Modeling of Reverse Osmosis Water Desalination Powered by Photovoltaic Solar Energy

Abstract

Sea water contains 35 g/L of salt, while the maximum concentration for water intended for human consumption is 400 mg/L (fresh water). Freshwater is an essential component in our daily life; but its availability is on the decline due to population growth and climate change. To meet the demand for fresh water in regions where reserves are insufficient, several countries have adopted seawater desalination. Several physical methods allow the production of fresh water from seawater, one of them being distillation and reverse osmosis, and there is great potential to use renewable energy sources such as solar photovoltaics. In order to model the phenomenon of reverse osmosis solar-based desalination, the author presents generalities of deslination technologies in the first part of this paper. The second part is devoted to the presentation of different water desalination systems combined to renewable energy, and their benefits and drawbacks from different perspectives. In the third part, the author describes the model of a PV water desalination system using Matlab Simulink software. Based on the simulation results, the author concludes this paper with the prospects of the presented work.