See

discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235998772

Teaching water desalination through active

learning

Article in Education for Chemical Engineers · December 2011

DOI: 10.1016/j.ece.2011.08.001

CITATIONS READS

6 403

1 author:

Muftah El-Naas
Qatar University
91 PUBLICATIONS 1,885 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

CO2 Capture and Sequestration View project

CO2 Capture View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Muftah El-Naas on 13 October 2017.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached
copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research
and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution
and sharing with colleagues.
Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or
licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party
websites are prohibited.
In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the
article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or
institutional repository. Authors requiring further information
regarding Elsevier’s archiving and manuscript policies are
encouraged to visit:
http://www.elsevier.com/copyright
 Author's personal copy
education for chemical engineers 6 ( 2 0 1 1 ) e97–e102

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Education for Chemical Engineers

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ece

Teaching water desalination through active learning

Muftah H. El-Naas ∗
Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department, UAE University, P.O. Box 17555, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates

a b s t r a c t

Active learning refers to the direct involvement of students in the learning process rather than being passive recep-
tors of materials. This paper evaluates the implementation of active learning in teaching seawater desalination as
an elective course in chemical engineering curriculum. Desalination is a multi-disciplinary engineering science that
encompasses elements of water chemistry, material science, transport phenomena, thermodynamics, engineering
design, and corrosion. Water desalination is an important course in most chemical and mechanical engineering cur-
ricula, where the design and analysis of different water desalination processes are addressed. The current teaching
method, however, relies heavily on classical lecture-presentation of the course materials, without any direct involve-
ment of the students. A simple approach that utilizes Excel and Ez-Solve in designing and analyzing desalination
processes has been developed. Active learning is the central part of this course development, where students are
heavily involved in class activities and can directly assess the effect of input variables on the design parameters,
allowing them to carry out “What If” or parameter sensitivity analysis.
© 2011 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Active learning; Water desalination; Teaching; Cooperative learning; ABET

1. Introduction The course delivery and students assessments are presented

Desalination has been growing rapidly as an industry and as
a field of research that combines engineering and science to
develop innovative and economical means for water desalting.
Many countries have invested heavily in desalination research
and training. Several engineering schools have adopted water
desalination as a major subject in their curriculum either as
an undergraduate or a graduate course. A compulsory under-
graduate course in desalination is offered at the Chemical
Engineering Department of Kuwait University. Other mechan-
ical or chemical engineering departments that offer water
desalination as an elective course include the Mechanical
Engineering Department at Kuwait University and Chemical
Engineering Departments at universities in Qatar, United Arab
Emirates, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (EI-Dessouky et al.,
1999). The current teaching method of teaching water desali-
nation relies heavily on classical lecture-presentation of the
course material and home assignments, without any in-class
involvement of the students. This paper presents a simple
active learning approach to the teaching of water desalination,
where students get directly involved in the learning process.
in terms of ABET outcomes.
2. Desalination processes
Desalination can be defined as a process that separates saline
water into fresh low-salt concentration stream, which is
known as distillate, and high-salt concentration stream, know
as reject brine. There are numerous desalination processes
that include classical thermal processes and new processes
that rely on non-thermal separation techniques. Khawaji et al.
(2008) gave a thorough review of current status, practices,
advances, research activities, and future prospects of seawa-
ter desalination technologies. Although the review focused on
Multi-Stage Flash (MSF) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) as the two
most commercially successful processes, it described other
processes such as Multiple Effect Distillation (MED), Vapor
Compression Distillation as well as processes that have not
achieved commercial success such as Freezing desalination
and solar evaporation.
Thermal processes such as MSF and MED and non-thermal
processes such as RO are the most common for seawater

∗
Fax: +971 3762 4262.
E-mail address: muftah@uaeu.ac.ae
Received 19 October 2010; Received in revised form 8 July 2011; Accepted 14 August 2011
1749-7728/$ – see front matter © 2011 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ece.2011.08.001
 Author's personal copy
e98 education for chemical engineers 6 ( 2 0 1 1 ) e97–e102
Nomenclature
A area (m2 )
BPE boiling point elevation (◦ C)
Cp specific heat at constant pressure (kJ/kg ◦ C)
M mass flow rate (kg/s)
PR performance ratio (dimensionless)
sA specific heat transfer area (m2 s/kg)
sMcw specific cooling water flow rate (dimensionless)
T temperature (◦ C)
U overall heat transfer coefficient (kW/m2 ◦ C)
X salinity (mg/l)
Greek letters
 latent heat (kJ/kg)
Subscripts
b brine
c condenser
cw cooling water
d distillate product
e evaporator
f feed seawater
s compressed vapor or heating steam
v formed vapor
desalination especially in the Arabian Gulf and Middle East.
In RO, a semi-permeable membrane allows water molecules to
pass through much more readily than dissolved salts and min-
erals. The water transport through the membrane generates
a pressure difference between the two sides of the membrane
which is known as the osmotic pressure. A pressure higher
than the osmotic pressure is needed to reverse the water flow
and achieve Reverse Osmosis desalination.
The Multi-Stage Flash (MSF) process is based on the prin-
ciple of flash evaporation, where seawater is evaporated by
reducing the pressure rather than raising the temperature.
The MSF plant usually consists of three main sections: heat
generation, heat recovery, and heat rejection. The seawater
flashing in each flash chamber or stage gives up some of
its heat to the seawater going through the flashing process.
The feed seawater is gradually heated in each stage by the
heat of condensation released by the condensing water vapor
(Khawaji et al., 2008). The method of water vaporization is the
main difference between MSF and MED. In the latter, heat-
ing steam is injected into the heat exchange tubes of the first
effect, where the latent heat is transferred through the tube
walls to heat a thin film of feed water. The vapor formed in one
effect is then introduced into the heat exchange tubes of the
next effect, and this process is repeated for the whole plant.
3. Active learning
Active learning refers to the teaching process that enforces
direct involvement of the students in the learning process.
Bonwell and Eison (1991) who first popularized this teaching
approach suggested general characteristics that are asso-
ciated with active learning. These include: “students are
involved in more than listening; less emphasis is placed on
transmitting information and more on developing students’
skills; students are involved in activities; greater emphasis is
placed on students’ exploration of their own attitudes and val-
ues”. Lecture-based learning is considered unsuccessful due
to poor student attention, simplified examples and too much
material presented at one time (Keyser, 2000). Students’ atten-
tion is believed to decrease as the lecture proceeds and only
lower level learning of information is acquired by lectures
(Johnson et al., 1991). Several educators who evaluated the
two approaches pointed out that active learning enhances stu-
dents learning and improves their retention of information
(Allen, 1995; Mabry, 1995; Ragains, 1995; Jacobson and Mark,
1995; Ridgeway, 1989; Williams and Cox, 1992; Gremmels,
1996). In fact researchers suggested that dividing lectures into
short intervals (12–18 min) with active learning activity in
between will increase students’ ability to retain information
(Ruhl et al., 1987).
Chickering and Gamson (1987) suggested that active learn-
ing meant engaging in higher-order thinking activities such
as analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Meyers and Jones (1993)
defined active learning as a process that allows “students to
talk, listen, read, write and reflect as they approach course
content through problem-solving exercises, informal small
groups, simulations, case studies and role-playing”. Active
learning is also believed to be based on engaging with the
senses, multiple intelligences, self-reflection and dialogue
with others (Dewing, 2010). It is worth noting here that active
learning does not mean lack of lectures or instructor involve-
ment. In fact, teachers play an influential role in increasing
students’ situational interest in the active learning process
(Rotgans and Schmidt, 2010).
4. Teaching desalination
In spite of the importance of water desalination as an educa-
tional subject, there has been limited number of publications
related to the teaching or assessment of courses or pro-
grams related to desalination. A few educators, however, have
described desalination courses or presented their own experi-
ence with teaching the subject (El-Dessouky, 1994; Silver and
Hanbury, 1973; Hanbury et al., 1979; Bakish and Arthur, 1977;
Ettouney and El-Dessouky, 2001).
Water desalination, CHME 433, has been taught as an
elective course at the chemical and Petroleum Engineering
Department, UAE University since the late 1980s. The main
objective of the course is to expose engineering students
(future engineers) to the design and analysis of different water
desalination processes.
4.1. Course description
Water Desalination (CHME 433) is a 3-credit-hour course and
consists of two hours of lectures and two hours of tutorials.
The two tutorial hours count as one credit hour. The course is
open to chemical and mechanical engineering students, and
it addresses water resources; chemistry of saline water; mod-
eling and analysis of single effect desalination combined with
mechanical vapor compression and thermal vapor compres-
sion; modeling of multiple effect desalination (MED); modeling
of single and multistage flash desalination processes. Reverse
Osmosis; Cogeneration; Scale formation; and pre and post
treatment operations. Other important topics such as Reject
brine management and economics of desalination processes
are also discussed. In the new course development, these top-
ics are discussed in class and assigned as group projects. The
 Author's personal copy
education for chemical engineers 6 ( 2 0 1 1 ) e97–e102 e99

Table 1 – Topics covered and indented objectives.

Topic Intended objective

1 The Water Problem
2 Saline Water Chemistry
3 Single Effect Evaporation (SEE)
4 SEE with vapor compression
5 Multiple Effect Evaporation
(MEE)
6 Multi-Stage Flash processes
(MSF)
7 Reverse Osmosis (RO)
8 Scale formation
9 Reject brine management
To be aware of the water shortage and the available resources in UAE. To understand the
importance of water desalination as a source of drinking water.
To learn the chemistry and analysis of saline water. This includes learning how to determine,
through actual experiments, carbonate equivalent, total hardness, alkalinity, chlorosity and
chlorinity of seawater.
To be familiar with Single Effect Evaporation process and be able to carry out material and energy
balances on SEE units.
To be familiar with SEE process with thermal and mechanical vapor compression and be able to
carry out material and energy balances on these processes.
To be familiar with Multiple Effect Evaporation processes and be able to analyze and design MEE
processes.
To be familiar with Single and Multi-Stage Flash processes and be able to analyze and design MSF
processes.
To be familiar with different types of membrane processes and design RO desalination units.
To understand the problems associated with scale formation and to evaluate different methods
for dealing with these problems
To understand the problems associated with reject brine and examine current and new options
for brine management.

new teaching approach also involves the discussion of several
in-class problems as part of the PBL (Problem Based Learning).
4.2. Main topics
A list of the main topics covered in the one-semester course
with intended objectives of each topic is presented in Table 1.
Most of the course materials such as Power Point presen-
tations, reference notes as well as homework assignments,
Excel examples and in-class problems are posted for the stu-
dents on Blackboard, which is the university’s Online Course
Management system. The main reference for the course is
“Fundamentals of salt water desalination” by El-Dessouky and
Ettouney (2002). It is important to note that Reject brine man-
agement (Topic 9) is rarely covered in desalination courses or
even in books related to desalination, despite its significance
as an environmental and economical challenge to desalina-
tion plants. In this course, the students are exposed to current
brine management options such as discharge to wastewa-
ter treatment plants; deep well injection; land disposal; and
evaporation ponds. They are also introduced to a new option
involving reactions with carbon dioxide (El-Naas et al., 2010).
sheets and Ez-Solve algorithms. They are then asked to
prepare their own Excel sheets and Ez-Solve algorithms
to solve the problem at hand. This type of activity is car-
ried out during the two-hour tutorial session. The students
make the calculation using their own laptops; the univer-
sity requires that all students have laptops as part of the
educational system.
2. In-Class Engaged Learning: the students are directly
involved in discussing the effect of some input variables on
the design parameters using Excel and Ez-Solve software.
The students are usually asked to assess What If a certain
parameter is changed? What will happen to the process? Using
either Excel or Ez-Solve, the students can easily get the
answer to the posed questions. The students are then asked
to give physical justifications for the observed change.
3. Project-Based Learning: the students are assigned a
group-project to analyze a certain aspect of desalina-
tion processes (Environmental, Economical as well as new
desalination methods). Examples include: scale formation,
brine management, and pre-treatment. The students are
asked to work as groups of 3–4 students and submit a final
report on the assigned topic.

4.3. Course development

Active learning is the central part of this course develop-
ment, where students are heavily involved in class activities
rather than being passive receptors of material. The students
are directly involved in the preparation of Excel sheets and
Ez-Solve algorithms as well as carrying out parameter sensi-
tivity analysis. They also interact with each other and with
the instructor in discussing the physical justifications of the
observed results of their analysis. Three aspects of active
learning were employed in this course: Problem-Based Learn-
ing, Project-Based Learning, and Engaged Learning.
1. Problem-Based Learning (PBL): the students are given an in-
class problem related to the presented materials. In most
chapters, the in-class problem involves numerical calcu-
lations of important design parameters. The students are
allowed enough time to derive the necessary equations and
then use Excel or Ez-Solve for computer calculations. At
first, an example for numerical calculation is presented to
the students, where they are showed how to prepare Excel
A typical two-hour class would start with a short review of
the previous lecture for about 5 min using PowerPoint presen-
tation. The objective is to refresh the students’ memory and to
integrate or relate the previously taught material with the new
topic. The students would then be given a lecture on the new
topic using PowerPoint presentation as well as whiteboard
illustrations. After about 20 min, the class is paused to give
examples and involve the students in an in-class discussion
using Excel and Ez-Solve for real time calculations. Usually, the
students use their own Excel sheets and Ez-Solve algorithms,
which they had already prepared during the previous tutorial
session. Most topics involve carrying out material and energy
balances to derive the main equations for the design param-
eters: performance ratio (PR), specific heat transfer area (sA)
and specific cooling water flow rate (sMcw ). The balances and
calculations for Single Effect Evaporation (SEE) are presented
here as an example. Material and energy balances are carried
out on the condenser and the evaporator for the SEE system
shown in Fig. 1.
 Author's personal copy
e100 education for chemical engineers 6 ( 2 0 1 1 ) e97–e102
Fig. 1 – A flow diagram for a Single Effect Evaporation (SEE) system.
The following equations for the design parameters for SEE
are derived and then used for the calculations:
M
PR = d
Ms
s
= (1)
(Xb /(Xb − Xf ))Cp (Tv − Tf ) + Cp · BPE(Xf /(Xb − Xf )) + v
Mcw d − Cp (Tf − Tcw )(Xb /(Xb − Xf ))
sMcw = = (2)
Md Cp (Tf − Tcw )
Ae v + Cp(Tb − Tf )(Xb /(Xb − Xf ))
sAe = = (3)
Md Ue (Ts − Tb )
An Excel sheet is prepared with plots for the main design
parameters as functions of different input values such as
feed temperature, feed salinity and seawater temperature as
shown in Fig. 2. The students can assess the effect of these
values and carry out a “What if?” analysis. For example, the
students may be asked to assess the effect of increasing the
feed salinity (Xf ) on the three design parameters (PR, sA and
sMcw ).
A similar analysis can be carried out using Ez-Solve, which
can solve sets of algebraic and differential equations. Using
this software, the students can examine the effect through
“Sweeping” of input variables on the important design
Fig. 2 – A sample of Excel calculations of the design
parameters and “what if” analysis.
Table 2 – ABET 2000 a–k program outcomes.
ABET program outcomes
a Ability to apply knowledge of math, engineering, and
science
b Ability to design and conduct experiments; ability to
analyze and interpret data
c Ability to design system, component or process to meet
needs within realistic constraints
d Ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams
e Ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering
problems
f Understanding of professional and ethical responsibility
g Ability to communicate effectively
h The broad education necessary to understand the
impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal
context
i Recognition of need by an ability to engage in life-long
learning
j Knowledge of contemporary issues
k Ability to use techniques, skills, and tools in
engineering practice
Fig. 3 – A sample of Ez-Solve calculations of the design
parameters and what if analysis.
parameters such as performance ratio as shown in Fig. 3.
In-class examples, in-class problems as well as homework
assignments are solved using Excel and Ez-Solve. Samples of
Excel sheets have been included as Supplementary material.
 Author's personal copy
education for chemical engineers 6 ( 2 0 1 1 ) e97–e102 e101

Table 3 – Assessment of course outcomes by students.

Course intended outcomes (ABET 2000 a–k outcomes) Score out of 5

1 Perform material and energy balances on various desalination processes (a) 4.45
2 Perform experiments and analyze experimental data to determine the 4.45
characteristics of seawater (b)
3 Design and analyze new and existing desalination processes to meet desired needs 4.73
(i.e. determine performance parameters) (c)
4 Set up the models and parametric studies for detailed desalination processes and 4.45
solve them in term projects within a group (d)
5 Use a written description of a desalination process to draw the flow sheet, 4.55
determine the model equations of the process and solve it to obtain the
characteristics of each unit and find the performance parameters (e)
6 Explain and discuss thoughts and results to the others by writing a well organized 4.18
report (g).
7 Search and locate information using the library or internet on new and emerging 4.45
desalination processes as well as problems related to desalination (i)
8 Use excel or other software (Ez-Solve) to run an iterative solutions and assess 4.80
parameter sensitivities (What if?) for different desalination processes (k)

4.4. Course assessment by students
Gauging the students’ feedback on the course delivery is
an important aspect of any course development. The stu-
dents course assessment was obtained in terms of ABET 2000
program outcomes. In 1997, ABET (Accreditation Board for
Engineering and Technology) adopted Engineering Criteria
2000, which shifted focus away from the inputs (what mate-
rial is taught) to the outputs (what students learned) and
stressed continuous improvement. The ABET 2000 program
outcomes are given in Table 2. Each of these items (a–k) rep-
resents a program outcome that must be achieved at the end
of the engineering program. The engineering curriculum must
be designed, through course content and delivery, to achieve
these outcomes.
At the end of the course, the students are asked to give
a grade from 1 to 5 that corresponds to the extent they feel
the course has helped them in achieving the listed outcomes.
Specific examples from the course are given for each outcome.
The average of all students’ responses over two semesters are
given in Table 3. The numbers of students surveyed in these
two semesters were 13 and 16; a typical desalination class has
from 12 to 25 students. It is worth noting here that during the
course, more emphasis has been put on outcomes c, e and
k. This may explain that these outcomes were given higher
grades by the students. Overall, the students’ response and
comments indicated that they were very satisfied and happy
with the teaching approach. Final evaluations indicated that
the students’ performance and retention of information have
clearly improved.
5. Conclusions
Desalination as a multi-disciplinary engineering science is
becoming an important educational subject and has been
included in the curricula of most chemical and mechani-
cal engineering departments, where the design and analysis
of different water desalination processes are addressed.
The present teaching methods, however, concentrate on
lecture-based delivery of course material, without any direct
involvement of the students. An active learning approach that
utilizes simple and readily available computer software such
as Excel and Ez-Solve in designing and analyzing desalina-
tion processes has been developed. The students are heavily
involved in class activities rather than being passive recep-
tors of materials and can directly assess the effect of input
variables on the design parameters, allowing them to carry
out “What If” or parameter sensitivity analysis. Course assess-
ments by the students and final evaluations indicated that
the students’ performance, interest and retention of informa-
tion have tremendously improved. This can be judged by high
interest in the course, high student participation, high grades,
and large student satisfaction.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found,
in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.ece.2011.08.001.
References
Allen, E.E., 1995. Active learning and teaching: improving
postsecondary library instruction. Reference Librarian 51–52,
89–103.
Bakish, R., Arthur, W., 1977. An Undergraduate Program in
Desalination. In: Proceedings of the Int. Congress on
Desalination and Water Reuse (Tokyo), IDEA, pp. 291–298.
Bonwell, C.C., Eison, J.A., 1991. Active Learning: Creating
Excitement in the Classroom. The George Washington
University (ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education),
Washington, DC.
Chickering, A.W., Gamson, Z.F., 1987. Seven principles for good
practice. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin
39, 3–7.
Dewing, J., 2010. Moments of movement: active learning and
practice development. Nurse Education in Practice 10, 22–26.
EI-Dessouky, H., Ettouney, H., Alatiqi, I., 1999. Qualifying of
manpower for the desalination industry. Desalination 123,
55–70.
El-Dessouky, H.T., Ettouney, H.M., 2002. Fundamentals of Salt
Water Desalination. Elsevier Science.
El-Dessouky, H.T., 1994. A water desalination course.
Desalination 94, 331–337.
El-Naas, M.H., Al-Marzouqi, A.H., Chaalal, O., 2010. A combined
approach for the management of desalination reject brine
and capture of CO2 . Desalination 251, 70–74.
Ettouney, H., El-Dessouky, H., 2001. Teaching desalination.
Desalination 141, 109–127.
Gremmels, G.S., 1996. Active and cooperative learning in the
one-shot BI session. In: Shirato, L., Mercado, E.R. (Eds.), New
Ways of “Learning the Library” and Beyond: Papers and
Session Materials Presented at the Twenty-third National
LOEX Library Instruction Conference. Pierian Press, Ann
Arbor, MI, pp. 107–112.
 Author's personal copy
e102 education for chemical engineers 6 ( 2 0 1 1 ) e97–e102
Hanbury, W.T., McCartney, W.S., Cunningham, W., Hodgkiess, T.,
1979. Desalination 30, 449459.
Jacobson, T.E., Mark, B.L., 1995. Teaching in the information age:
active learning techniques to empower students. Reference
Librarian 51–52, 105–120.
Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R.T., Smith, K.A., 1991. Active Learning:
Cooperation in the College Classroom. Interaction Book,
Edina, MN.
Khawaji, A.D., Ibrahim, K., Kutubkhanah, Jong-Mihn Wie, 2008.
Advances in seawater desalination technologies. Desalination
221, 47–69.
Mabry, C.H., 1995. Using cooperative learning principles in BI.
Research Strategies 13, 182–185.
Keyser, M.W., 2000. Active learning and cooperative learning:
understanding the difference and using both styles
effectively. Research Strategies 17,
35–44.
Meyers, C., Jones, T.B., 1993. Promoting active learning
stractegiers for college classroom. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
View publication stats
Ragains, P., 1995. Four variations on Drueke’s active learning
paradigm. Research Strategies 13, 40–50.
Ridgeway, T., 1989. Integrating active learning techniques into the
one-hour bibliographic instruction lecture. In: Mensching Jr.,
G.E., Mensching, T.B. (Eds.), Coping with Information Illiteracy:
Bibliographic Instruction for the Information Age. Pierian
Press, Ann Arbor, MI, pp. 33–42.
Rotgans, J.I., Schmidt, H.G., 2010. The role of teachers in
facilitating situational interest in active learning classroom.
Teaching and Teachers Education,
doi:10.1016/j.tate.2010.06.25.
Ruhl, K.L., Hughes, C.A., Schloss, P.J., 1987. Using the pause
procedure to enhance lecture recall. Teacher Education and
Special Education 10, 14–18 (Winter).
Silver, R.S., Hanbury, W.T., 1973. Postgraduate course in
desalination. Proceedings of the Fourth Int. Symp. on Fresh
Water from the Sea 2, 413–425.
Williams, K.A., Cox, J., 1992. Active learning in action. RQ 31,
326–331.