A small scale solar powered desalination system has been designed, analyzed, and optimized with regard to power needs and energy consumption. Both quantities scale linearly with the concentration of the total dissolved salt concentration (TDS) in the feed solution. The desalination of brackish water at a TDS value of 3,000 ppm requires an energy of approximately 1.5 kWh/m3. For seawater at a TDS value of 34,000 ppm, this value increases to 9.5 kWh/m3. The selected type of membrane, the system design, and, in particular, the efficiency of the high pressure pump crucially affect energy consumption. The desalination cost also has been estimated for a small scale system that linearly scale with the TDS value of the feed water. [S0199-6231(00)00104-0]

Issue Section:
Technical Papers
Keywords:
desalination, osmosis, photovoltaic power systems, power consumption, membranes, pumps
Topics:
Design, Membranes, Pressure, Reverse osmosis, Solar power, Temperature programmed desorption, Water, Seawater, Pumps, Energy consumption, Flow (Dynamics), Feedwater, High pressure (Physics)
1.
Taylor, J. S., and Jacob, E. P., 1996, Reverse Osmosis and Nanofiltration in Water Treatment Membrane Processes, J. Mallevialle et al., eds., Mc Graw-Hill, New York.
2.
Milow
,
B.
, and
Zarza
,
E.
,
1996
, “
Advanced MED Solar Desalination Plants. Configurations, Costs, Future—Seven Years of Experience at the Plataforma Solar de Almeida (Spain)
,”
Desalination
,
108
,
51
–
58
.
3.
Alawaji
,
S. H.
,
Smiai
,
M. S.
,
Rafique
,
S.
, and
Stafford
,
B.
,
1995
, “
PV-Powered Water Pumping and Desalination Plant for Remote Areas in Saudi-Arabia
,”
Appl. Energy
,
52
,
283
–
289
.
4.
Tzen
,
E.
,
Perrakis
,
K.
, and
Baltas
,
P.
,
1998
, “
Design of a Stand Alone PV-Desalination System for Rural Areas
,”
Desalination
,
119
,
327
–
334
.
5.
Keefer
,
B. G.
,
Hembree
,
R. D.
, and
Schrack
,
F. C.
,
1985
, “
Optimized Matching of Solar Photovoltaic Power With Reverse Osmosis Desalination
,”
Desalination
,
54
,
89
–
103
.
6.
Amjad, Z., 1993, Reverse Osmosis. Membrane Technology, Water Chemistry and Industrial Applications, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.
7.
Ho, W. S. W., and Sirkar, K. K., 1992, Membrane Handbook, Chapman & Hall.
8.
Sudak, R. G., 1990, Handbook of Industrial Membrane Technology, Noyel Publications, New Jersey.
9.
World Health Organization, 1984, Guidelines for drinking water quality. Vol. 1, Recommendations, Geneva.
10.
Lonsdale
,
H. K.
,
Merten
,
U.
, and
Riley
,
R. L.
,
1965
,
J. Appl. Polymer Sci.
,
9
,
1341
1341
.
11.
GP & GF Hill Pty Ltd, http://venwest.iinet.net.au.
12.
Laborde, H. M., Franc¸a, K. B., Neff, H., and Lima, A. M. N., “Optimization Strategy for a Small-Scale Reverse Osmosis Water Desalination System Based on Solar Energy,” Desalination, in press.
Copyright © 2000
 by ASME
You do not currently have access to this content.