Abstract
• Demand for cooling and desalination is assessed in coastal cities. • Deep seawater cooling and desalination (DSCD) is described. • Synergies of combining seawater air conditioning and desalination. • Case study in Malé, Maldives, with vast potential for DSCD. • DSCD can supply 49 MW th of cooling and 1 m 3 /s of water simultaneously. In tropical climates, the energy consumed by heating, ventilation and air conditioning can exceed 50% of the total energy consumption of a building. The demand for cooling is rising steadily, driven by global warming and rapidly increasing living standards in developing economies. In addition, there is a rise in water demand due to population increase, life quality, and global warming. Coastal areas with narrow continental shelves are the perfect site for implementing Seawater Air Conditioning (SWAC), a renewable and low CO 2 emission cooling process. This article proposes the combination of SWAC and reverse osmosis (RO) desalination with the objective of providing desalinated cold water for integrated water supply and cooling services. This combination was named Deep Seawater Cooling and Desalination (DSCD). It was found that DSCD can supply 49 MWt of cooling and 1 m 3 /s of water simultaneously with an electricity consumption of 12 MWe. DSCD has several benefits compared to SWAC and RO individually, such as in how the cooling service and water supply are delivered together, reducing distribution costs. A case study was performed in Malé, Maldives. It shows that the technology has substantial potential to contribute to the sustainable development of tropical islands.
Highlights
Providing safe drinking water to the world’s population is a persis tent global challenge
To desalinate 1 m3/s of seawater, around 10 MWe of electricity is required. This flow of cold fresh water produced from the Deep Seawater Cooling and Desalination (DSCD) plant has the cooling potential of 82 MWt, which could replace an air conditioning (AC) system that requires 20 MWe
Based on the preliminary assessment of solar resources, climate change, cooling degree-days and possible desalination needs, this article presents the possibility of combining seawater desalination with seawater air conditioning (SWAC)
Summary
Providing safe drinking water to the world’s population is a persis tent global challenge. It consists of 1) a deep cold seawater inlet pipeline, 2) a warm seawater outlet pipeline, 3) a heat exchanger and 4) a district cooling system. The first section is a preliminary assessment of the solar resource, climate change, cooling demand in terms of CDD, and possible desalination needs of major coastal cities around the world. 2. Assessment of solar resource, climate change, cooling demand and possible desalination needs of coastal cities. The method employs a selection of coastal cities and an assessment of the energy demand for cooling, of the solar resource and of the possible desalination needs. The cooling demand in buildings (CDD) and the solar re sources of major coastal cities show the possibility of developing simultaneous cooling and desalination technologies
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