Predicting potential of pressure retarded osmosis power for different estuaries in Turkey

Abstract

Pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) is an alternative renewable energy source recovered from the salinity gradient between the fresh water (feed solution) and salty water (draw solution). In order to implement osmotic power, the site‐specific characteristics including the river and sea salinity, annual flow rates, ecological restrictions were taken into account. This study revealed a comprehensive analysis for a theoretical potential of PRO process for different estuaries in Turkey. In this study, the power potential prediction of PRO process for the Ceyhan, Sakarya, and Meric Rivers were analyzed via Gibbs free energy calculations. The net annual energy production is projected to be 167, 164, and 208 GWh/y for Ceyhan, Sakarya, and Meric Rivers, respectively. Meric River has the highest energy production of 208 GWh/yr with 186 m3/s mean flow rate and 245 mg/L salinity. These results clearly show that Turkey's rivers having high salinity and flow rate are feasible and applicable for making the osmotic power plant economically. Thereby, it is providing essential direction to the improvement of its design, installation, and operation. The developed methodology for the evaluation of the osmotic power potential of other rivers can be considered as a basis to assess the whole potential on a worldwide level. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 38:e13085, 2019

Coupling Hydrodynamic and Energy Production Models for Salinity Gradient Energy Assessment in a Salt-Wedge Estuary (Strymon River, Northern Greece)

“…Based on annual mean discharge, a worldwide assessment of the theoretical and technical SGE in more than 30 river mouths is presented by Alvarez-Silva et al in [49] and Alvarez-Silva in [50]. Furthermore, Saki et al [51] estimated the potential of PRO power for different Turkish river estuaries, considering the variability in annual river discharge. Moreover, Sharma et al [52] investigated theoretical and technical potential foeasonal operation of the osmr power production in the Hooghly estuary, highlighting the SGE efficiency in the river-estuarine system and the coastal-estuarine system.…”

“…Summary table for SGE assessment of the Mediterranean rivers in relation to tidal range, mean river discharge (Q mean ), theoretical energy potential and technical SGE (data source:[48,51]. E net assessment was based on Equation(22).…”

Potential and analysis of an osmotic power plant in the Magdalena River using experimental field-data

“…Few investigations have been conducted regarding actual systems and considering their own unique characteristics. Ortega et al analysed studied the suitability of a Colombian river [25], Sharma et al evaluated the potential of power production in an estuary in India [26], and in Turkey other evaluations have been performed [27], [28]. Experimental data gathering at a real site would provide salinity and temperature data, including their temporal variability, necessary for determining the available salinity gradient and to estimate more accurately the operating pressure, which is one of the most important process variables, and it is key to sizing plant equipment and to the behaviour of other variables.…”