Desalination with Renewable Energy: A 24 Hours Operation Solution

Abstract

The inevitable escalation in economic development has serious implications on energy and environment nexus. The International Energy Outlook 2016 (IEO2016) predicted that the Non Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (non-OECD) countries will lead with 71% rise in energy demand in contrast with only 18% in developed countries from 2012 to 2040. In Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC) countries, about 50% of primary energy is consumed for cogeneration based power and desalination plants. The desalination capacities are expected to increase fivefold by 2050 and renewable energy application can be one of the solution for sustainable water production. The major bottleneck in commercialization of renewable energy sources is its intermittent nature of supplies specially wind and solar. We proposed solar thermal energy storage to operate desalination system around the clock. Magnesium oxide (MgO) can be utilized as an efficient energy storage system to store solar thermal energy for off period operation. The heat generated by regeneration processes at day time and exothermic adsorption at night can operate desalination cycle 24 h. The operational temperature ranges from 120 to 140°C and energy storage 41–81 kJ/mol. It was successfully demonstrated by experimentation that MgO operated hybrid desalination cycle can achieve highest performance and lowest carbon emission. The proposed cycle can achieve sustainable water production goals.