04/00340 Water desalination by solar powered electrodialysis process: AlMadani, H. M. N. Renewable Energy, 2003, 28, (12), 1915–1924

The current paper is to investigate the shortage problem of fresh water in Libya and to propose alternative solutions by renewable and sustainable energies. This problem is not only in Libya but it is one of the most serious social and environmental challenges facing many countries in the world, especially those countries which do not have natural resources or any types of energies. Although Libya is located in a dry and semi-arid region of Africa, it is very rich in conventional energy resources, mainly the oil, and renewable energies such as solar and wind energies. In addition to that it has about 1700 km border on sea, which is very helpful to establish many desalination plants either by conventional or renewable energies. Nowadays the shortage problem of water in Libya is solved partly by ground water resources and desalination plants which are not enough. In the other hand the quantity of oil is limited to a certain period of time with other environmental impacts of this resource Here, this paper is to study the water resources as well as conventional and energy situations in Libya and suggest the most appropriate solutions for today and future by combining solar and wind energies with desalination processes. This can be done by encouraging and supporting private and de-central solar desalination technologies and establishing central desalination units for high productivity by using solar thermal or electrical processes.

In today’s present world, billions of people live without reliable access to clean drinking water, and as populations continue to grow, freshwater sources begin to disappear at an equally rapid pace. In an effort to combat these issues, desalination has been introduced as a solution to abstract water from untouched resources. However, while desalination can produce additional potable water, it is also heavily criticised for its flaws; namely cost, energy consumption, and environmental pollution. Thus, in order to promote desalination as a sustainable solution for both the present day and future, improvements need to be implemented to produce less costly, more energy efficient, and environmentally friendly desalination plants. This paper reviews all of the current desalination methods in today’s global market, evaluating which methods are most sustainable for the future of desalination. Options for renewable energies to replace fossil fuels are also studied, as well as various brine disposal methods which can produce more environmentally safe and sustainable desalination facilities. Among the literature reviewed, reverse osmosis was found to be the world’s most sustainable method of desalination due to its energy efficiency and production capacity, while solar photovoltaics were found to be the popular choice among renewable energies. Zero liquid discharge was also found to be the most environmentally friendly method of brine waste disposal, although research in the field was very limited. Each method was closely evaluated and compared among its competitors, offering a detailed perspective on the sustainable state of desalination.

Evaluation of different hybrid power scenarios to Reverse Osmosis (RO) desalination units in isolated areas in Iraq

This work suggests a solution for preventing/eliminating the predicted Sea Level Rise (SLR) by seawater desalination and storage through a large number of desalination plants distributed worldwide; it also comprises that the desalinated seawater can resolve the global water scarcity by complete coverage for global water demand. Sea level rise can be prevented by desalinating the additional water accumulated into oceans annually for human consumption, while the excess amount of water can be stored in dams and lakes. It is predicted that SLR can be prevented by desalination plants. The chosen desalination plants for the study were Multi-Effect Desalination (MED) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants that are powered by renewable energy using wind and solar technologies. It is observed that the two main goals of the study are fulfilled when preventing an SLR between 1.0 m and 1.3 m by 2100 through seawater desalination, as the amount of desalinated water within that range can cover the global water demand while being economically viable.

Renewable energy is certain to play a key role in future electricity generation due to the rapid depletion of conventional energy. Photovoltaic and wind energy are the major renewable energy sources. However, renewable energies are an inexhaustible, expensive, and unpredictable source of energy. An alternative solution is to combine one or more renewable energy with other conventional energy. In recent years, the research interest towards the utilization of hybrid energy systems in desalination plants. This paper aims to optimize several hybrid energy system models consisting of photovoltaic, wind, and the national grid in desalination plant in Tunisia. Optimization is based on the techno-economic analysis of the proposed energy system is performed by using HOMER simulation software. The simulation will be focused on the net present costs, Levelized cost of energy, produced excess electricity, the Renewable Fraction of Energy, and the reduction of CO2emission for the hybrid energy configurations. Results show that the system photovoltaic, wind, and the national grid is the best energy system installed in the desalination plant.

In order to reduce fossil energy consumption at desalination plants, it has become necessary to replace fossil energy with clean energy. Currently, the reverse osmosis systems connected to solar energy is a promising technology for desalination of seawater / brackish water, especially in arid and semi-arid areas that have a large solar deposit and are remote from the public grid. The objective of this work is to show the efficiency of introducing renewable energy in brackish water desalination plants by the effect of comparing the energy consumption for a system without renewable energy source and system powered by the photovoltaic system (solar energy). As well as a program developed on Matlab software environment in order to, optimize the energy consumption of a desalination plant for the proposed plant is about 0.1269 kWh/m3.

Reverse osmosis desalination facilities operating on microgrids (MGs) powered by renewable energy are becoming more significant. A leader-follower structured optimization method underlies the suggested algorithm. The desalination plant is divided into components, each of which can be operated separately as needed. MGs are becoming an important part of smart grids, which incorporate distributed renewable energy sources (RESs), energy storage devices, and load control strategies. This research proposes novel techniques in economic saline water treatment based on MG architecture integrated with a renewable energy systems. This study offers an optimization framework to simultaneously optimize saline as well as freshwater water sources, decentralized renewable and conventional energy sources to operate water-energy systems economically and efficiently. The radial Boltzmann basis machine is used to analyse the salinity of water. Data on water salinity were used to conduct the experimental analysis, which was evaluated for accuracy, precision, recall, and specificity as well as computational cost and kappa coefficient. The proposed method achieved 88% accuracy, 65% precision, 59% recall, 65% specificity, 59% computational cost, and 51% kappa coefficient.

Optimal planning of a 100% renewable energy island supply system based on the integration of a concentrating solar power plant and desalination units

Fresh water production is one of the main concerns in the new century. Population grows fast and potable water resources are decreased. In the other hand energy crises would also be another issue that must be well addressed by the politicians and also scientists. Developing desalination plant with using renewable energy (particularly solar energy) is one of the important options to overcome these concerns. Thus many researchers have been working on different desalination plants to find the best conditions and to realize the most efficient performances for different cycles. Different approaches have been used to achieve the most efficient conditions or to find the optimum operation and design conditions. Some of the researchers used parametric study approach while many other adopted different conventional optimization algorithms for these tasks. The algorithms such as gradient based algorithm, genetic algorithm, search and pattern algorithm and neural network method have been used in the field of desalination. For instance; Ophir and Lokiec (2005) described the design principles of a MED plant and various energy considerations that result in an economical MED process and plant. Kamali and Mohebbinia (2007) showed that parametric study as one of the optimization methods on thermo-hydraulic data strongly helps to increase GOR value inside MED-TVC systems. Shamel and Chung (2006) used parametric study to find the optimum condition of a Reverse Osmosis (RO) system for sea water desalination. Metaiche et al (2008) developed optimization software, Desaltop, for RO system for water desalination. They used genetic algorithm to find suitable operating parameters and also to find appropriate type of membrane. Al-Shayji (1998) used neural network method for optimization of large-scale commercial desalination plants. Djebedjian et al. (2008) used genetic algorithm for optimization of a reverse osmosis desalination system. Mussati et al. (2003) used an evolutionary algorithm for the optimization of Multi Stage Flash (MSF) system. Finding the optimum conditions is a major challenge on the desalination plant studies. The plant performance depends on several different variables and constraints that need exhausting efforts to find the optimum conditions. This chapter introduces Design of Experiment (DOE) method as a statistical tool for optimization of desalination systems. Thus two different desalination plants; Multi-Effect Desalination (MED) system and solar desalination using humidification–dehumidification cycle (SDHD) have been considered to show the ability of DOE method for optimizing such systems. These both desalination plants could use the low graded heating energy sources

The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources is imperative to mitigate climate change and achieve sustainable development goals (SGDs). Hydrogen, as a clean energy carrier, holds great potential for decarbonizing various sectors, yet its production remains predominantly reliant on fossil fuels. This study explores a novel approach to sustainable hydrogen production by integrating offshore wind energy with reverse osmosis (RO) desalination technology. The proposed configuration harnesses offshore wind power to energize both a RO desalination system and water electrolysis unit. Initially, the wind energy powers the RO desalination process, purifying seawater, and then desalinated water is directed to water electrolysis system for generating green hydrogen directly from seawater. The resulting renewable hydrogen holds potential for diverse applications, including marine industries, and can be transported onshore as needed. The RO system is configured to treat 20 kg s−1 of seawater with a salinity of 35 000 ppm, aiming for a high recovery ratio and reduced freshwater salinity. A pressure exchanger (PX) is integrated to recover energy from high‐pressure brine stream and transfer it to the low‐pressure feed water, thus reducing the overall energy consumption of the RO process. The concentrated brine extracted from RO desalination is proposed to be utilized for the production of sodium hydroxide that can further pretreat incoming seawater and enhance the effectiveness of the filtration process by mitigating membrane fouling. This pressure exchanger increases the energy efficiency of the RO system from 63.1% to 64.0% and exergetic efficiency from 13.9% to 18.2% increasing the overall first and second law efficiencies to 37.9% and 33.5%. By leveraging offshore wind power to drive RO desalination systems, this research not only addresses freshwater scarcity but also facilitates green hydrogen generation, contributing to the advancement of renewable energy solutions and fostering environmental sustainability.

V-7-100 - Petroclival meningloma. Presigmoid approach

Chapter 15 - Environmental Life Cycle Analysis of Water Desalination Processes

Environmental life cycle assessment of seawater reverse osmosis desalination plant powered by renewable energy

Sea water desalination is a developing technology producing potable water with many applications worldwide particularly in arid areas. It is an energy intensive process and its integration with renewable energies can produce low-carbon fresh water. Among several water desalination technologies reverse osmosis is the dominant method, based on semi-permeable membranes, producing high quality clean water. The island of Crete, Greece has moderate water resources while their demand is increasing for several reasons. Unfortunatelly, its supply is adversely affected by climate crisis. One method to increase the supply of potable water in Crete is the desalination of seawater using reverse osmosis. The water desalination plants can be powered by solar and wind energy which are abundant in the island. The integration of seawater desalination with renewable energies results in the production of fresh water with low carbon impacts. A SWOT analysis of using solar and wind electricity to power the water desalination plants in Crete has been implemented. It is indicated that there are several strengths and many opportunities for developing seawater desalination plants powered by green electricity in the island. It is concluded that the use of solar-PV and wind electricity for powering seawater desalination plants in Crete reduces the carbon footpritnt of the produced drinkable water minimizing the impacts to climate change.

The supply of freshwater is becoming an issue of increasing importance in many areas in the world. In arid areas, potable water is very scarce and the lives of people in these areas strongly depend on the amount of available water. Seawater desalination requires large amounts of energy and if this energy is produced by fossil fuels, it will have adverse impact on the environment. Therefore, renewable energy systems ( RES ) coupled to desalination units offer an attractive solution. Considerable research is under way to optimize the matching of renewable energy technologies with the corresponding desalination technologies and especially to reduce the energy required per unit volume of freshwater produced. The design, simulation, and optimization of the RES powered desalination units is an aspect of high importance in the planning and design phase of a project implementing desalination powered by renewable energy technologies. Therefore, new software packages combining the design of the RES and the desalination units were developed. Finally, great attention should be given to the environmental and socioeconomic sustainability of the renewable energy powered desalination units, failing to do so can lead to negative opinion of the community toward the installation of new systems.