly well, especially since I don't really speak Spanish, and Clara and I are both getting over a nasty cold.

I do need to say how happy I am to work with wonderful and strong women. This project started with Evelyn Rios, then transitioned to Clara Borrego after Evelyn got a job (I'll put a picture below that we made to show the transition between the two engineers). I am so glad to have gotten to know both of these women.

Evelyn (left) and Clara (right) showing off our equipment in El Paso, Texas. This shows the fun personalities that they both have.

I want to brag a little bit about Clara. She joined our team in March when we found out our Eveylyn Rios had to move for a great job in Dallas. I sat with Clara and told her that it would be grueling and frustrating at times, but that it would be a fun adventure. She accepted the challenge. Both Clara and Evelyn worked together to help me get our system designed, built, and operating. It has truly been my pleasure to work with her. Of course she's talented (she is a UTEP graduate, after all!), but she brings kindness, a willingness to work (very) hard, and a personality that makes everyone happy. She has learned ZDD quickly and since she speaks Spanish, there is no breakdown in communication.

Clara Borrego, explaining the ZDD process in Honduras (picture credit: Victoria Amador)

We held our first training session at UPi's building. Our day of training included a morning session where we discussed water quality, desalination, and our pilot system. The farmers were all from the southern part of Honduras and their products include watermelons, cantaloupe, corn, shrimp, and tilapia. Each of the farmers indicated they use different water sources (rain, fresh well water, seawater) and a few had knowledge of desalination.

This is a fun picture showing the UTEP and UPi women (photo credit: Clara Borrego)

Classroom Training - First Group of Farmers (photo credit: Victoria Amador)

Group Picture with UPi Chancellor Funes, Ing. Luis Eveline, UPi students, and UTEP (photo credit: UPi)

After the classroom portion, we provided certificates and took a group picture, then enjoyed a nice lunch from the UPi cafeteria. After lunch, we made our way to the pilot site and showed the equipment. We started up the system so that everyone could see it in operation and ask questions. It was a hot afternoon, but I think it was a great visit.

Describing how we achieve high recovery using electrodialysis metathesis (photo credit: Victoria Almador)

Clara showing how our enhanced evaporation system will be built
(also - check out how our UTEP logo is framed! GO MINERS!)

And one last thing. Clara thought it would be fun to show how I look when I blog in our apartment. I think it's a funny picture. Yes, I was in my pajamas today. Don't judge me.

Water + Power = DESALINATION

I realize it's been nearly a week since I last posted something. Our UTEP team has been a bit under the weather, and we have had some equipment challenges, but I am happy to say that we have (briefly) desalinated brackish groundwater in Honduras! I want to take time to post a bit about our technology, our week, and what we hope to accomplish during our brief stay in Tegucigalpa.

So, what is our technology? It is called Zero Discharge Desalination (ZDD), and it was invented by Dr. Tom Davis (a member of our team) after being inspired by learning about the challenges facing Alamogordo, New Mexico, in their desire to design a desalination plant. Alamogordo's water quality is very challenging from a desalination standpoint because it has many dissolved constituents which cannot be concentrated very high without causing problems in the membranes. The "Los Almendros" brackish water source we are using in Tegucigalpa has similar characteristics: high calcium and sulfate (dissolved gypsum) and silica (think sandy beaches). It also has an additional bonus challenge: it has arsenic. ZDD is unlike other desalination technologies in that it removes the troublesome species instead of concentrating them and is able to produce useful solid and liquid byproducts.

How does it work? ZDD is a hybrid membrane process that combines two types of membrane technologies. The first process utilizes pressure to push water molecules through semi-permeable reverse osmosis and nanofiltration (I'll call this RO/NF) membranes to produce water that can be used for irrigation. Since there is arsenic in the water, we use a smaller reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration system to treat the RO/NF product and produce water that would be suitable for drinking water. If this system were to be used without further treatment, it would be limited to 75-80% efficiency. However, in ZDD, the RO/NF brine stream (called concentrate) is fed to a second system called electrodialysis metathesis (EDM). The EDM acts like a kidney, in that it removes troublesome salts from the concentrate. The EDM's desalinated product (called diluate) is returned to the front of the RO/NF to recover additional water. The combination of RO/NF and EDM is capable of achieving up to 98% efficiency. The remaining EDM streams can be combined to recover solid gypsum, which is useful for agriculture, and salt, which is needed in the ZDD process. The combination of ZDD with salt recovery will allow us to achieve zero liquid discharge - all while using power from the sun!

Where has it been tested? ZDD has been tested by UTEP and other researchers in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, California, and Florida. It is a niche technology that excels in desalinating brackish groundwater with high levels of hardness ions (calcium, magnesium) and sulfate.

Our goals in our demonstration project are to:

• Demonstrate that high efficiency and zero liquid discharge are possible using ZDD powered by renewable energy
• Transfer knowledge to our partners at UPi
• Provide training for Honduras farmers about water quality and desalination technology (including ZDD, of course!)
• Assess commercial potential for ZDD in Honduras

That's a lot to accomplish in two months, but we are a hard working and determined group of folks with a common purpose.

So, what have we been up to? I love pictures, I hope that you do too.

The first step in starting any pilot system, especially after an overseas journey, is to fill each system and check for leaks and loose connections. Our system was built by two skillful men (believe me, if I had remembered to get their permission, their names would be posted!) at Industrial Water Services in El Paso, Texas, who worked with us to have a system that would build upon our years of pilot testing AND be repairable if something got damaged during shipment. Of course, when you plan for things to break, Murphy's Law states tat nothing breaks. In actuality, we only had one cracked fitting and two loose fittings - this is pretty amazing. IWS has supported our research efforts at UTEP and have even been available for assistance while we are in Honduras.

After the leak tests, we started building our EDM stack. This involves placing membranes and spacer materials in a specific order and making sure that they are aligned so that the stack performs optimally. We built the stack in the garden of our apartment (lovely location!) and it took a few tries since we had some new pieces that seemed to be causing leaks.

EDM Stack building. We have four different types of membranes and spacers that are placed in between each membrane in a specific order.

Our completed EDM stack in our apartment garden. I'm a kid from the desert, so the plants and trees here are especially lovely.

Third time's a charm? I didn't want to share that we had to rebuild the stack a few times, but it is reality that we make mistakes or have to make adjustments in the field sometimes. (photo credit to Victoria Amador, check out her post here)

EDM System in operation!

Finally, we turned on all systems and checked to see if alarm setpoints and shutdowns are working and to get a preliminary glimpse at the water quality produced. So far, we making good quality water from a salinity standpoint. Water quality analyses are needed to determine whether our design calculations were accurate. Based on our preliminary test run, we expect to be able to meet the water quality targets set by the Desal Prize and USAID. 

The main irrigation water quality goals:

• Total dissolved solids (measure of salinity) of less than 550 ppm (parts per million)
• Sodium Absorption Ratio (measures the relative amounts of calcium and magnesium relative to sodium; important for irrigation) less than 3

The main drinking water quality goals:

• Total dissolved solids less than 600 ppm
• Arsenic less than 10 ppb (parts per billion)

And one final accomplishment, thanks to UPi. We have stairs! We had been using ladders to get in and out of the container until this week. We even got Ingeniero Luis Eveline involved (he sanded the handrails!). Entering and exiting our container is much easier now. Just in time for training sessions! One thing that I really like about these stairs is that they are built with used wood. I'm always a fan of recycling and upcycling, so this is a great example of that in practice.

Clara Borrego & Victor Zepeda showing off our new stairs (and cooling off in the process)

WE HAVE WATER!

I have been absent in blogging for a few days because I was a bit tired and I also wanted to have a more complete post. The SANAA (Servicio Autónomo Nacional de Acueductos y Alcantariallados) workers have finished installing the necessary controls to control the brackish well operation and storage tank as well as the transfer pump which brings water to our container just up the street. In short, we have water to our pilot container now - this is great news! 

"Los Almendros" well and the tank/pump used for the pilot.
Everything is located in a little park with a monument to commemorate a resting spot that inspired villagers in the early 1900s (I haven't found a link in English yet, but here's one in Spanish)

So, what have we been doing for the last several days? Quite a bit, actually. While we were waiting for the pipeline to be finished, we started constructing our salt recovery/enhanced evaporation system. This was an interesting endeavor, because we were using a combination of power tools (powered by renewable energy, of course!) and manual tools. For some fun pictures and the prospective of students, I invite you to check out the UPi students' blog. Their maquinas vs machete post is one of my favorites. We forgot a few fittings and needed some longer hoses than what we had brought, so we got to go shopping in the local hardware stores (ferreterías, in Spanish). This was a bit of an adventure, because each ferretería has different supplies available and driving in Tegucigalpa is disorienting and a bit crazy. Thankfully UPi has provided an excellent driver and tour guide. Mr. Rusbel is wonderful.

Solar salt recovery & enhanced evaporation system. (photo credit: Victoria Amador)
(those from the desert southwest might recognize these as evaporative media panels)

Typical intersection in Tegucigalpa (pedestrians, and motor cycles, and vehicles, OH MY!

(Sun) Power Tools

An unexpected project has been fighting leaks in the roof of our container. As mentioned before, our container was damaged during shipment. While we are waiting for quotes to repair the container we need to have some protection from the rain. We had some leftover panchos from the Desal Prize and have put them to use as tarps. These, plus lots of silicone and duct tape mean things are drying out.

Creative leak mitigation (left) and battery hydrogen venting (right)

Yesterday (23 July), we were able to turn on the desalination system and begin the process of checking for leaks. Anytime a system like this is transported, some leaks related to cracked or loose fittings are expected. Amazingly, we have only located one cracked fitting and two loose fittings. All were fixed and we ran the system for about an hour to get a preliminary impression of how the water quality compares to what we had estimated using modeling software. We are making great water from a salinity perspective! Next week we will operate the system to produce data for a report required by USAID and will also have the first of three training sessions with regional farmers. 

Stay tuned...

Flow test of brackish water pump and pipeline. I made a video on 22 July, but I had my phone in the vertical position on accident so I didn't post it. (photo credit: Clara Borrego)

Getting Close...

Yesterday we got even closer to starting up the pilot. Today, engineers and workers from SANAA (Servicio Autónomo Nacional de Acueductos y Alcantarillados) tested the brackish water source well and UPi workers installed a pipeline that will connect the well to the pilot. We were able to turn on the power and the array produced about 7 kW at the peak. The PV system has charge controllers that act as a traffic director, in that it sends energy to the batteries, the load (demand), or dissipates excess energy as heat. We had very little load (demand) on the array, so the batteries were charged quickly.

We began to construct our salt recovery and enhanced evaporation system while the brackish water piping was being installed. We realized that a few parts were forgotten in the US, so a trip to the local hardware stores was required.

Our day concluded with a lovely dinner with our UPi partners at a local seafood restaurant called Tony's Mar. It was nice to not cook and do dishes for an evening. Ing. Luis Eveline and Chancellor Jance Carolina Funes are kind and warm people and I am glad to know and work with them.

Installation of the pipeline.

The brackish well is towards the right in this picture. The pipeline was hung between poles and over the small street. This allows us to not have to dig up the street and impeded (already crowded) traffic in Tegucigalpa. I made a short video showing the pipeline as well. My apologies if you get dizzy watching it!

Measuring distances.

I always love it when I can capture ingenuity. We needed to measure the distance from our two brine lines to the location where we will extract salts and evaporate the remaining water. However, we only had one ladder at the time. So, we used a piece of PVC pipe and a marker. The pictures show Clara using a smaller piece of more rigid PVC pipe to hold the other one and also handing Ian a marker. 

 

Evaporation Area.

The final piece of our process involves the recovery of useful salts (gypsum and NaCl). We are using a tarp to minimize rainwater flowing into our containers because we have a limited amount of evaporators. Today, my husband (Ian) installed the tarp using his climbing and outdoor adventure experience for knot tying. In the top picture, the window on the left is where the waste streams will enter from the pilot system. The property that we are using used to have a nightclub in this spot (or, so I have heard). In case this tarp blows away (or leaks too much), we purchased a new tarp at the local stores.

Minimizing Leaks. Our container has been used for many things in its 20 year lifetime. So, sealing patches is regular maintenance. We had some very slight drips from some of the bolts and edges in this area. (Thanks for the picture, Victoria)

RAIN, and Progress on the desalination system

This will be a brief post. But, I will include some pictures because I like to include them.

The rain has hampered some of our progress, but we managed to unpack and reconnect most of the internal desalination piping inside the container today. We also secured the wiring connections for the PV system that were on the ground to protect them from rain water. UPi is building a platform and ramp so that we will be able to access the container more easily. And, finally, we were able to install what I hope will be a good temporary fix to the roof damage on the container.

Hello from the roof! (thanks to Victoria for the picture)
My husband, Ian, and I were on the roof to install a temporary patch on the roof between rain storms

Replacing PVC Piping. (thanks to Victoria & Clara for the pictures)
For shipment, we removed all piping from the front frame in case something tipped and fell onto the frame (good choice, in hindsight!). To replace, we remove old Teflon tape, add new tape, and reinstall. My feet were tired at the end so I sat down.

  

Finished Desalination Piping (more on the actual system in a future post).

I took this picture while on the roof of the container. Between rainstorms, our team took the time to get electrical connections off of the ground. (pooling water is not something we have experienced in the desert southwest in the USA)

The beginnings of our platform/ramp (we currently use ladders/step ladders to enter the container).

At the end of the day we enjoy talking and hanging out.

The PV array is assembled!

Today was a very productive day! Our photovoltaic (PV) system is fully assembled and we will be able to have power tomorrow (as soon as we install a temporary patch on our roof from the shipping damage). We started with three UTEP workers and we grew to a total of nine after our UPi partners arrived. Having strong backs is a good thing when you are unloading and placing 40-pound solar panels and 25-pound bricks!

I made a (somewhat cheesy-I'm an engineer, not a producer...) video for you to visualize the steps involved in building the array. The first bit we did yesterday (placed the bays and a single block). Today, we placed the wires close to where the connections would be on the array. Next, we unloaded the panels from the container and then placed them on the bays. We did this one panel at a time so that we could make the electrical connection at that time to minimize crawling on the ground. Next, the bolts are tightened to secure the panels to the bays. The final step is to place the remaining blocks on the bays to secure them for wind and other disturbances. A serious downpour occurred today when we had three panels remaining, so we took cover inside the container. Here's a video for you to see the steps.

I should tell you a bit about our PV sytem. It was designed and installed (with UTEP student help) by Solar Smart Living, LLC. Solar Smart Living designs and installs residential and commercial PV systems and they have worked with us since the Desal Prize last year. Javier Perea and Larry Perea have helped us out with the renewable energy learning curve. This is the first PV system our team has worked with and there are many things to learn in the design, installation, and operation. The PV system includes 39 panels (originally 42 - before the broken panels) and can produce up to 9.75 kW at peak conditions (down from 10.5 kW). The panels feed a set of breakers, then a set of charge controllers, which allow power to flow to our desalination system and/or the batteries. An inverter is used to convert DC power produced by the panels into AC power, which is used by the desalination system. In addition, some of the pumps used by our desalination system are fed directly from the batteries since they have DC motors (more on this in a later post). Our load is around 2-2.5 kW, depending on whether we have lights on and also depends on which pumps are on at the time.

I'll conclude today's post with a group picture. It was a long and very productive day. Thanks to all that helped us get to where we are today! Tomorrow we will start the installation of piping and equipment connections.

Our team at the end of the day. Picks up! Go MINERS!

Building the array, Day 1 (a.k.a. hard work in the heat)

I want to share a picture of Tegucigalpa. Yesterday we took a day off to do some sightseeing and we were able to go to the top of one of the surrounding peaks, El Picacho. From there you can see Tegucigalpa and Comayaguela, two separate cities that have grown into a single metroplex of sorts over time. The cities are separated by a river (Rio Grande O Choluteca, according to Google maps, but I heard Rio Bravo when we were discussing it...). What a view!

View of Tegucigalpa from Parque Nacional El Picacho

Today we performed the first few steps in building our array. This involved installing the wiring and placing the supports for the 38 photovoltaic panels. Thankfully, our UPi partners were available to help, so we got a lot accomplished. I will include a picture below, and it may not seem like much. However, the work involves placing 50 aluminum bays, lifting and placing many (90, to be exact) 25-pound bricks, connecting  40 wires to the PV panel breakers, 20 wires to each of the 24-volt batteries and associated buses (these are what connect to the DC-AC inverter). The electrical work involves being inside an unconditioned room for hours at a time - it gets pretty hot! Tomorrow we will do some heavy lifting. We'll unload 38 (40-pound) solar panels from the container, then will secure them to the bays. Then, we will place the remaining 25-pound bricks on the bays to fully secure them.

Here's a picture showing most of the bays and some of the bricks. These two UPi students, Victor and Victoria, volunteered their time today and I am very grateful they were willing to delay their studying for their finals to help out. ¡Buena suerte mañana!

Setting up the Solar panel supports

 We wanted to post a fun picture of the team today. This is the best of the ones I took. It's great to have a fun and social team.

UTEP - UPi team

Today was a little sad

Today we finally got to get to our site and get into the container. There was good news and bad news...which should I write about first? 

Let's start with some good news. And, some pictures of the pilot site! Most of the equipment survived the journey from El Paso. We loaded  many items that were secured to the floor of the container and desalination frame. All of the desalination equipment arrived without damage (YAY!). Here are a few pictures of the site. My colleague, Clara Borrego, and my husband, Ian, are in some of the pictures as well.

Pilot site and UTEP equipment.
It's hard to tell, but the area to the left of the trailer is quite large. This is where the solar PV panels will be located.

We had a little fun opening the container today. A modified bolt and nut were used to secure the rear doors during shipment/storage. We needed to open the doors to get light and to let the system air out (more on this later...) and so we had to get creative. And use some tools in a non standard way. In addition to being smart, Clara is fearless and is the stronger one between the two of us. While I and my husband were moving things around inside the container, she broke the bolt off. What a champ! Here she is with the pieces left after her skills and strength.

After working at the site, we got to eat some food and then go get some needed supplies for our apartment (thank you, UPi!). It is funny how you think you have planned for everything but can still forget to bring things. We got to experience Wal-Mart and driving through Tegucigalpa during Friday early evening rush hour. It was crazy! We have a local driver from UPi that is very calm and professional. I am grateful for that - I'm not used to driving in a big city, much less navigate one with steep hills!

Now, for the bad news...When we opened the container, it was obvious that one of the stacks of PV panels had tipped over sometime during shipment. We thought that we had secured everything very well, but apparently, we missed something. Thankfully, we only lost three out of 42 panels. This will require a minor adjustment to our wiring and is not expected to cause any operational problems.  And another bad piece. Our container was damaged at some point during shipment. This means that we will need to repair it prior to shipping it back to El Paso. Here are some pictures, in case you're curious.

Our container, partially unloaded. (broken panels in the foreground)

One of the broken panels (insert sad face here)

We got to see a fair amount of the city today. There is some interesting street art, churches, and buildings. I will keep collecting these and will do a separate post later.

Tomorrow we may start building the solar array and installing wiring. After we check out a local coffee place!

On our way to Tegucigalpa

Short post to update...

The day is here! We are sitting in a plane it Atlanta and the anticipation is crazy. After all of the planning and preparation, it feels great to be leaving. Our equipment has been delivered and we look forward to getting started.

Almost There!

Holy Smokes!

Our container has arrived to Puerto Cortes, in the northern part of Honduras. It was quite the journey to get there and I think our container has had an interesting journey. It took nearly a month to find a company that was willing to take on the shipment of a used container without the required certifications. I'm glad that Google exists - that's how I found the company.

In early June, we spent about a week packing and securing everything inside the container. Our research group at the UTEP Center for Inland Desalination Systems are troopers and I am grateful for their help. During packing, we got to use spray paint, stickers, and a Sharpie to put identifying marks required for transport. (I'll put some pictures below.) After we had removed everything from the exterior of the container and placed new labels on the four sides of the container, it had to be inspected for seaworthiness (whew! it passed). The container was loaded onto a chassis on July 15 and was transported to a rail terminal in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. The chassis and container were loaded onto a train and off they went to Houston, Texas. The container spent some time in Houston and was loaded onto a shipping container. The first part of the journey took the container to the Bahamas (WHAT!), where it was loaded onto another shipping container. The container arrived to Puerto Cortes on July 5 and we are waiting for customs clearance before it is shipped to the pilot site in Tegucigalpa. Our UTEP team will depart next week and the fun will begin!

Truck - Train - Ship - Ship - Truck

Big equipment is always fun to watch in operation. Permian Machinery Movers does an amazing job of loading/unloading our equipment. This is the biggest forklift I have personally seen.

Loading the container 

All Loaded Up & Ready to Go!

Support from USAID

This blog is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. 

I wanted to take time to acknowledge our sponsor for our project. We are grateful to have been given the opportunity to work in Honduras and demonstrate a HIGH RECOVERY and ZERO LIQUID DISCHARGE desalination process to farmers. 

I was part of a team that competed and received 2nd place in the Desal Prize last April. This allowed us to submit a proposal to the Securing Water For Food (SWFF) program. We (UTEP and UPi) received grants to bring our technology to Honduras to demonstrate the potential and train farmers.