Modeling solar desalination with reverse osmosis (RO) powered by concentrating solar power (CSP) plan

Abstract

This article deals with the desalination of seawater and brackish water, which can deal with the problem of water scarcity that threatens certain countries in the world; it is now possible to meet the demand for drinking water. Currently, among the various desalination processes, the reverse osmosis technique is the most used. Electrical energy consumption is the most attractive factor in the cost of operating seawater by reverse osmosis in desalination plants. Desalination of water by solar energy can be considered as a very important drinking water alternative. For determining the electrical energy consumption of a single reverse osmosis module, we used the System Advisor Model (SAM) to determine the technical characteristics and costs of a parabolic cylindrical installation and Reverse Osmosis System Analysis (ROSA) to obtain the electrical power of a single reverse osmosis module. The electrical power of a single module is 4101 KW; this is consistent with the manufacturer's data that this power must be between 3900 kW and 4300 KW. Thus, the energy consumption of the system is 4.92 KWh/m3.Thermal power produced by the solar cylindroparabolic field during the month of May has the maximum that is 208MWth, and the minimum value during the month of April, which equals 6 MWth. Electrical power produced by the plant varied between 47MWe, and 23.8MWe. The maximum energy was generated during the month of July (1900 MWh) with the maximum energy stored (118 MWh).