Design, simulation and economic analysis of a stand-alone reverse osmosis desalination unit powered by wind turbines and photovoltaics

Mohamed, Essam Sh.; Papadakis, G.

doi:10.1016/s0011-9164(04)00159-6

Cited by 129 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…The majority of the small-scale (permeate production ≤25 m 3 /day) wind-membrane systems that have been developed either used the electrical output from a horizontal axis wind turbine with energy storage in batteries [14][15][16][17][18], or the mechanical output from multi-vaned windmills with a pressure vessel as the buffer for fluctuations [19,20]. Whilst the use of deep-cycle lead acid batteries can enable uninterrupted operation, they result in increased capital and operational costs as well as lower system efficiency [3] and decreased robustness [21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Renewable energy powered membrane technology: The effect of wind speed fluctuations on the performance of a wind-powered membrane system for brackish water desalination

Park

Schäfer

Richards

2011

Journal of Membrane Science

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a b s t r a c tA wind-powered reverse osmosis membrane (wind-membrane) system without energy storage was tested using synthetic brackish water (2750 and 5500 mg/L NaCl) over a range of simulated wind speeds under both steady-state and fluctuating conditions. The parameters varied were: (i) average wind speed from 3.7 (system start-up) to 8.7 m/s; (ii) wind turbulence intensity from 0.0 (steady-state conditions) to 0.6 (extreme fluctuations); and (iii) period of oscillation from 15 to 90 s. With a feed water of 2750 mg/L NaCl, the wind-membrane system produced good-quality permeate (<600 mg/L) over the full range of wind speeds and fluctuations. The system performance (in terms of permeate flux and NaCl concentration) at average wind speeds of 7.0 m/s or more was unaffected by fluctuations up to a turbulence intensity of 0.4 and was independent of the period of fluctuation within this operating range. With a feed water of 5500 mg/L NaCl an average wind speed of 7.0 m/s or more was required to produce adequatequality permeate (<1000 mg/L) under fluctuating conditions. It is concluded that this wind-membrane system can be operated within a safe operating window with large power fluctuations, but further control strategies are required to deal with intermittent operation, especially with higher salinity feed waters.Crown

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Renewable energy powered membrane technology: The effect of wind speed fluctuations on the performance of a wind-powered membrane system for brackish water desalination

Park

Schäfer

Richards

2011

Journal of Membrane Science

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“…The small-scale database contained SEC data of desalination processes reported in peer-reviewed literature published since 2000 [16,[19][20][21][22]27,35,36,41,42,[52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61], including information for the raw water flow rate q rw (m 3 /day), product water flow rate q pw (m 3 /day), recovery R (unitless), year YR, raw water TDS c rw (mg/L), product water TDS c pw (mg/L), operating (feed) pressure P (bar), energy recovery ER (binary variable, unitless), and temperature T ( • C). These desalination factors, summarized in Table 2, represented the explanatory variables in our multiple linear regression model for small-scale desalination facilities, referred to here as the small-scale model.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting the Specific Energy Consumption of Reverse Osmosis Desalination

Stillwell

Webber

2016

Water

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Desalination is often considered an approach for mitigating water stress. Despite the abundance of saline water worldwide, additional energy consumption and increased costs present barriers to widespread deployment of desalination as a municipal water supply. Specific energy consumption (SEC) is a common measure of the energy use in desalination processes, and depends on many operational and water quality factors. We completed multiple linear regression and relative importance statistical analyses of factors affecting SEC using both small-scale meta-data and municipal-scale empirical data to predict the energy consumption of desalination. Statistically significant results show water quality and initial year of operations to be significant and important factors in estimating SEC, explaining over 80% of the variation in SEC. More recent initial year of operations, lower salinity raw water, and higher salinity product water accurately predict lower values of SEC. Economic analysis revealed a weak statistical relationship between SEC and cost of water production. Analysis of associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions revealed important considerations of both electricity source and SEC in estimating the GHG-related sustainability of desalination. Results of our statistical analyses can aid decision-makers by predicting the SEC of desalination to a reasonable degree of accuracy with limited data.

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“…Previous research by Veza et al demonstrated the feasibility of using off-grid wind-generated electricity to power electrodialysis desalination [13]. Others have reported successful implementation of desalination processes using renewable energy, such as wind and photovoltaic solar [14][15][16][17][18]. The wind-powered, Perth Seawater RO Plant in Australia opened in November 2006; it uses an 80-MW wind farm, consisting of 48 wind turbines, to power the desalination process and yields approximately 9.4 m 3 of drinkable water every minute (3.6 million gal/day) [19].…”

Section: Integrated Wind and Desalination Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Operation of wind-powered membrane systems under pressure fluctuations has been documented and pilot studies have demonstrated that, over short periods of time, membranes can be operated in a variable manner without deteriorating. The long term consequences of cycling membrane systems on and off have not been determined, yet some facilities have successfully operated using variable flow desalination equipment tied to wind turbines without batteries [15,16] and wind-photovoltaic hybrid power supplies [17,18].…”

Section: Integrated Wind and Desalination Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementation of Brackish Groundwater Desalination Using Wind-Generated Electricity: A Case Study of the Energy-Water Nexus in Texas

2014

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Growing populations and periodic drought conditions have exacerbated water stress in many areas worldwide. In response, some municipalities have considered desalination of saline water as a freshwater supply. Unfortunately, desalination requires a sizeable energy investment. However, renewable energy technologies can be paired with desalination to mitigate concern over the environmental impacts of increased energy use. At the same time, desalination can be operated in an intermittent way to match the variable availability of renewable resources. Integrating wind power and brackish groundwater desalination generates a high-value product (drinking water) from low-value resources (saline water and wind power without storage). This paper presents a geographically-resolved performance and economic method that estimates the energy requirements and profitability of an integrated wind-powered reverse osmosis facility treating brackish groundwater. It is based on a model that incorporates prevailing natural and market conditions such as average wind speeds, total dissolved solids content, brackish well depth, desalination treatment capacity, capital and operation costs of wind and desalination facilities, brine disposal costs, and electricity and water prices into its calculation. The model is illustrated using conditions in Texas (where there are counties with significant co-location of wind OPEN ACCESS Sustainability 2014, 6 759 and brackish water resources). Results from this case study indicate that integrating wind turbines and brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO) systems is economically favorable in a few municipal locations in West Texas.

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Design, simulation and economic analysis of a stand-alone reverse osmosis desalination unit powered by wind turbines and photovoltaics

Cited by 129 publications

References 4 publications

Renewable energy powered membrane technology: The effect of wind speed fluctuations on the performance of a wind-powered membrane system for brackish water desalination

Renewable energy powered membrane technology: The effect of wind speed fluctuations on the performance of a wind-powered membrane system for brackish water desalination

Predicting the Specific Energy Consumption of Reverse Osmosis Desalination

Implementation of Brackish Groundwater Desalination Using Wind-Generated Electricity: A Case Study of the Energy-Water Nexus in Texas

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