Optimization of Wind Driven RO Plant for Brackish Water Desalination during Wind Speed Fluctuation with and without Battery

Abstract

This work aimed to carry out an optimal investigation of the design and operation of a large capacity reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plant powered by wind energy. Different scenarios involving two design options, such as using storage tanks or batteries, and operation options, such as using variable or fixed feed pressure, were analyzed and optimized. In addition, another operation option, of using a fixed number of RO vessels or a varying number of active RO vessels, was also considered. It was found that an optimized plant using storage tanks can provide a less expensive water cost and a less complicated plant structure. Moreover, the use of a variable feed pressure can help in attenuating the disturbances incurred in the form of wind intermittency. Conversely, the use of fixed feed pressure and constantly supplied power per vessel can run the RO units smoothly, leading to a predictable production rate. However, this requires operating the plant on different active sets of vessels each hour, which mandates additional automatic control systems. The water cost when storage tanks are utilized can be as low as 7.42 $/m3, while it is around 19.7 $/m3 when a battery is used.

Optimal Control of a Reverse Osmosis Plant for Brackish Water Desalination Driven by Intermittent Wind Power

“…The power line obtains its energy from a large number of turbines that harness the available wind power of the designated site. According to the previous optimal grassroots design of the plant [27], 100 wind turbines, 701 RO vessels, and storage tanks of 1 × 10 6 m 3 capacity are required to operate the plant at nominal capacity. The well-designed plant can provide a smooth production rate even in the presence of wind power intermittency by storing surplus water produced during high wind power periods and use it to compensate for water losses during low wind power periods.…”

“…The expression of the mathematical model governing the RO process was developed previously [28,30] and is listed here in Appendix A. More details about the overall plant, the wind power system, the RO process, the values of the physical and design parameters of the overall plant, and the method of solution of the RO model can be found in previous work [27,28].…”

“…Ali et al [27] conducted a comprehensive optimal design of an RO desalination plant powered by wind power. The grassroot design considered using storage tanks or energy storage devices to ensure smooth operation during wind power fluctuation.…”

Integration of Wind Energy and Desalination Systems: A Review Study

“…Finally, the different operational strategies discussed in the previous sections are analysed and compared in [59]. In the paper, the optimization of design and operations of a wind-powered BWRO system was presented, aiming at satisfying the water demand of Arar province in Saudi Arabia.…”

Optimization of Cogeneration Power-Desalination Plants

“…• different types of power generation plants and desalination systems-Shahzad et al [2], Eveloy et al [3], Mokhtari et al [4], Al-Zahrani et al [5], Ansari et al [6], Wu [7], Tian et al [8], Eltamaly et al, 2021 [9], Ali et al, 2021 [10], and • several computational tools-ASPEN (Luo et al [11]), EES (Tamburini et al [12]), MAT-LAB and Termoflex (Modabber and Manesh [13]), GAMS (Manassaldi et al [14], and Mussati et al [15]).…”