Direct use solar energy to produce distillate directly in the solar collector requires large land areas and has a relatively low productivity indirect combining conventional desalination techniques smallscale production due to its relatively low cost. Thermal systems and desalination plants volume 1 no. Thermal systems and desalination plants solar energy conversion and photoenergy systems. Saltwater is desalinated to produce water suitable for human consumption or irrigation. Solar desalination as an adaptation tool for climate. An overview of solar thermal desalination technologies. Solar thermal desalination applying the meh method water desalination by multiple evaporation of salty waters and consecutive condensation of the generated humidity energy recovery by sophisticated arrangement of condensation evaporation unit required process energy is low temperature heat at 80 c 175 f 20 dr. In indirect systems, solar energy is used either to generate the. Solar powered desalination unit, device that transforms salt water into drinking water by converting the suns energy to heat to drive the desalination process. Results of experiments carried out on these systems show the increase of the itg system efficiency compared to bettaque system, 29% against 16%, and a productivity of 1 lm 2 day against 22. Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water.
Solar thermal desalination as a nonlinear optical process pnas. Desalination systems are of two broad types, based upon either thermal. Solar distillation is one of the solutions of getting potable water using solar energy. There are two major types of desalination technologies around the world, namely membrane desalination and thermal desalination. C process heat there are commerciallyavailable solar thermal systems that produce these temperatures, but they have significant drawbacks, including. Thermal solar desalination technologies for smallscale. Lists a comprehensive record of seawater and fresh water. Solar desalination mimics earths natural water cycle and has been practiced by humans since ancient times. The two main techniques for the desalination process are. The majority of the desalination systems either require thermal or electrical energy input that is harnessed from solar energy and, therefore, there has been a lot of emphasis on solar based systems photovoltaic pv systems and concentrated solar thermal collectors recently due to depleting fossil fuels and their detrimental effects on the. Separated systems are known as indirect solar desalination 16, in which the thermal energy from the sun is used for either. Primary methods of desalination, or removing salt from water, include thermal processes, such as distillation, and membrane processes, such as reverse osmosis and electrodialysis.
Direct solar desalination systems combine solar energy collection. The united states reached peak oil production in 1970, and there is. Decentralized solar powered water desalination systems offer independence and help to avoid being taken hostage by price raises from the utility or water company. Renewable energypowered desalination plants operate with either a mechanical process or a thermal distillation process. The reflectorevaporator tube assembly is mounted on a horizontal open grid platform which may support a plurality of parallel reflectorevaporator tube assemblies. Includes detailed descriptions and design of all types of solar thermal desalination systems. Solar energy desalination technology hongfei zheng auth. Solar thermal desalination for decentralized production of. An efficient solar thermalpowered evaporation system for.
There is an increasing demand for advancing conventional desalination technologies and developing novel solar powered desalination processes. Introduction the lack of potable water poses a big problem in arid regions of the world where freshwater is becoming very scarce and expensive. A special part is dedicated to solar driven desalination analyzing the best combinations of desalination installations to solar energy collectors. Desalination systems are of two broad types, based upon either thermal distillation or membrane separation. Production by indirect method is dependent on the efficiency of the plant and the cost per unit produced is generally reduced by an increase in scale. Pdf thermal models are having great benefit of expecting the performance of effectively designed solar stills before its fabrication. In some cases, concentrated solar power for thermal desalination or electricity generated by the photovoltaic plants for membrane desalination systems can be used in arid areas. Most of the desalination techniques utilize energy from the nonrenewable energy sources. Solar desalination is a technique to produce water with a low salt concentration from seawater or brine using solar energy. There are two common methods of solar desalination. Solar thermal technologies for seawater desalination. Solar energy the use of solar energy in thermal desalination processes is one of the most promising applications of the renewable energies. Collector technology selection and solar field design criteria for ltmed systems. Further, we consider the economics and other practical issues associated with employing solar desalination.
Separated systems are known as indirect solar desalination 16, in which the thermal energy from the sun is used for either heating the seawater or generating steam in. Special methods and types used in solar desalination are introduced, providing new thoughts, concepts, and feasible solutions in the desalination field, along with the thermal and economic efficiency relating to current technology. Mar 04, 2015 solar desalination solar desalination is a technique to desalinate water using solar energy. All types of solar thermal desalination technologies are presented in detail to enable readers to comprehend the subject, from design details to enabling. All types of solar thermal desalination technologies are presented in detail to enable readers to comprehend the subject, from design details to. In the fourth topic area, the awardee will develop indepth analysis tools needed to improve solarthermal desalination. Department of energy doe announced selections for solar desalination on june 19, 2018. Methods and systems presents numerous thermal seawater desalination technologies varying from the very simple, easy to construct and operate solar stills, to the more. Solar thermal desalination technologies sciencedirect. Desalination is the process of removing salts from seawater to provide purified water for industry, irrigation and drinking. Solarpowered desalination unit, device that transforms salt water into drinking water by converting the suns energy to heat to drive the desalination process. Other considerations include the degree of purity required, scale of production and cost of chemical pretreatments.
This same principle is used in all manmade distil lation systems using alternative sources of heating. Table 2 operating parameter ranges for selected desalination systems bwro swro edr med mvc electrical energy kwh ekl 0. Methods and systems presents numerous thermal seawater desalination technologies varying from the very simple, easy to. Encyclopedia of life support systems eolss i solar energy conversion and photoenergy systems. Solar distillation unit coupled with thermal collectors, photovoltaic panels, and concentrators makes the system active and increases the distillate three to six times.
We conclude that the direct solar desalination systems using solar thermal collectors appear to be most attractive for optimization of the energyefficiency of solar desalination systems. This low production rate is explained by the low operating temperature and pressure of the steam. Desalination methods and technologies water and energy water, the raw material for desalination solar distillation solar stills membrane distillation humidification dehumidification indirect solar desalination msf, med, mvc, tvc. Reverse osmosis is the most cost effective in many applications. Direct desalination systems are collection systems that use solar energy to produce distillate directly in the solar collector whereas indirect systems combine solar energy collection systems with conventional desalination systems. In the mechanical process reverse osmosis and vapor compression, a distinction is made between networkbound and nonnetwork systems isolated systems. Desalination is a process that removes the dissolved minerals from the from feed water sources such as seawater, brackish water or even treated wastewater. Thermal solar desalination by vassilis belessiotis. Thermal solar desalination by belessiotis, vassilis ebook. With capacities ranging from 600 to 25,000 m 3 day per unit, the med units produce a reliable, lowcost stream of high purity water for power plants and. Although this creates a limitation on the system efficiency and rate of fresh water production, the simplicity of design makes passive devices applicable at the field conditions at different scales e. Methods and systems presents numerous thermal seawater desalination technologies varying from the very simple, easy to construct and operate solar stills, to the more advance membrane and indirect distillation methods.
Jul 02, 2019 in the range between 20 and 90 c, the regime of most solar thermal desalination demonstrations, the saturated vapor pressure of water can be wellapproximated by an analytical exponential relation, p sat t p 0 e. Seawater desalination with solarenergyintegrated vacuum. Thermal methods require a large input of energy to heat the water. Jun 11, 2017 most of the desalination techniques utilize energy from the nonrenewable energy sources. Solar energy desalination technology explains how to obtain clean water from sea water using solar energy.
In this chapter, the use of solar powered thermal desalination will be discussed comprehensively. Maybe as a sideeffect of this more civilized form of producing energy and water, we will also like our ancestors find another, more developed social structure, maybe a more cooperative and peaceful one. Either using the direct heat from the sun or using electricity generated by solar cells to power a membrane process. The passive methods of solar desalination do not use any heat collectors, but rather use the direct sunlight for evaporating the input water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in soil desalination, which is an issue for agriculture. We conclude that the direct solardesalination systems using solarthermal. In the third topic area, projects will develop integrated solarthermal desalination systems that can improve system efficiencies and reduce the levelized cost of water lcow. Definitely, the most problem of using renewable sources is their unsteady natures, which using storage systems or combining with other renewable sources can solve this. Solar thermal energy an industry report solar thermal technology on an industrial scale the sun is our source our sun produces 400,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 watts of energy every second and the belief is that it will last for another 5 billion years. Garciarodriguez 2002 discusses the advantages of med over msf for solar thermal driven desalination. This basic process is responsible for the hydrologic cycle. Indirect solar desalination systems comprise two sub systems. All types of solar thermal desalination technologies are presented in detail to enable readers to.
Concentrating solar power for seawater desalination. To substitute solar energy for fossil fuels, evaporation systems require input temperatures in excess of 150. The byproduct of the desalination process is brine. A solar desalination system in which fresh water is derived from sea water by focussing solar ray energy from a collecting reflector onto an evaporator tube located at substantially the focal apex of the reflector. Collector technology selection and solar field design criteria for hightemperature med systems tvc. Solar distillation using a solar still is an example of direct solar desalination. The different existing methods of solar energy utilization for seawater desalination will be discussed, which includes solar stills, solar powered. Recovery of valuables from reject brine of desalination plant 20 10. The enclosure comprising heat and mass transfer is separated from the solar collectors for heat supply of the process. Solar desalination clique solararun solar boiler and. Improvements to thermal desalination technologies and lowcost, integrated designs for solar thermal collection and storage can reduce the cost of desalination, while also enabling smaller and more portable systems. All types of solar thermal desalination technologies are presented in detail to enable readers to comprehend the subject, from design details to enabling further research to be carried out in this area. This energy can be supplied directly by some re sourcesespecially solar. Us8943850b2 us115,800 us2011115800a us8943850b2 us 8943850 b2 us8943850 b2 us 8943850b2 us 2011115800 a us2011115800 a us 2011115800a us 8943850 b2 us8943850 b2 us 8943850b2 authority us united states prior art keywords system desiccant air liquid desiccant treatment unit prior art date 20100525 legal status the legal status is an assumption and is not a.
Direct solar desalination the method of direct solar desalination is mainly suited for small production systems, such as solar stills, in regions where the freshwater demand is less than 200 m3day 18. The main thermal desalination technologies, using nondirect thermal processes, are discussed in the following section. One of the concepts is the multiple effect humidification meh method. Current designs for solar coproduction of water and electricity are considered. The article concludes by summarizing the prospects for cost ef. Indirect solar desalination employs two separate systems. Introduction water is an abundant natural resource, as approximately threequarters of the planet is covered by it. Membrane methods of desalination require energy for mechanical processes. The traditional process of desalination is distillation, i.
Thermal desalination multieffectdistillation med solutions for seawater ides med units are the industrys most reliable, robust and costefficient seawater desalination solutions. In each stage the feed water is heated by steam in tubes, usually by spraying saline water onto them. Seawater desalination technologies research office legislative council secretariat fs071415 1. Multipleeffect distillation or multieffect distillation med is a distillation process often used for sea water desalination. General advantages and disadvantages of desalination disadvantages desalination is an energy intensive process investment and operation costs are very high brine discharge can effect the environment brine discharge of brackish water desalination inside the country is difficult desalination. Integrated systems are often referred to as direct solar desalination and usually involve different types of solar stills. Flow sheets are presented of the main desalination systems and for the best combinations of conventional desalination methods with renewable energy sources, including the necessary energy consumption. Photovoltaic system for desalination pvt is a system invented by utep that combines a special kind of photovoltaic system that is cooled by desalination feed water. This study designed and tested a novel type of solar energyintegrated vacuum membrane distillation vmd system for seawater desalination under actual environmental conditions in wuhan, china. With this major challenge in mind, in this article well explore solar water desalination and how it can contribute to providing safe drinking water where its needed the most. Hybrid renewable energy systems for desalination springerlink. Thermal desalination methods use thermal energy to increase the temperature of the saline water feed.