Category Archives: Industry

From E-Waste to Circular Commerce: How Sustainable Omnichannel Fulfillment Is Reshaping Electronics in the MENA Region

By | | , ,
Leave a comment

In 2025, e-commerce across the Middle East and North Africa generated an estimated US$88.1 billion in revenue, with electronics accounting for roughly a third of that total, according to ECDB. Every phone, laptop, tablet, and smart device sold represents not just a transaction but the beginning of a waste lifecycle. The question facing the region isn’t whether electronics consumption will keep growing. It will. The real question is whether the infrastructure to handle what happens after the sale can keep pace. For years, e-waste discussions in MENA have focused on recycling centres and consumer awareness campaigns. Those matter. But an … Continue reading →

The Role of Dissolved Gases and Ionic Composition in Reverse Osmosis Desalination

By | | ,
Leave a comment

As global water stress intensifies, seawater desalination has become one of the cornerstones of water security in arid and semi-arid regions. From the Gulf countries to the Mediterranean basin, Australia, and parts of North America, desalination plants now produce tens of millions of cubic meters of drinking water every day. Reverse osmosis (RO) has emerged as the dominant desalination technology due to its increasingly competitive energy efficiency and the continuous improvement of membrane performance [1]. However, beyond traditional operational parameters such as salinity, pressure, and recovery rate, one critical factor often remains underestimated: seawater temperature. Its influence extends far beyond … Continue reading →

When is a Damaged Vehicle Worth Repairing Versus Recycling?

By | | ,
Leave a comment

If the repair bill is creeping close to what the car is worth, you are already in decision territory. In 2025, the average repair cost climbed to about $4,768, according to research from CCC Intelligent Solutions. That number matters because if your car is only worth $6,000, a single major repair can wipe out most of its value. So the real question is not “Can it be fixed?” but “Should it be fixed?” Repair Or Recycle The Financial Reality Insurance companies make this decision every day, and they usually follow a percentage rule. If repairs reach roughly 50 to 70 … Continue reading →

Desalination at a Turning Point: Breakthrough Innovations Driving Sustainable Water Production

By | | ,
Leave a comment

Desalination has become one of the most important technological pillars for addressing global water scarcity. As climate change intensifies droughts, population growth increases water demand, and industrial development places additional pressure on freshwater resources, desalination is evolving from an alternative water source into a strategic component of water security [1,2]. Recent advances presented at international scientific forums reveal that the sector is undergoing a profound transformation. No longer focused solely on producing freshwater from seawater, modern desalination is increasingly characterized by resource recovery, energy efficiency, environmental sustainability, digitalization, and integration with renewable energy systems. One of the most significant breakthroughs … Continue reading →

How Sustainable Manufacturing Practices Can Reduce Waste and Improve Efficiency

By | | ,
Leave a comment

If you are struggling with shrinking margins and operational inefficiencies, sustainable manufacturing can be a practical way to reduce waste, lower operating costs, and improve production efficiency without sacrificing output. Sustainability is not merely a parallel environmental program; it is a core operational strategy designed to lower long-term operating expenses and improve production efficiency. By using materials more carefully, avoiding unnecessary downtime, and improving product quality, you tackle process waste. Small improvements in equipment use, energy management, maintenance, and workflow planning can create measurable results. What are Sustainable Manufacturing Practices? Sustainable manufacturing practices are active processes that help produce goods … Continue reading →

Industrial Symbiosis Prospects in Jordan

By | | , ,
2 Comments

In a developing country, such as Jordan, with a relatively emerging economy and limited natural resources, the industrial sector expends more effort than developed countries and even more than developing countries that are rich in natural resources. In such a situation, industries should look into finding solutions to sustain their existence, which is not confined to keeping their production lines running and making profit, but it goes beyond that, it goes to a whole way of thinking a way that integrates the surrounding environment and that confirms on the industrial sector responsibility toward the environment, the home of its raw … Continue reading →

Valorization of Desalination Brines into Molten Salts, Carbonates and Thermal Fluids

By | | , , ,
Leave a comment

The management of brines generated from seawater desalination has become a central issue in arid and semi-arid regions, particularly in Mediterranean basin countries and the Middle East. The rapid increase in desalination capacity, especially through reverse osmosis, has helped secure access to drinking water but has also generated a growing stream of hypersaline discharges. Global estimates indicate that worldwide brine production now exceeds 140 million m³/day, or more than 50 billion m³/year, with continuous growth driven by industrial desalination development [1]. One of the most widely studied pathways is the transformation of salts contained in brine into materials for thermal … Continue reading →

Critical Minerals and the Water–Environment Nexus: Challenges and Pathways for Sustainable Extraction

By | | ,
Leave a comment

The rapid acceleration of the global energy transition has placed critical minerals at the center of economic, technological, and geopolitical transformations. Minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, rare earth elements, and copper are indispensable for renewable energy systems, electric vehicles, digital infrastructure, and energy storage technologies. International institutions including the International Energy Agency (IEA), the United Nations (UN), and the European Union (EU) increasingly describe these resources as the backbone of decarbonization pathways [1]. However, the expansion of critical mineral extraction raises profound environmental concerns, particularly regarding water consumption, water pollution, ecosystem degradation, and social inequalities. While these materials are … Continue reading →

British Coal as a Warning for the Global Energy Transition

By | | ,
Leave a comment

The history of the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain is often portrayed as a linear path of technological progress and economic expansion. Yet this narrative conceals structural costs that, in light of today’s energy transition challenges, deserve rigorous re-examination. The rise of coal in the 18th and 19th centuries formed the energy backbone of modern industrialization, enabling unprecedented growth in production, urbanization, and trade. However, this transformation came with deep and lasting social, environmental, and economic damages, some of whose underlying mechanisms risk being replicated today in the global energy transition, characterized by a heavy reliance on critical minerals whose … Continue reading →

Rethinking Desalination through Digital Twins: From Energy-Intensive Processes to Intelligent Water Systems

By | | , ,
Leave a comment

The increasing global water scarcity driven by climate change, population growth, and industrial expansion has positioned desalination, particularly seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO), as a strategic solution for ensuring water security. However, desalination processes remain energy-intensive, operationally complex, and sensitive to variations in feedwater quality and membrane performance. In this context, the emergence of the Digital Twin represents a paradigm shift in the management and optimization of desalination systems. What is Digital Twin? A digital twin is generally defined as a dynamic virtual replica of a physical system that integrates real-time data, physics-based models, and advanced analytics to simulate, predict, and … Continue reading →

Desalination Membranes as RDF for Cement Kilns: Opportunities and Constraints

By | | , ,
Leave a comment

The rapid expansion of desalination through reverse osmosis has significantly transformed global water resource management, but it has also created a growing challenge related to the management of end-of-life membranes. These industrial wastes, mainly composed of engineering polymers such as polyamide, polysulfone, and polypropylene, exhibit physicochemical properties that, while initially optimized for filtration, may become an asset within an energy recovery framework [1-2]. The average lifespan of reverse osmosis membranes ranges from five to ten years, generating substantial waste streams worldwide [1]. As an order of magnitude, a desalination plant with a capacity of 100,000 m³/day can generate between 2,000 … Continue reading →

التحديات البيئة لقطاع الطاقة في المملكة العربية السعودية

By | | , , ,
3 Comments

بالرغم من جهود المجتمع الدولي والعلماء المختصين بالبيئة في سبيل تقليل الاعتماد على الوقود الاحفوري كمصدر رئيسي للطاقة واستبداله بمصادر نظيفة ومنجددة للطاقة, الا ان الوقود الاحفوري والمتمثل بالنفط والغاز يبقى المصدر الرئيسي المعتمد والاكثر فاعلية. ونقلا عن فان الطلب العالمي على الوقود الاحفوري سيتزايد في المستقبل. ان معدل انتاج النفط والغاز قد تزايد تدريجيا منذ السبعينيات الى سنة 2020, وذالك تبعا للطلب المتزايد عليه. ان المشكل الرئيسي في الاعتماد على النفط والغاز كمصدر رئيسي للطاقة يكمن في نسبة التلوث البيئي الذي يخلفه هذا الوقود خلال انتاجه . على سبيل المثال, تطلق شركات النفط والغاز مايقارب 2000 طن من المواد … Continue reading →