Solar-assisted membrane technology for water purification: a review

A shortage of safe drinking water is one of the leading problems in the world. Even in developed countries where water treatment systems are present, safe drinking water may not be always available due to the limitations of advanced water treatment techniques and high energy costs. On the other hand, many rural communities in Asia and Africa situated in semi-arid to arid regions are without reliable access to clean drinking water. It is, therefore, important to explore how solar energy can be linked to water treatment systems for clean drinking water production. Membrane-based water purification technologies play a major role in water purification by utilization of low-cost heat sources to make the process economically and technically viable for small, medium, and large-scale applications. Solar energy can be a viable source of power for water purification facilities in the coming years. Photovoltaic panels and solar thermal collectors are appropriate solar energy collectors for making a solar-powered water treatment system. Solar-assisted membrane-based water purification techniques could have a viable solution to the existing problems in semi-arid and arid regions. Due to the high quality of potable water demand, studies have been carried out on solar-assisted membrane-based technologies in water purification. This review considers basic concepts, specific energy consumption, water production cost, and applications of solar-driven membrane-based water purification technologies such as reverse osmosis, forward osmosis, electrodialysis, membrane distillation, and hybrid membrane systems. This review will allow the researchers to have a wider overview of the effort made by several investigators in the area of solar-assisted membrane-based water purification technology.