PROJECT 8

• Water withdrawals, consumption, and discharges are important aspects to be considered in energy generation and fresh-water production.
• In the advanced Hybrid Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) technology, both surface and deep oceanic waters will be used to generate the thermal energy, and waters with various levels of salinity and temperature will be produced as by-products.
• These waters have a wide range of applications in aquaculture industry ranging from the culture of micro-organisms (probiotic bacteria, high-value microalgae) to seaweeds, and commercially important invertebrates and fish.

This project aims to:-

1. Assess the characteristics and properties of the deep oceanic waters (Off-Sabah) and the surface seawaters (Port Dickson) that are considered critical in determining the quality and quantity of OTEC technology final products,
2. Evaluate all the water quality parameters of the byproduct waters generated by the OTEC technology and
3. Applications of the waters generated from OTEC technology for the production of live-feed biomass for the aquaculture industry.

• In this study, deep oceanic waters from the depth of about 700-1000 m from the off-shore of Sabah will be collected and analyzed for its physicochemical properties (in temperature, pH, salinity, conductivity, turbidity, and dissolved oxygen), mineral contents, total organic carbon, pollutant levels (heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), pharmaceutical wastes, dioxins, and pesticides), nutrients and chlorophyll a content.
• Pollution parameters included are serious concerns due to their potential human and environmental risks.
• In addition, biological communities such as bacteria, phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthos and fish will be assessed to see their ecological changes in terms of space and seasons.
• The relatively cold waters (between 20  – 23 Celcius) with various salinity levels generated from the OTEC technology will be used to mass culture live-feed organisms such as the probiotic microbes and planktonic organisms.
• The bigger the cold water marine copepods, the higher the contents of fatty acid compared to tropical species.
• Thus, outputs of the objectives no 1 and 2 could serve as baseline data and develop water quality standard of both the supplied water and the byproduct water generated by the hybrid OTEC technology. Objective no. 3 would overcome one of the serious bottlenecks in the aquaculture industry, that is the adequate supply of high-quality live-feed.
• In addition, the knowledge gain in the project could be used in developing the best management options in addressing the quality assurance of hybrid OTEC technology and its positive impacts on the well being of the society and the environment.