Sustainable seawater desalination through solar and wind energy integration with automated control: Experimental investigation

Abstract

The study investigates the efficiency of a hybrid solar still/reverse osmosis (RO) distillation system that is driven via wind turbines and photovoltaic (PV) panels. A self-automated control system was implemented to manage the system’s operations in real-time, ensuring robust performance. The PV panels are equipped with an automated cooling system. Solar stills are incorporated into the system with preheating and cover cooling mechanisms to maximize freshwater production. Furthermore, the RO unit is continuously fed by preheated water resulting from the PV and solar still cooling. This innovative system design allows for the utilization of both solar and wind energy, with wind turbines providing continuous power generation to ensure uninterrupted operation of the desalination process. Results show that implementing a cooling system for PV panels led to a significant improvement in efficiency. Furthermore, solar stills with preheating and cover cooling demonstrated superior freshwater production rates, achieving a remarkable 21.89 % increase over conventional systems, with daily water production increasing from 3.06 to 3.73 L/m². Similarly, RO-PV sees a notable increase in daily yield from 73.62 to 86.98 L/m², accompanied by a reduction in specific energy consumption from 2.35 to 1.99 kWh/m³. The RO-wind system exhibits enhanced daily yield, rising from 198.04 to 210.92 L/m² and decreasing specific energy consumption from 2.62 to 2.46 kWh/m³.