Energy, Exergy, Economic, and Environmental Analysis of the Reverse Osmosis Desalination System Using Photovoltaic Panels and Water Turbine, With the Approach of Design of Experiments

Abstract

The provision of drinking water as one of the basic human needs is of great importance now. Today, many people in different parts of the world, especially in remote and rural areas, do not have access to fresh water. These areas usually have a high potential for using renewable energy. In this article, to increase access to fresh water for people living in remote villages, a water purification system using reverse osmosis technology and solar energy as well as water turbine energy recycling has been used. By combining a reverse osmosis system, solar panel, water turbine, and battery, three different arrangements including photovoltaic/reverse osmosis, photovoltaic/battery/reverse osmosis, and photovoltaic/water turbine/battery/reverse osmosis were investigated. The results show that the most efficient mode for purifying drinking water is the photovoltaic/water turbine/battery/reverse osmosis combination. Under these conditions, the maximum and minimum water desalination amounts reached an average of 150 and 115 L/day in summer and winter, respectively. Moreover, the amount of TDS in the output water decreased to 120 ppm. During the project, approximately 48 m³ of drinking water was produced, and the electricity produced from solar panels and water turbine was 242 and 32 kWh, respectively. Moreover, according to the output data from the Minitab software, the most important parameters affecting the responses of freshwater flow rate and salinity of fresh water are feed pressure and salinity of feed water, respectively.