Stand-alone seawater RO (reverse osmosis) desalination powered by PV (photovoltaic) and PRO (pressure retarded osmosis)

A novel RO seawater desalination plant powered by PV (Photovoltaic) and PRO (PVROPRO) is proposed and the feasibility of two stand-alone schemes, SSRO (salinity-solar powered RO) operation and SRO (salinity powered RO) operation, are investigated. First, the stand-alone feasibility of the plant is thermodynamically analysed. In doing so, on the basis of mathematical models describing RO, PRO and the PV array, the stand-alone feasibility is numerically investigated and the feasible operational windows for the two operation schemes, SSRO and SRO, are identified. In addition, the detrimental effects, CP (concentration polarization) and RSP (reverse salt permeation) in the mass transfer, on the operational windows are investigated. Finally, a case study of the proposed PVROPRO plant is developed based on the hourly solar data of Perth Australia in a year. The highest weekly production rate is found to be almost 20 times the rate in PVRO in the same week. Annual production is increased more than nine times compared to the stand-alone PVRO plant. Furthermore, it is found that, due to detrimental effects the weekly PW (product water) production rate is decreased in the range of 16-20% and the overall annual reduction is 18.07%. Crown Copyright (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.