SABIS YAS ISLAND - Zayed Sustainability Prize 2027 - AI Cooling and Sustainable desalination System

[00:00:00]We are the Aquan Nexus team from Sabisas Island.

[00:00:05]Our project, the Aquanexus Initiative, transforms waste heat generated by AI dot centers into a valuable resource, fresh water. AI dot centers consume and waste enormous amounts of water for cooling and release it into the atmosphere. Our idea is to capture this thermal energy through a circular co-generation system where energy that would normally be wasted is recovered and used to support water production.

[00:00:24]Instead of treating heat as a byproduct, we treat it as a resource. Our solution captures waste heat and uses it to produce fresh water. Through liquid cooling and membrane distillation, we turn wasted energy into a valuable resource, creating a sustainable closed loop system. Our system has four main parts. The AI thermal node captures heat. The heat exchanger transfers it.

[00:00:44]Membrane distillation converts it into fresh water and the IoT dashboard monitors the entire process.

[00:00:50]The first step of our process happens in the AI server in which we have a closed loop system of liquid coolant that passes over a cold copper plate mounted directly on top of the processor. The wasted heat energy from the processor is conducted by the plate which is then absorbed by the liquid coolant reaching to temperatures of around 50 to 60°C.

[00:01:08]Moving on, the heated water sample is transferred over into our heat exchanger, kicking off the second step of the process. Inside the heat exchanger, the heated water sample is traveled in one direction and another sample of sea water is added into the heat exchanger and travels in a different direction. These two samples are separated by thin silver sheets which help a therm energy transfer from the heated water sample to the seawater sample kicking off the desalination process. One important thing to mention, the water sample that was used to cool the AI server is looped back into the cooling process. So no water is wasted.

[00:01:42]Finally, the seawater sample is transferred over into the desalination unit in which it is heated into water vapor, leaving behind any solid residue.

[00:01:50]This water vapor passes through a hydrophobic membrane sheet. Hydrophobic meaning it resists any liquid water from passing through. After it passes through the tiny pores of the membrane, the sample goes into the condenser in which we condense the water vapor to produce the pure fresh water, splitting up the fresh water and the any salt and residue that remains.

[00:02:11]Now for the monitoring phase of our process, we use different temperature probes to measure the temperature of the liquid water at every single step of the process as well. We have an analog TDS sensor which measures the water purity, make sure we have the purest water possible.

[00:02:28]And finally, our microcontroller which adjusts the flow of the water and make sure to maximize the efficiency. Now to explain a little about the physics behind our process. We have few equations that link to different parts of our process.

[00:02:44]We use the specific heat capacity formula to optimize our heat energy harvested. We use for four years law to measure the heat conduction rate. Moving on to different calculus space derivatives to optimize our pump control. And finally we we measure the membrane permeability and the vapor pressure different differential to to maintain our water production rate.

[00:03:08]Regarding our implementation plan the total duration should take around 8 weeks with uh two weeks going towards our sourcing and procurement to gather all materials needed. A further two weeks for structural fabrication to start setting everything up and then a further two weeks for our thermal loop setup to just make sure that everything is connected and uh uh well uh formed.

[00:03:29]Uh we need a week for sensor wiring and coding to just make sure that all our sensors are working to to make sure the functionality is on point and uh a week for the testing and data logging to uh analyze how our uh uh how our project is performing. regarding our performance results and key metrics to make sure that our project is ready to go. We need 0% primary water loss uh from our uh system loop uh less than 10 ppm which basically means uh that's the limit of the amount of residue that that is allowed to uh be there and less than 30% uh required pump operating pressure and uh net zero carbon emissions which is is going to happen because our project relies on a 15 uh kilowatt photovoltaic solar array. So basically no carbon is used in our project.

[00:04:18]>> Over the next three years, Aqua Nexus will turn data centers into hubs for sustainability. It encourages students to participate in research and innovation while learning about agriculture, water conservation, and energy efficiency. This helps create a more sustainable future. This project is aligned with the vision of Zan peace be upon him by protecting natural resources and promoting sustainability.

[00:04:40]It also supports the UAE's goals for water security and responsible innovation. In conclusion, we believe Aqua Nexus has strong potential. This is currently a small scale project, but if it proves successful, we plan to expand it on a larger scale. In the future, it could support community sustainable efforts and even growing AI infrastructures while helping conserve water and resources.