Simultaneous production of electricity and potable water underwater by integrating concentrating photovoltaic with air gap membrane distillation

Abstract

This paper combines underwater concentrating photovoltaic and air gap membrane distillation, enabling the simultaneous production of electricity and potable water in underwater environments. Given its submerged nature and absence of land occupation, it proves particularly advantageous for land-deficient regions with limited access to electricity and potable water, such as islands and Coastal cities. It primarily comprises innovatively designed underwater solar concentrators featuring extensive light interception angles, photovoltaic modules, and membrane distillation units. It utilizes exhausted heat from photovoltaic modules to separate clean water from seawater via membrane distillation process. Furthermore, it is engineered to prevent any contact between metal materials and seawater, thereby mitigating the risk of corrosion. An experimental setup with photovoltaic cells’ areas of 0.006 m2 is developed and tested in the laboratory and under real weather conditions to assess its performance. The steady-state experimental findings indicate that as solar irradiation increases from 500 W/m2 to 900 W/m2, its electricity generation efficiency ranges from 9.0% to 9.7%, while the water yield efficiency ranges from 32.8% to 35.1%. Besides, outdoor experiments demonstrate that its power output during normal incidence ranges from 38.89 W/m2-85.56 W/m2, with an average electrical efficiency of 10.5%. Its average potable water yield reaches 0.537 kg/m2/h and average water production efficiency reaches 48.3%.