Energy Storage & Desalination

Abstract

In Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, about 40% of primary energy is consumed for cogeneration based power and desalination plants. In the past, many studies were focused on renewable energies based desalination processes to accommodate 5 fold increase in demand by 2050 but they were not commercialized due to intermittent nature of renewable energy such as solar and wind. We proposed highly efficient energy storage material, Magnesium oxide (MgO), system integrated with innovative hybrid desalination cycle (MEDAD) for future sustainable desalination water supplies. The condensation of Mg(OH)2 dehydration vapor during day operation with concentrated solar energy and exothermic hydration of MgO at night can produce 24 hour thermal energy for desalination cycle without any interruption. It was showed that, Mg(OH)2 dehydration vapor condensation produce 120C and MgO hydration exothermic reaction produce 140C heat during day and night operation respectively correspond to energy storage of 81kJ/mol and 41kJ/mol. In addition, the hybrid MEDAD cycle can boost water production to more than 2 fold as compared to conventional desalination processes at same operating temperature due to excellent thermodynamic synergy. We believe that the proposed energy storage driven desalination cycle is the most sustainable solution for future water supplies.