No Cover Image

Journal article 1087 views 2946 downloads

Energy for desalination: A state-of-the-art review

Haya Nassrullah, Shaheen Fatima Anis, Raed Hashaikeh, Nidal Hilal

Desalination, Volume: 491, Start page: 114569

Swansea University Author: Nidal Hilal

  • 54376.pdf

    PDF | Accepted Manuscript

    © 2020. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

    Download (4.06MB)

Abstract

The utilization of seawater for drinking purposes is limited by the high specific energy consumption (SEC) (kW-h/m3) of present desalination technologies; both thermal and membrane-based. This is in turn exasperated by high water production costs, adding up to the water scarcity around the globe. Mo...

Full description

Published in: Desalination
ISSN: 0011-9164
Published: Elsevier BV 2020
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa54376
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Abstract: The utilization of seawater for drinking purposes is limited by the high specific energy consumption (SEC) (kW-h/m3) of present desalination technologies; both thermal and membrane-based. This is in turn exasperated by high water production costs, adding up to the water scarcity around the globe. Most technologies are already working near their thermodynamic limit, while posing challenges in further SEC reductions. Understanding the current energy status and energy breakdowns of leading desalination technologies will further help in realizing limitations and boundaries imposed while working for improved system performances. This paper comprehensively reviews the energy requirements and potential research areas for reduced SEC of various thermal, membrane-based and emerging desalination technologies. For thermal desalination processes, which consume a large chunk of energy for heating, renewable energy sources can be a viable option for bringing down the energy requirements. Hence, this review also focuses on the potential of desalination-renewable energy integrations. The review extends beyond conventional energy reduction possibilities to utilizing novel, advanced membranes and innovative techniques for energy offsets. The future of desalination for optimized energy requirements is projected to include ultra-high permeability membranes, fouling resistant membranes, hybrid systems, and renewable-energy driven desalination.
Keywords: Desalination energy, SEC, Reverse osmosis, Hybrid, Renewable energy, Novel membranes, Energy recovery
Start Page: 114569