Reduced desalination carbon footprint on islands with weak electricity grids. The case of Gran Canaria

Cabrera, Pedro; Carta, José A.; Matos, Carlos; Rosales-Asensio, Enrique; Lund, Henrik

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.122564

Cited by 5 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…In addition to technical advancements in materials and machinery, it is imperative to assess the potential application of promising future strategies aimed at minimizing fossil fuel energy consumption to mitigate the environmental impact associated with this energy source. This can be achieved through the utilization of renewable energies [41][42][43][44][45] or alternative and/or plant-based fuel sources such as green hydrogen [46,47], biomethane, ammonia (NH3) [48], bioethanol, and biodiesel [49], among others.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cost Studies of Reverse Osmosis Desalination Plants in the Range of 23,000–33,000 m3/day

Feo-García,

Pulido-Alonso,

Florido-Betancor

et al. 2024

Water

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The analysis of energy consumption in reverse osmosis desalination plants is the most important and relevant factor to study, because this parameter indicates the level of efficiency and competitiveness of the plant. The direct consequence of the high specific energy consumption (SEC) of a desalination plant in the production of water is one of the main obstacles to the exponential expansion of this technology worldwide. The methodological procedure used to carry out the work is based on the analysis of energy consumption, maintenance costs, staff, membranes, and reagents of three desalination plants with a production of more than 23,000 m3/day located in the Canary Islands (Spain); all data are obtained from real analyses collected “in situ” from 2015 to 2018. One of the main objectives of the current research on desalination plants is to reduce the SEC of seawater desalination plants (SWRO), incorporating energy recovery systems (ERS) and high efficiency pumps (HEP), and to implement different operational configurations with the aim of minimizing the energy requirements necessary to obtain a good product quality at minimum production cost.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cost Studies of Reverse Osmosis Desalination Plants in the Range of 23,000–33,000 m3/day

Feo-García,

Pulido-Alonso,

Florido-Betancor

et al. 2024

Water

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“…It is estimated that a total of 76 million tons of CO 2 are emitted by the operational desalination plants worldwide, and this number is likely to increase to 218 million tons by 2040. 7 Thus, there is an urgent need for a sustainable and efficient desalination technology for freshwater production to address these persistent challenges, including complex waterenergy-nexus. 8 Desalination processes are classified into membrane and thermal based operations.…”

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar-Driven Thermal and Mechanical Vapor Compressor Integrated Desalination System: Zero Emission, High Yield, and Cost Reduction

Mukherjee,

Jana

2024

ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng.

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Water scarcity has become one of the top risks, along with global warming, primarily caused by increasing energy usage. The problem of desalinating water that is a highly energy intensive process gets intensified due to its complex water-energy nexus. Our key objective is to break this nexus by introducing a hybrid solar-thermal multieffect desalination system. More specifically, to unlock the thermodynamic limitation and acquire the benefits of both the thermal (TVC) and mechanical vapor compressor (MVC), an attempt is made to hybridize them for integration with the multieffect distillation (MED) that consequently enhances the yield of water. Ensuring globally optimal performance of this hybrid MED-TVC-MVC configuration, it is proposed to further integrate with a solar cell with the aim of achieving carbon neutrality at the cost of increased capital investment. Imposing a carbon tax is inevitable, and with adding this, we finally explore the techno-economic feasibility of the sustainable solar MED-TVC-MVC. This novel desalination system secures zero carbon emission with reduced freshwater production cost (FWPC) and enhanced recovery ratio with respect to the real-time MED-TVC plant.

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“…(1%) [5]. It is well known that reducing the carbon footprint in the desalination sector requires a reduction in the use of fossil fuels and, in the most optimistic of scenarios, their complete replacement with non-polluting renewable energy sources (RESs) [6]. The trend among desalination systems installed during recent years is to use energy recovery devices (ERDs) to reduce the specific energy consumption (SEC) below 3 kWh/m 3 [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this regard, there has been a growing interest on the part of the institutions that govern and manage water and energy resources on these islands in projects that use RESs to power desalination technologies. In this sense, the level of technological advancement achieved by wind-based energy systems, readily accessible in the market with a diverse range of rated powers, has resulted in a remarkable surge in their global installation, both onshore and offshore [6,9]. Presently, wind technology stands out as one of the most economically viable renewable energy options, boasting energy prices from newly established wind farms that can rival those of conventional power generation systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to Ali Abdelkareem et al [10], the majority of studies in the literature have employed wind power in conjunction with desalination systems driven either mechanically or electrically, as these systems prove to be more compatible for integration with wind power. Additionally, in recent years, diverse scientific studies have also been published proposing developments along this line [6,10,11]. Many of these are theoretical and simulate desalinated water production on islands with the participation of renewables [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Wind-Powered Desalination on Islands: A Review of Energy–Water Pathways

Matos,

Cabrera,

Carta

et al. 2024

JMSE

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Water scarcity is a global problem that particularly affects islands located in arid regions or regions with limited water resources. This issue has prompted the development of non-conventional water sources such as fossil fuel-powered desalination systems. Concern about the high energy and environmental costs associated with this type of facility has created the ideal framework for the proliferation of desalination projects powered by renewable energies, especially wind energy due to the multiple advantages it offers. This article provides a bibliometric analysis to identify the advances made in wind-powered desalination on islands. While many studies explore wind-powered desalination, none compile references specific to islands. This paper analyses islands’ desalination needs and showcases wind-powered systems, exploring their types and uses. Firstly, the most relevant international scientific journals are identified to allow the subsequent selection and quantitative and qualitative analysis of articles directly dealing with wind-powered desalination systems. A total of 2344 articles obtained from the Scopus database were analyzed, of which 144 including 181 case studies were selected. Among the results of this study, an increasing year-on-year trend is observed in the number of published studies tackling wind-powered desalination. Finally, this paper presents a series of maps showing the most relevant facilities, projects, and data in this field, and provides an overview of the lessons learned in the decarbonization of desalination.

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Reduced desalination carbon footprint on islands with weak electricity grids. The case of Gran Canaria

Cited by 5 publications

References 46 publications

Cost Studies of Reverse Osmosis Desalination Plants in the Range of 23,000–33,000 m3/day

Cost Studies of Reverse Osmosis Desalination Plants in the Range of 23,000–33,000 m3/day

Solar-Driven Thermal and Mechanical Vapor Compressor Integrated Desalination System: Zero Emission, High Yield, and Cost Reduction

Wind-Powered Desalination on Islands: A Review of Energy–Water Pathways

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