Due to current water stress, there is a problem with hygiene and sanitation in many parts of the world. According to predictions from the United Nations, more than 2.7 billion people will be challenged by water scarcity by the middle of the century.
The water industry is increasingly interested in desalinating the sea, ocean, and brackish water. Desalination processes are widely classified as thermal or membrane technologies. In the Middle East, thermal desalination remains the primary technology of choice, but membrane processes, for example, reverse osmosis (RO), have evolved rapidly and in many other parts of the world are currently even surpassing thermal processes.
Desalination, without a doubt, will play a significant role in the supply of potable water, even in areas which are now enjoying enough water availability. It is time to address the limitations of desalination that hamper its widespread utilisation, mainly energy and cost.
In this publication, we have brought together recent studies dealing with the problem of water scarcity through desalinisation.
This paper:
- reviews the renewable energy source, the technology, desalination systems, and their possible integration with renewable energy resources and their cost.
- suggests that the most practical renewable desalination techniques to be used are the solar photovoltaic integrated RO desalination process, the hybrid solar photovoltaic-wind integrated RO desalination process, the hybrid solar photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) integrated RO desalination process, and the hybrid solar photovoltaic-thermal effect distillation (PVT-MED) desalination process.
- Concludes that solar photovoltaic integrated RO desalination process, hybrid solar photovoltaic-wind integrated RO desalination process, hybrid solar photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) integrated RO desalination process, and hybrid solar photovoltaic-thermal multi-effect distillation (PVT-MED) desalination process are the leading methods in the desalination market and extensive studies are carried out to increase efficiency and reduce investment costs for these processes.
Congratulations to Jan Staš and other authors!
You can read the full paper HERE.
