Chapter 10 - Energy Storage for Desalination

Abstract

Desalination has become imperative as a drinking water source for many parts of the world. Owing to the large quantities of thermal energy and high-quality electricity requirements for water purification, the desalination industry depends on waste heat resources and renewable energy sources such as solar collectors, photovoltaic (PV) arrays, geothermal, and wind and tidal energy sources. Considering the mismatch between the source supply and demand and intermittent nature of these energy resources, energy storage is a must for the reliable and continuous operation of desalination facilities. Thermal energy storage (TES) requires a suitable medium for storage and circulation while the PV/wind-generated electricity needs to be stored in batteries for later use. Energy accumulation, storage, and supply are the key components of energy storage concept which improve process performance along with better resource economics, and minimum environmental impact. Similarly, the battery energy storage (BES) is essential to store electrical energy for electrodialysis, reverse osmosis (RO), and mechanical vapor compression (MVC) technologies. This chapter discusses current energy storage options for different desalination technologies using various renewable energy and waste heat sources with focus on TES and BES systems. The principles of energy storage (thermal and electrical energy) are discussed with details on the design and sizing for desalination process applications.