Publications /
Paper in Academic Journals

Back
A Water-Energy-Food Nexus approach for conducting trade-off analysis: Morocco's phosphate industry in the Khouribga region
Authors
Sang-Hyun Lee
Amjad T. Assi
Bassel Daher
October 5, 2020

Our Senior Fellow Rabi Mohtar has co-authored with our economist, Fatima Ezzahra Mengoub along other researchers a research paper entitled « A Water-Energy-Food Nexus approach for conducting trade-off analysis:

Morocco’s phosphate industry in the Khouribga region » in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Journal (Volume 24, Issue 10).

The study objective was to develop and use the Water-Energy-Food Nexus Phosphate (WEF-P) Tool to evaluate the impact of Morocco’s phosphate industry on water, energy, and food sectors of Khouribga, which is the representative phosphate mining region of Morocco. The developed WEF-P Tool enabled a trade-off analysis based on integrating supply-chain processes, transportation, and water– energy footprints of the region. Field data from the mining to transportation processes were collected and applied to possible supply-chain scenarios in accordance with the type of product (phosphate rock and slurry). The potential impacts of the scenarios were considered in terms of the water supply in the agricultural areas. The analysis of the positive impacts of dynamic management suggests that seasonal management of phosphate production (less during the irrigated season, more during wetter or rainier seasons) is more effective. Additionally, while the transport of raw phosphate slurry through a pipeline increased the total water required to 34.6 × 106 m3 , which is an increase of 76 % over the “business as usual” (BAU) scenario, it also resulted in an energy savings of nearly 80 % over BAU: slurry transport requires only 40.5×106 L of fossil fuel instead of the 204×106 L required to transport rocks. During the dry or “water-scarce” irrigation season (May to July), total groundwater use decreased from 5.8 × 106 to 5.2 × 106 m3 . Dynamic management of the phosphate industry can also save 143 MWh (megawatt-hour) of electricity annually and can bring a reduction of 117 t of CO2 emissions. Making water available at the correct season and location requires analysis of complex scientific, technical, socioeconomic, regulatory, and political issues. The WEF-P Tool can assist by assessing user-created scenarios; thus, it is an effective management-decision aid for ensuring more sustainable use of limited resources and increased reliability of water resources for both agricultural and industrial use. This study on the applications of WEF Nexus to the phosphate industry offers a roadmap for other industrial application for which trade-offs between the primary resources must be considered.

RELATED CONTENT

  • Authors
    Chami Abdelilah
    Derj Atar
    Hammi Ibtissem
    Morazzo Mariano
    Naciri Yassine
    with the technical support of AFRY
    July 19, 2021
    Morocco's significant renewable energy resources offer an unprecedented opportunity to anchor the country’s economic and political choices in the energy transition, and to turn the transition into an essential lever for economic development. This is all the more relevant as the costs of renewable energies have dropped over the past 10 years2, and now offer strong potential, not only for creating green jobs but for ensuring a dynamic and resilient economic growth as well. In 2020, ne ...
  • July 13, 2021
    يلتزم المغرب منذ سنة 2009 بتسريع تطوير الطاقات المتجددة، وتعزيز الكفاءة في استخدام الطاقة وكذلك التكامل الإقليمي من خلال اعتماد استراتيجية وطنية طموحة للطاقة. بعد أكثر من 10 سنوات، تم تحقيق العديد من الإنجازات. لكن مع انتشار وباء كوفيد 19 والازمة الصحية التي نتجت عنه، تم فرض العديد من ا...
  • Authors
    Chami Abdelilah
    Derj Atar
    Hammi Ibtissem
    Morazzo Mariano
    Naciri Yassine
    with the technical support of AFRY
    July 9, 2021
    Les importantes ressources en énergies renouvelables du Maroc offrent une opportunité sans précédent d’ancrer les choix économiques et politiques du pays dans la transition énergétique, et de faire de cette transition un levier essentiel du développement économique. Ceci est d’autant plus important que le coût des énergies renouvelables a baissé au cours des 10 dernières années2 et présente désormais un fort potentiel, non seulement de création d’emplois verts mais aussi de croissan ...
  • Authors
    Chami Abdelilah
    Derj Atar
    Hammi Ibtissem
    Morazzo Mariano
    Naciri Yassine
    with the technical support of AFRY
    July 9, 2021
    The consequences of climate change are becoming progressively more visible in Morocco. Changes in rainfall patterns and drought, increases in average temperatures and heatwaves, flooding, and rising sea levels are increasingly affecting several regions. Yet, Morocco has a relatively low greenhouse gas (GHG) emission rate, compared to other countries. In 20162, Morocco’s total GHG emissions reached 86127.7 gigagram of carbon dioxide equivalent (Gg CO2-eq), totaling around 0.2% of glo ...
  • Authors
    Chami Abdelilah
    Derj Atar
    Hammi Ibtissem
    Morazzo Mariano
    Naciri Yassine
    with the technical support of AFRY
    July 9, 2021
    Les conséquences du changement climatique sont de plus en plus visibles au Maroc. Le schéma changeant des précipitations et de la sécheresse, l'augmentation des températures moyennes et des canicules, les inondations et l'augmentation du niveau de la mer affectent de plus en plus de nombreuses régions. Et pourtant, le taux d'émission de gaz à effet de serre (GES) du Maroc est relativement faible, comparé à celui d'autres pays. En 20162, les émissions totales de GES du Maroc ont atte ...
  • Authors
    Chami Abdelilah
    Derj Atar
    Hammi Ibtissem
    Morazzo Mariano
    Naciri Yassine
    with the technical support of AFRY
    June 28, 2021
    During the 2015 Paris Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), governments pledged to limit the global temperature increase to well below 2°C above pre- industrial levels, to peak emissions as soon as possible, and to achieve carbon neutrality in the second half of the century. Yet, even assuming full implementation of the commitments made by governments in Paris, the global concentration of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions will ...
  • Authors
    Chami Abdelilah
    Derj Atar
    Hammi Ibtissem
    Morazzo Mariano
    Naciri Yassine
    with the technical support of AFRY
    June 28, 2021
    Lors de la Conférence des Parties à la Convention-cadre des Nations unies sur les changements climatiques (CCNUCC) qui s'est tenue à Paris en 2015, les gouvernements se sont engagés à limiter l'augmentation de la température mondiale à un niveau bien inférieur à 2°C par rapport aux niveaux préindustriels. Ils se sont également engagés à atteindre, dès que possible, un pic de leurs émissions et à parvenir à la neutralité carbone au cours de la seconde moitié du siècle. Pour autant, m ...
  • Authors
    Sang-Hyun Lee
    Amjad T. Assi
    Bassel Daher
    October 5, 2020
    Our Senior Fellow Rabi Mohtar has co-authored with our economist, Fatima Ezzahra Mengoub along other researchers a research paper entitled « A Water-Energy-Food Nexus approach for conducting trade-off analysis: Morocco’s phosphate industry in the Khouribga region » in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Journal (Volume 24, Issue 10). The study objective was to develop and use the Water-Energy-Food Nexus Phosphate (WEF-P) Tool to evaluate the impact of Morocco’s phosphate industry ...
  • February 27, 2020
    Le Royaume du Maroc, dépourvu de pétrole et de gaz, s'est tourné, dès 1960, vers les énergies renouvelables, privilégiant alors l'hydroélectricité et la construction de barrages. Pour autant, l'essentiel des centrales électriques du pays était et demeure alimenté en gazole ou en gaz, impactant lourdement sa balance des paiements. Depuis, la demande d'électricité n'a cessé de croitre, d'une part, du fait du développement du pays et, d'autre part, suite au recours à des désalinisateur ...
  • February 27, 2020
    The Kingdom of Morocco, which has no oil and gas, has shifted to renewable energy as early as 1960, giving priority to hydroelectricity and the construction of dams. However, most of the country’s power plants were and remain powered by diesel or gas, which has a heavy impact on its balance payments. Since then, the demand for electricity has continued to grow due to the country’s development on the one hand and, as a result of the use of desalination facilities on the other hand, w ...