Desalination Processes’ Efficiency and Future Roadmap

Abstract

For future sustainable seawater desalination, the importance of achieving better energy efficiency of the existing 19,500 commercial-scale desalination plants cannot be over emphasized. The major concern of the desalination industry is the inadequate approach to energy efficiency evaluation of diverse seawater desalination processes by omitting the grade of energy supplied. These conventional approaches would suffice if the efficacy comparison were to be conducted for the same energy input processes. The misconception of considering all derived energies as equivalent in the desalination industry has severe economic and environmental consequences. In the realms of the energy and desalination system planners, serious judgmental errors in the process selection of green installations are made unconsciously as the efficacy data are either flawed or inaccurate. Inferior efficacy technologies’ implementation decisions were observed in many water-stressed countries that can burden a country’s economy immediately with higher unit energy cost as well as cause more undesirable environmental effects on the surroundings. In this article, a standard primary energy-based thermodynamic framework is presented that addresses energy efficacy fairly and accurately. It shows clearly that a thermally driven process consumes 2.5–3% of standard primary energy (SPE) when combined with power plants. A standard universal performance ratio-based evaluation method has been proposed that showed all desalination processes performance varies from 10–14% of the thermodynamic limit. To achieve 2030 sustainability goals, innovative processes are required to meet 25–30% of the thermodynamic limit.

The Role of Nanofluids and Renewable Energy in the Development of Sustainable Desalination Systems: A Review

“…Nanofluids support development of sustainable desalination systems as these fluids are acknowledged to overcome the thermodynamic limits which are faced by current existing desalination systems. Shahzad et al [82] developed a standard universal performance ratio-based evaluation method for comparing the different desalination processes. The study showed that merely 2.5-3% of the primary energy is consumed by thermal desalination processes when combined with power plants.…”

“…The study showed that merely 2.5-3% of the primary energy is consumed by thermal desalination processes when combined with power plants. Moreover, the performance ratio of all the existing desalination technologies was found to be in the limit of 10-14% of the thermodynamic limit which must be ameliorated up to 25-30% of the thermodynamic limit to meet the 2030 sustainability goals [82].…”

Designing an All-Carbon Membrane for Water Desalination

“…Carbon nanostructures have been considered in search of suitable alternatives, but found to be rather brittle and unsuited for membrane applications [7]. There have been calls for atomic-level theoretical investigations [1] and for a paradigm shift [1,8] to achieve serious progress in water desalination.…”

Real-Time Implementation of an Expert Model Predictive Controller in a Pilot-Scale Reverse Osmosis Plant for Brackish and Seawater Desalination

“…Consequently, the costs of water and energy consumption grow [17]. As seawater RO desalination plants turn more complex, the control theory allows the estimation of uncertainties, the determination of risks and safety measures, and the design of robust and reliable control systems [38][39][40].…”