An Assessment of Renewable Energies in a Seawater Desalination Plant with Reverse Osmosis Membranes

The purpose of our study was to reduce the carbon footprint of seawater desalination plants that use reverse osmosis membranes by introducing on-site renewable energy sources. By using new-generation membranes with a low energy consumption and considering wind and photovoltaic energy sources, it is...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Federico Leon, Alejandro Ramos
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: MDPI AG 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/e085b5d9a5a24a46b34b13c6a0de3fdc
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
id oai:doaj.org-article:e085b5d9a5a24a46b34b13c6a0de3fdc
record_format dspace
spelling oai:doaj.org-article:e085b5d9a5a24a46b34b13c6a0de3fdc2021-11-25T18:20:03ZAn Assessment of Renewable Energies in a Seawater Desalination Plant with Reverse Osmosis Membranes10.3390/membranes111108832077-0375https://doaj.org/article/e085b5d9a5a24a46b34b13c6a0de3fdc2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2077-0375/11/11/883https://doaj.org/toc/2077-0375The purpose of our study was to reduce the carbon footprint of seawater desalination plants that use reverse osmosis membranes by introducing on-site renewable energy sources. By using new-generation membranes with a low energy consumption and considering wind and photovoltaic energy sources, it is possible to greatly reduce the carbon footprint of reverse osmosis plants. The objective of this study was to add a renewable energy supply to a desalination plant that uses reverse osmosis technology. During the development of this research study, photovoltaic energy was discarded as a possible source of renewable energy due to the wind conditions in the area in which the reverse osmosis plant was located; hence, the installation of a wind turbine was considered to be the best option. As it was a large-capacity reverse osmosis plant, we decided to divide the entire desalination process into several stages for explanation purposes. The desalination process of the facility consists of several phases: First, the seawater capture process was performed by the intake tower. This water was then transported and stored, before going through a physical and chemical pre-treatment process, whereby the highest possible percentage of impurities and organic material was eliminated in order to prevent the plugging of the reverse osmosis modules. After carrying out the appraisals and calculating the amount of energy that the plant consumed, we determined that 15% of the plant’s energy supply should be renewable, corresponding to 1194 MWh/year. As there was already a wind power installation in the area, we decided to use one of the wind turbines that had already been installed—specifically, an Ecotecnia turbine (20–150) that produced an energy of 1920 MWh /year. This meant that only a single wind turbine was required for this project.Federico LeonAlejandro RamosMDPI AGarticledesalinationrenewable energiesreverse osmosis membranesseawaterChemical technologyTP1-1185Chemical engineeringTP155-156ENMembranes, Vol 11, Iss 883, p 883 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic desalination
renewable energies
reverse osmosis membranes
seawater
Chemical technology
TP1-1185
Chemical engineering
TP155-156
spellingShingle desalination
renewable energies
reverse osmosis membranes
seawater
Chemical technology
TP1-1185
Chemical engineering
TP155-156
Federico Leon
Alejandro Ramos
An Assessment of Renewable Energies in a Seawater Desalination Plant with Reverse Osmosis Membranes
description The purpose of our study was to reduce the carbon footprint of seawater desalination plants that use reverse osmosis membranes by introducing on-site renewable energy sources. By using new-generation membranes with a low energy consumption and considering wind and photovoltaic energy sources, it is possible to greatly reduce the carbon footprint of reverse osmosis plants. The objective of this study was to add a renewable energy supply to a desalination plant that uses reverse osmosis technology. During the development of this research study, photovoltaic energy was discarded as a possible source of renewable energy due to the wind conditions in the area in which the reverse osmosis plant was located; hence, the installation of a wind turbine was considered to be the best option. As it was a large-capacity reverse osmosis plant, we decided to divide the entire desalination process into several stages for explanation purposes. The desalination process of the facility consists of several phases: First, the seawater capture process was performed by the intake tower. This water was then transported and stored, before going through a physical and chemical pre-treatment process, whereby the highest possible percentage of impurities and organic material was eliminated in order to prevent the plugging of the reverse osmosis modules. After carrying out the appraisals and calculating the amount of energy that the plant consumed, we determined that 15% of the plant’s energy supply should be renewable, corresponding to 1194 MWh/year. As there was already a wind power installation in the area, we decided to use one of the wind turbines that had already been installed—specifically, an Ecotecnia turbine (20–150) that produced an energy of 1920 MWh /year. This meant that only a single wind turbine was required for this project.
format article
author Federico Leon
Alejandro Ramos
author_facet Federico Leon
Alejandro Ramos
author_sort Federico Leon
title An Assessment of Renewable Energies in a Seawater Desalination Plant with Reverse Osmosis Membranes
title_short An Assessment of Renewable Energies in a Seawater Desalination Plant with Reverse Osmosis Membranes
title_full An Assessment of Renewable Energies in a Seawater Desalination Plant with Reverse Osmosis Membranes
title_fullStr An Assessment of Renewable Energies in a Seawater Desalination Plant with Reverse Osmosis Membranes
title_full_unstemmed An Assessment of Renewable Energies in a Seawater Desalination Plant with Reverse Osmosis Membranes
title_sort assessment of renewable energies in a seawater desalination plant with reverse osmosis membranes
publisher MDPI AG
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/e085b5d9a5a24a46b34b13c6a0de3fdc
work_keys_str_mv AT federicoleon anassessmentofrenewableenergiesinaseawaterdesalinationplantwithreverseosmosismembranes
AT alejandroramos anassessmentofrenewableenergiesinaseawaterdesalinationplantwithreverseosmosismembranes
AT federicoleon assessmentofrenewableenergiesinaseawaterdesalinationplantwithreverseosmosismembranes
AT alejandroramos assessmentofrenewableenergiesinaseawaterdesalinationplantwithreverseosmosismembranes
_version_ 1718411351759519744