Hybrid Photovoltaic-Thermal Solar System for Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis

Abstract

In this paper, a hybrid combination of solar thermal collector and photovoltaic (PV) solar system was applied to reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plant to increase the energy efficiency and its sustainability. An experimental study was performed on 75 GPD small scale RO plant using processed brackish/saline groundwater in Kenjeran area. It shows that increasing in temperature of feed raw water results a decrease in pump pressure and the consumption of electrical power. The smallest result of pump pressure which is 40 psi and the smallest electrical power consumption which is 1.68 W were obtained when the temperature is at 40 °C. However, the quality of the product, the amount of water, and the ability of the membrane to recover salt are decreasing when the temperature of the feed water is raised. The best result was obtained at 31 °C with a TDS water product quality of 105 ppm, the amount of produced water was 36.5 L, and a salt rejection ability was 95.9%. The electrical power consumption of whole system for one day was 914.63 Watt-hours and requires six units of 155 Watt-peak capacity of PV panels.