Portable Solar-powered Membrane Distillation System to Solve Water and Energy Problems Simultaneously

Abstract

With increasing human population, the demand for water as well as energy also increasing. This will lead to global water scarcity and energy crisis, due to limited freshwater resources and decreasing fossil fuel resources. The most potential solution to solve this water-energy problem is by using desalination technology powered by renewable energy like solar energy. This paper reports the design and development of a portable and stand-alone solar-driven desalination system. Due to portability, this system is expected to be transported to anywhere like remote areas. The system consists of three major parts, which are solar-thermal collector, solar photovoltaic (PV) panel, and Vacuum Multi-Effect Membrane Distillation (V-MEMD) unit as the main part of the system. In this paper, a small-scale operation test of the system was carried out and analyzed. The system run successfully for about 7 hours, which started at 09:00 AM. The feedwater used was brackish-water with conductivity of about 2500 μS/cm and the flowrate was maintained at 69 L/h. The system produced distillate/freshwater at average rate of 5.98 L/h. Whereas, the total distillate produced was approximately 34.8 L with conductivity of about Total Dissolved Solid (TDS) of 2.67 mg/L. The distillate flux of the current system was in the range of 3.2 – 5.2 L/m2.h.

Solar Thermal Technology Aided Membrane Distillation Process for Wastewater Treatment in Textile Industry—A Technoeconomic Feasibility Assessment

“…Distillate is produced in each evaporation-condensation stage. Seemingly, the repetitive evaporation and condensation stages for yielding water of an acceptable quality necessitates the expenditure of a high amount of thermal energy [13,14]. The high energy requirement affects its process economy.…”

“…Therefore, an attempt is made in the present investigation to study the effect of integrating solar thermal technology with a membrane distillation system on the overall energy consumption for the effective treatment of wastewater discharged by textile industries. Although process economy happens to be an important determinant of technology options for industries [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22], only limited techno-economic reports on solar thermal technology integrated with membrane distillation systems for wastewater treatment in textile industries are available in the literature. Hence, in the present investigation, an attempt is also made to study the techno-economics of wastewater treatment technology in the textile industry, which uses solar thermal energy to meet the thermal load of a typical membrane distillation system.…”

Production of Briquettes from a Blend of HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) Plastic Wastes and Teak (<i>Tectona grandis </i>Linn<i>. </i>f) Sawdust Using Different Natural Adhesives as the Binder

“…The problem is that the fossil fuel resources are depleting and eventually will cease to exist. This condition will lead to the global energy crisis [1,2]. Therefore, renewable and sustainable energy sources are urgently needed and become the main challenges for the mankind in the near future [3].…”