Seawater desalination through reverse osmosis driven by ocean thermal energy conversion plant: Thermodynamic and economic feasibility

Liponi, Angelica; Baccioli, Andrea; Candeas, David Vera; Ferrari, Lorenzo

doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2022.118694

Cited by 15 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…OTEC capitalizes on the thermal differential between surface water and deep ocean water, requiring a minimum difference of 20 • C (Fujita et al, 2012;International Renewable Energy Agency [IRENA], 2014;Vega, 2014;Osorio et al, 2016;Langer et al, 2020;Liponi et al, 2022). In instances where the temperature differential does not reach 20 • C, additional measures can be taken to increase the difference (Fujita et al, 2012).…”

Section: Detail To Understand Key Programmatic Elementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In an open-loop system, the working fluid can be ocean water, which is flash-evaporated into desalinated water vapor that can be condensed and used as a drinking water source (Vega, 2002(Vega, , 2014; Figure 3). OTEC is particularly valuable on small islands as an energy source that also co-generates potable water, when sea water is used as the working fluid and the water vapor is converted into freshwater (Fujita et al, 2012;Muralidharan, 2012;Liponi et al, 2022).…”

Section: Detail To Understand Key Programmatic Elementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To address shortages in the natural freshwater supply and to aid small islands with meeting the demand for fresh water, reverse osmosis is often used on island locations to desalinate ocean water for drinking. However, this process is very energy intensive and can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions on islands that disproportionately experience the effects of climate change (Li et al, 2018;Liponi et al, 2022).…”

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Interventions and solutions for water supply on small islands: The case of New Providence, The Bahamas

Welsh

Bowleg

2022

Front. Water

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Small island nations make up more than one-quarter of the countries on earth, yet information on the limitations of the hydrologic cycle in small islands and strategies to address freshwater availability are lacking. Typically, all islands are characterized by their limited supply of freshwater, and their governments commonly rely on large-scale interventions to provide residents with potable water. The island of New Providence in The Bahamas is home to the capital city of Nassau and almost three-quarters of the country's population. New Providence has a long history of hydrologic interventions to supply domestic and industrial water. Historic groundwater sources have been over-extracted to severe levels of salinization, and some groundwater aquifers have not recovered after more than 8 years later. Fresh water was barged in from the larger Andros Island for ~40 years, which ultimately became insufficient to meet demand on New Providence. In addition to an aggressive Non-Revenue-Water (NRW) Program, desalination of ocean water via diesel-operated reverse osmosis plants has served as the primary source of potable water for the island. Present concerns have grown due to its contributions to greenhouse gas emissions. The Bahamas is also investigating alternative mechanisms for providing clean drinking water to the country, with Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) under consideration to co-generate clean energy in addition to drinking water. This article reveals that historic interventions to source drinking water for New Providence Island have proven to be unsustainable and ultimately have threatened the freshwater availability. Current efforts to investigate drinking water provision through OTEC are promising, particularly for the potential co-generation of energy and to promote sustainable development. This solution may be promising for other small islands where development is often challenged by water availability and sustainable energy provision.

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Section: Detail To Understand Key Programmatic Elementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Detail To Understand Key Programmatic Elementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Interventions and solutions for water supply on small islands: The case of New Providence, The Bahamas

Welsh

Bowleg

2022

Front. Water

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Addressing Freshwater Scarcity and Hydrogen Production: Offshore Wind and Reverse Osmosis Synergies

Ishaq,

Crawford

2024

Advanced Sustainable Systems

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The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources is imperative to mitigate climate change and achieve sustainable development goals (SGDs). Hydrogen, as a clean energy carrier, holds great potential for decarbonizing various sectors, yet its production remains predominantly reliant on fossil fuels. This study explores a novel approach to sustainable hydrogen production by integrating offshore wind energy with reverse osmosis (RO) desalination technology. The proposed configuration harnesses offshore wind power to energize both a RO desalination system and water electrolysis unit. Initially, the wind energy powers the RO desalination process, purifying seawater, and then desalinated water is directed to water electrolysis system for generating green hydrogen directly from seawater. The resulting renewable hydrogen holds potential for diverse applications, including marine industries, and can be transported onshore as needed. The RO system is configured to treat 20 kg s−1 of seawater with a salinity of 35 000 ppm, aiming for a high recovery ratio and reduced freshwater salinity. A pressure exchanger (PX) is integrated to recover energy from high‐pressure brine stream and transfer it to the low‐pressure feed water, thus reducing the overall energy consumption of the RO process. The concentrated brine extracted from RO desalination is proposed to be utilized for the production of sodium hydroxide that can further pretreat incoming seawater and enhance the effectiveness of the filtration process by mitigating membrane fouling. This pressure exchanger increases the energy efficiency of the RO system from 63.1% to 64.0% and exergetic efficiency from 13.9% to 18.2% increasing the overall first and second law efficiencies to 37.9% and 33.5%. By leveraging offshore wind power to drive RO desalination systems, this research not only addresses freshwater scarcity but also facilitates green hydrogen generation, contributing to the advancement of renewable energy solutions and fostering environmental sustainability.

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Basic design optimization of power and desalinated water for hybrid cycle ocean thermal energy conversion system integrated with desalination plant

Azmi,

Yasunaga,

Fontaine

et al. 2024

J Mar Sci Technol

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Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is a heat engine application that utilizes the Rankine cycle to extract energy from the thermal gradient between surface seawater and deep seawater. Hybrid cycle OTEC (H-OTEC) is a combination of an open cycle desalination system and a closed-cycle power generation system that leverages the features of both cycles. Unlike other desalination technologies that require extensive energy to operate, H-OTEC relies entirely on renewable energy. In addition, a desalination plant can be coupled with the H-OTEC system (H-OTEC + D) to improve its performance. Conventionally, the total heat transfer area of heat exchangers per net power is used as an objective function to achieve optimal performance with the lowest capital expenditure cost. The proposed objective function, unlike the conventional one, considers both power and water. In this study, the optimization of H-OTEC + D and H-OTEC is carried out by minimizing the proposed objective function, considering several independent variables. The performance of both systems is evaluated in terms of the objective function, power consumption, seawater flow rates, and desalination ratio. The findings also indicate the effectiveness of the proposed objective function over the conventional one as an effective tool for maximizing power and desalinated water generation.

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Seawater desalination through reverse osmosis driven by ocean thermal energy conversion plant: Thermodynamic and economic feasibility

Cited by 15 publications

References 28 publications

Interventions and solutions for water supply on small islands: The case of New Providence, The Bahamas

Interventions and solutions for water supply on small islands: The case of New Providence, The Bahamas

Addressing Freshwater Scarcity and Hydrogen Production: Offshore Wind and Reverse Osmosis Synergies

Basic design optimization of power and desalinated water for hybrid cycle ocean thermal energy conversion system integrated with desalination plant

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