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Solar Powered Desalination

Energy Systems – Fall 2004

Devyn Haycox & Jeff Taisch




World Water Resources

Salt Water

Fresh Water The Worlds Water

97% Sea Water

3% Fresh Water

California Coastline

http://www.windycityart.com/californiawallpap

er/ocean%20wallpaper.jpg




World Fresh Water Resources

Ice

Ground Water

Riparian Areas

The Worlds Fresh Water

77% Ice

22% Ground Water 1% Rivers, Lakes and

Streams




DesalinationThe separation and

removal of ions, salts and

other dissolved solidsfrom water.

Heat Based

Membrane Based

Evaporation pool (Saudi Arabia)

http://www.cea.fr/gb/publications/Clefs44/an-

clefs44/clefs4481a.html



Topic

Desalination powered by

renewable energy using photovoltaic cells, possibly in

conjunction with a fuel cell.


Photovoltaic cellshttp://www.greenfield-hydroponics.com/



Motivation

People need access to clean

drinking water 1/3 of the world

population lacks this

access This is expected to affect

2/3 of the population

within 20 years


Water scarcity

http://news.bbc.co.uk



Research Question

Is it possible to build a small

scale low maintenancedesalination unit usingcurrent methods with power requirements able to besupplied by photovoltaiccells?


Photovoltaic cell

https://reader009.{domain}/reader009/html5/0418/5ad705dfd



Corollary Questions

What are the power requirements associated with

various desalination methods?

What quantity of power can be feasibly supplied by photovoltaic cells?

What are the potential geographic and temporal

limitations? At what scale would various desalination methods be

compatible with PV cells while still producing water

at a reasonable rate?




Hypotheses

If we use photovoltaic cells then we can replace

conventional power sources using current

desalination methods. If we use photovoltaic cells then we can offset a

significant portion of the conventional power

requirements using current desalination methods.

Photo voltaic cells are incompatible with current

desalination methods.




Strategies For Investigation

Research Current methods

Energy requirements

Scalability

Intermittent power compatibility

Cost comparison


Coastline

http://pantransit.reptiles.org/images/1996-07-

28/ocean-shore.jpg





Calculations and analyses

Comparison of energy requirements with power

output of various PV cells Array size

Water production rate

Water quality Effective operational range variations with time

Market analysis





Conceptual unit design and construction

Schematic

Product design

Prototype construction

Example of a desalination schematic

http://www.commonwealthknowledge.net/Desalntn/binfds3.jpg




Current Desalination Research

As fresh water scarcity concerns have risen,

research and development in desalination has

increased

A large portion of the research is being done in the

United States, the Middle East, and Japan

The most commonly used desalination method ismulti-flash distillation

The most commonly used solar powered

desalination method is passive evaporation




Current Desalination Research Examples

Boehner discusses solar powered distillation

desalination using large scale plants using a low

technology intensive system

His system is 100% powered by the sun but is an

example of passive distillation




Current Desalination Research Examples

El-Nashar is a researcher in the UAE working on

a solar assisted vacuum freezing ejector

adsorption system with a million gallon a daycapacity

This is an example of a system in which solar

power can only supply a portion of the energyrequirements needed.




Looking Towards The Future

Due to the impending global water scarcity crisis,

many human rights organizations are funding

research on desalination in order to providepeople with adequate drinking water.

Everyone need waterhttp://news.bbc.co.uk

solar powered desalination_final

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