Techno-Economic Analysis of a Solar Thermal Plant for Large-Scale Water Pasteurization

Abstract

Water pasteurization has the potential to overcome some of the drawbacks of more conventional disinfection techniques such as chlorination, ozonation and ultraviolet radiation treatment. However, the high throughput of community water systems requires energy-intensive processes, and renewable energy sources have the potential to improve the sustainability of water pasteurization plants. In case of water pasteurization by solar thermal treatment, the continuity of operation is limited by the intermittent availability of the solar irradiance. Here we show that this problem can be addressed by a proper design of the plant layout, which includes a thermal energy storage system and an auxiliary gas boiler. Based on a target pasteurization protocol validated by experiments, a complete lumped-component model of the plant is developed and used to determine the operating parameters and size of the components for a given delivery flow rate. Finally, we report an economic analysis of the proposed plant layout, which allows its optimization for different scenarios based on two design variables, namely the solar multiple and the duration of the thermal energy storage. Based on the analyzed cases, it is found that the proposed plant layouts may yield a unit cost of water treatment ranging from ≈32 EUR-cents m−3 to ≈25 EUR-cents m−3.

Data-driven appraisal of renewable energy potentials for sustainable freshwater production in Africa

“…Although desalination is a good option for mitigating physical freshwater scarcity, it remains an energy intensive process [178]. Renewable sources of energy have been studied to improve the energy sustainability of conventional desalination and water treatment technologies [179,180]. Photovoltaic and wind power generation have been proposed to supply electricity with reverse osmosis or electrodialysis desalination systems [181], whereas solar thermal and waste heat recovery to power evaporation-driven distillers (e.g., multi-stage flash distillation, multiple-effect distillation, membrane distillation) [182].…”

Enhanced latent thermal energy battery with additive manufacturing

“…Thermal energy storage (TES) is crucial for enhancing sustainability in various sectors, such as solar [1][2][3][4][5] and automotive [6,7] industries, enabling efficient utilization of intermittent heat sources. Latent TES, based on phase change materials (PCMs), offers higher energy density and precise heat release control compared to sensible TES [8,9].…”