Development of a reliable low-cost reverse osmosis desalination unit for remote communities

Robinson, Rod; Ho, G.; Mathew, K.

doi:10.1016/0011-9164(92)80020-a

Cited by 51 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…This is because systems designed to operate in remote regions with renewable energy have different design criteria to those used for conventional systems. Rather than designing for the maximum water flux with high pressure, recovery and salt rejection, the most important factors for designing these systems are the energy requirements and robust long term operation [20]. The energy required determines the size of the renewable energy generator which translates directly into the capital cost of the system.…”

Section: Operating Characteristics Under Steady-state Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The majority of the small-scale (permeate production ≤25 m 3 /day) wind-membrane systems that have been developed either used the electrical output from a horizontal axis wind turbine with energy storage in batteries [14][15][16][17][18], or the mechanical output from multi-vaned windmills with a pressure vessel as the buffer for fluctuations [19,20]. Whilst the use of deep-cycle lead acid batteries can enable uninterrupted operation, they result in increased capital and operational costs as well as lower system efficiency [3] and decreased robustness [21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Renewable energy powered membrane technology: The effect of wind speed fluctuations on the performance of a wind-powered membrane system for brackish water desalination

Park

Schäfer

Richards

2011

Journal of Membrane Science

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a b s t r a c tA wind-powered reverse osmosis membrane (wind-membrane) system without energy storage was tested using synthetic brackish water (2750 and 5500 mg/L NaCl) over a range of simulated wind speeds under both steady-state and fluctuating conditions. The parameters varied were: (i) average wind speed from 3.7 (system start-up) to 8.7 m/s; (ii) wind turbulence intensity from 0.0 (steady-state conditions) to 0.6 (extreme fluctuations); and (iii) period of oscillation from 15 to 90 s. With a feed water of 2750 mg/L NaCl, the wind-membrane system produced good-quality permeate (<600 mg/L) over the full range of wind speeds and fluctuations. The system performance (in terms of permeate flux and NaCl concentration) at average wind speeds of 7.0 m/s or more was unaffected by fluctuations up to a turbulence intensity of 0.4 and was independent of the period of fluctuation within this operating range. With a feed water of 5500 mg/L NaCl an average wind speed of 7.0 m/s or more was required to produce adequatequality permeate (<1000 mg/L) under fluctuating conditions. It is concluded that this wind-membrane system can be operated within a safe operating window with large power fluctuations, but further control strategies are required to deal with intermittent operation, especially with higher salinity feed waters.Crown

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Section: Operating Characteristics Under Steady-state Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Renewable energy powered membrane technology: The effect of wind speed fluctuations on the performance of a wind-powered membrane system for brackish water desalination

Park

Schäfer

Richards

2011

Journal of Membrane Science

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“…Pioneer works on RO plants powered by wind energy are [8,[19][20][21][22][23]. More recent works are for example [24][25][26][27].…”

Section: Approach and Project Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal systems engineering and control co-design for water and energy production: A European project

Gambier

Wolf

Miksch

et al. 2009

Desalination and Water Treatment

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ab s t r ac tFresh water and energy are essential resources, which have become expensive and scarce. Moreover, their production requires nowadays high technologies and multidisciplinary advanced research. In order to combat this problem, the European Commission supports cooperative research activities in the mentioned areas by means of research grants. Open Gain is a cooperation project financed by the European Commission, whose main objective is to develop optimal systems engineering methods with embedded automation for reverse osmosis desalination plants powered by renewable energies. Thus, the present paper describes objectives, the consortium, work packages and dissemination plan of Open Gain as an example of narrow cooperation between Europe and the Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPC).

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“…Over many years, water pumping systems powered by photovoltaic (PV) modules have proven to be extremely reliable, and are able to provide water in remote areas for the lowest costs [9]. Consequently, many examples of photovoltaic powered reverse osmosis (PV-RO) treatment systems can be found in the literature [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. The successful adaptation of such systems to remote locations, where maintenance facilities are generally not available, is largely a question of robust system design and socio-economic integration.…”

Section: Small Treatment Systems Combining Membranes and Solar Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

Membranes and renewable energy — a new era of sustainable development for developing countries

Schäfer

Broeckmann

Richards

2005

Membrane Technology

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This article outlines the combination of a small scale hybrid ultrafiltration and nanofiltration/reverse osmosis system with solar energy. The system is targeted to remote communities with access to either contaminated surface or brackish water. The treatment accomplishes dual barrier disinfection, desalination, and removal of trace contaminants such as arsenic. Investigation of the system is carried out for a variable power source that leads to fluctuations in feed flow and recovery. Those variations may affect water quality and fouling and to ensure satisfactory performance in locations far from qualified maintenance personnel this information needs to be integrated into process design and operation procedures. The system exhibits a very low specific energy consumption and is able to desalinate brackish water to drinking water guidelines. Trace contaminant removal is under investigation and results are not presented in this paper.

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Development of a reliable low-cost reverse osmosis desalination unit for remote communities

Cited by 51 publications

References 3 publications

Renewable energy powered membrane technology: The effect of wind speed fluctuations on the performance of a wind-powered membrane system for brackish water desalination

Renewable energy powered membrane technology: The effect of wind speed fluctuations on the performance of a wind-powered membrane system for brackish water desalination

Optimal systems engineering and control co-design for water and energy production: A European project

Membranes and renewable energy — a new era of sustainable development for developing countries

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