Ocean Wave Powered Reverse Osmosis Desalination: Design, Modeling and Test Validation

Abstract

Development of alternative freshwater via desalination can address water scarcity and security. Meanwhile, sustainable renewable energy sources are critical to economically realize seawater desalination. Marine renewable energy has tremendous potential to power blue economy and is co-located with seawater. This paper proposes a compact autonomous ocean-wave-powered reverse osmosis (RO) desalination system by directly pressurizing seawater using a wave energy converter (WEC). The proposed ocean-wave-powered reverse osmosis desalination system consists of an oscillating surge wave energy converter (OSWEC) hinged on the nearshore seabed with a self-rectified piston pump and a RO desalination module on the shore. Seawater is pressurized by the WEC and pumped to the RO desalination module as feed where it then produces permeate that is free of undesired molecules and larger particles. Numerical modeling of the integrated system is created, and simulation is done under realistic irregular wave conditions. Preliminary experiment was implemented in a wave tank. Both simulation result and experiment results reveal the promising integration of ocean wave energy and RO desalination.