Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) is a renewable energy technology that has to overcome several key challenges before achieving its ultimate goal of producing baseload power on a commercial scale. The economic challenge of deploying an OTEC plant remains the biggest barrier to implementation. Although small OTEC demonstration plants and recent advances in subsystem technologies have proven OTEC’s technical merits, the process still lacks the crucial operational data required to justify investments in large commercial OTEC plants on the order of 50-100 megawatts of net electrical power (MWe-net). A pre-commercial pilot plant on the order of 5-10 MWe-net is required for an OTEC market to evolve. In addition to the economic challenge,OTEC plants have potential for adverse environmental impacts from redistribution of nutrients and residual chemicals in the discharge plume. Although long-term operational records are not available for commercial sizeOTEC plants, synergistic operational data can be leveraged from the desalination industry to improve the potential for OTEC commercialization. Large capacity desalination plants primarily use membranes or thermal evaporator tubes to transform enormous amounts of seawater into freshwater. Thermal desalination plants in particular possess many of the same technical, economic, and environmental traits as a commercial scale OTEC plant. Substantial long-term economic data and environmental impact results are now widely available since commercial desalination began in the 1950s. Analysis of this data indicates that the evolution of the desalination industry could be akin to the potential future advancement of OTEC. Furthermore, certain scenarios exist where a combined OTEC-desalination plant provides a new opportunity for commercial plants. This paper seeks to utilize operational data from the desalination industry as a progressive approach towards OTEC commercialization.

Este trabalho apresenta uma configuração alternativa para a dessalinização de água e geração de energia elétrica com recurso à energia eólica. Trata-se de um modelo físico que permite armazenar água do mar ou água salobra sob a forma de energia potencial gravitacional, através do seu bombeamento até um reservatório a uma determinada altura. O bombeamento é feito com o recurso à energia do vento. Uma vez, tendo a água sida acumulada no reservatório, sua energia potencial gravitacional EPG é usada para a sua dessalinização ou/e para a geração de eletricidade. O referido modelo é semelhante a um grupo de bombas de pistões. Os pistões possuem formato especial de modo que se consiga obter pressões elevadas suficientes quer para a dessalinização de água por osmose reversa, quer para a geração de eletricidade através de turbinas Pelton. Consegue-se o movimento alternado dos pistões a partir da transferência da energia da água acumulada (EPG) através dum sistema de roldanas e contrapesos. Assim sendo, provar que o modelo é capaz de transformar a EPG de baixa pressão (inferior a 2 bar) em energia cinética de um fluxo com alta pressão (superior a 55 bar) se apresenta como o foco principal deste trabalho. Com esse foco em mira, construiu-se um protótipo com o objetivo de demonstrar a viabilidade técnica da proposta. Imagens do protótipo são apresentadas neste trabalho. Em relação à osmose reversa, a referida configuração difere do que é convencional em plantas de dessalinização que usam esse processo, pelo fato de contemplar o uso de EPG. Com o modelo proposto, consegue-se um fluxo à entrada dos módulos de membrana (ou à saída do injetor da turbina Pelton) com pressão suficiente para a osmose reversa (ou para geração de eletricidade). Em relação à captação da energia eólica para o bombeamento de água, o modelo é divido em dois sistemas.O primeiro (sistema 1) usa cataventos tradicionais e o segundo (sistema 2) aerogeradores. É feita a comparação qualitativa entre os dois sistemas com base em alguns parâmetros tais como área ocupada, versatilidade etc. / This work presents an alternative configuration for sea, and brackish water desalination by reverse osmosis and electricity generation, resorting to wind energy. It is a physical model that allows the storage of sea or brackish water as gravitational potential energy, through its pumping to a reservoir located at a certain height. The water pumping is done resorting to wind energy. Once the water is stored in the reservoir, its gravitational potential energy GPE is used for its desalination or/and for electricity generation. The referred model is similar to a group of piston pumps. The pistons have a special shape so that it is possible to achieve the high pressures that are enough, either for water desalination by reverse osmosis or for electricity generation with Pelton turbines. The alternated movement of the pistons is achieved with the energy transfer from the stored water (GPE), through a system of pulleys and counterweights. Thus, to prove that the model is capable of transforming the GPE at low pressure (below 2 bar) into kinetic energy of a flux with high pressure (over 55 bar) is the main focus of this work. Targeting that focus, a prototype was constructed with the objective of demonstrating the technical viability of the proposal. Images of the prototype will be shown in this work. In respect of reverse osmosis, the referred configuration differs from the conventional in desalination plants that use the method, in that it incorporates the use of GPE. With the proposed model, one achieves a flux at the inlet of the membranes (or at the exit of the injector of the Pelton turbine) with enough pressure for reverse osmosis (or for electricity generation). In respect of the harvesting of wind energy for water pumping, the model is divided into two systems. The first system (system 1), uses the traditional windmills and the second one (system 2), uses wind generators.In respect of the harvesting of wind energy for water pumping, the model is divided into two systems. The first system (system 1), uses the traditional windmills and the second one (system 2), uses wind generators. It is carried out a comparison between the two systems based on some parameters such as occupied area, versatility and so on.

A escassez de água nos grandes centros urbanos deve se agravar nos próximos anos. Novas fontes de água são necessárias para suprir a demanda. Nas cidades não há disponibilidade de terrenos para construção de estações de tratamento de águas e esgotos convencionais. Por isso, são necessários novos processos de tratamento. Processos de separação por membranas como osmose reversa e eletrodiálise são usados na dessalinização de águas e efluentes. Para a realização do estudo foi montada unidade de eletrodiálise em escala de laboratório. Na montagem selecionaram-se equipamentos que fossem resistentes à salinidade das soluções. As bombas magnéticas deveriam, ainda, superar a perda de cargas causada pelas membranas. As membranas foram adquiridas no exterior; os equipamentos, no mercado local. Os experimentos foram realizados em duas etapas: exploratória e comparativa. Eles seguiram os planejamentos de fatorial e do tipo Doehlert, respectivamente. Estudou-se a dessalinização de soluções aquosas unitárias (NaCl, Na2SO4, MgCl2 e KCl), com salinidade similar à água marinha (3,5%). Obtiveram-se como respostas os fluxos de sal, de água e consumo de energia em função dos fatores envolvidos no processo. Análises estatísticas propiciaram relacionar os fatores estudados com os resultados empíricos. Os fluxos salinos são proporcionais às densidade de corrente aplicadas e não apresentaram diferenças significativas entre si. Observou-se que o fluxo de água é relevante pelo mecanismo de solvatação de íons removidos e pela osmose. O consumo de energia é proporcional à densidade de corrente e maior para os sais bivalentes. / Water shortage in urban centers is expected to get worse in the next years. New water sources are necessary to meet demand. At urban area there are no available lands to build conventional water and sewage treatment plants. Therefore, new treatment processes are needed. Membrane processes like reverse osmosis and electrodialysis are used in water and wastewater desalination. A lab-scale electrodialysis unit was assembled for the study, based on a stack of electrodialysis membranes and support components that are capable of resisting solution salinity. The membrane stack was imported; the other equipment, obtained locally. The experiments were divided in two phases: exploratory and comparative. The experiments followed factorial and Doehlert designs, respectively. The desalination of aqueous solutions containing different inorganic salts (NaCl, Na2SO4, MgCl2 e KCl) in seawater salinity (3.5% mass) was studied. The responses were the salt and water fluxes and energy consumption in function of the processes variables selected. By means of a statistical analysis, it was possible to obtain the correlations for the studied factors based on the experimental results. The salt fluxes are proportional to the applied current density and they are not significantly different for the salts included in the study. It was observed that the water fluxes are relevant due to solvation of removed ions and osmosis. The energy consumption is proportional to current density and is larger for bivalent salts.

Grande parte da população rural do Semiárido brasileiro sofre com problemas de acesso à água de qualidade. A exploração da água subterrânea representa uma das principais alternativas para o abastecimento dessa parcela da população, mas muitas vezes os poços perfurados encontram-se longe da rede elétrica. A região apresenta abundante recurso solar e, assim, essa dificuldade poderia ser contornada com a utilização de sistemas fotovoltaicos de bombeamento. Mas, além da questão da energia para o funcionamento dos sistemas de bombeamento, pelo fato da maior parte do Semiárido estar localizada sobre escudo cristalino, muitos poços apresentam água com altos níveis de salinidade, o que inviabiliza a utilização desses mananciais para o fornecimento de água potável ou faz com que a população rejeite seu consumo, por conta do gosto. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo verificar se a adaptação de sistemas de dessalinização de pequeno porte disponíveis comercialmente a sistemas fotovoltaicos domiciliares pode potencializar a difusão dos sistemas fotovoltaicos de bombeamento em poços de água com alto teor de sais dissolvidos e se essa opção pode representar uma alternativa de fornecimento de água para a população rural de áreas com problemas de salinização dos mananciais de abastecimento. A opção analisada consiste em um sistema duplo de fornecimento de água, com tratamento do tipo ponto de uso da água para consumo humano. Foi verificado que os sistemas de dessalinização atualmente disponíveis no mercado podem funcionar acoplados a geradores fotovoltaicos e utilizados para fornecimento de água potável a partir de água salobra. / Much of the rural population of the Brazilian Semiarid region suffers from problems related to access of improved water quality. The exploitation of ground water is the main alternative for water supply solutions regarding this population, but often the boreholes are away from power lines. The region has abundant solar source and therefore this problem could be overcome with the use of photovoltaic pumping systems. Beyond the issue of energy for operation of the borehole systems, considering that most of the semiarid region is located on crystalline shield, many boreholes have water with high level of salinity, which hinder their use for drinking water supply solutions, as the population rejects the water because of its taste. This study aims to determine whether the adaptation of commercially available small household desalinization systems adapted to photovoltaic systems can enhance the diffusion of photovoltaic pumping systems of boreholes with high concentrations of dissolved salt, by proposing this water supply solution as an alternative for water supply systems in rural areas with problems of salinization of the main water sources. The proposed technical solution consists of a dual water supply system with the use a point of use water treatment for human consumption. It was found that desalination systems available on the market can operate coupled to photovoltaic generators and used to supply drinking water from brackish water.

O presente trabalho avaliou o desempenho de um sistema de pré-tratamento para água do mar constituído por um filtro lento de areia, com uma etapa prévia de filtração por um filtro de discos. O sistema demonstrou eficiência na remoção de fatores causadores de fouling em membranas de osmose reversa, removendo aproximadamente 97% dos sólidos suspensos totais presentes na água bruta, e gerando um filtrado com turbidez entre 0.1 e 0.2 UNT. As concentrações de microrganismos e AOC, principais fatores causadores da formação de biofouling, foram ambas reduzidas em cerca de 90%. Em sistemas de dessalinização de água do mar por osmose reversa, o pré-tratamento da água de alimentação constitui a principal estratégia no controle da formação do biofouling, que é gerado pelo estabelecimento de biofilmes sobre a superfície da membrana. A formação de biofouling gera impacto no desempenho do processo de osmose reversa e nos custos de operação. / This study evaluated the performance of a pretreatment system for seawater comprising of a slow sand filter, with a preliminary stage of filtration by disc filtration system. The system proved to be efficient in removing factors causing fouling in reverse osmosis membranes removing around 97% of the total suspended solids present in the raw water, and yielding a filtrate with turbidity between 0.1 and 0.2 NTU. The bacterial concentrations and AOC, main factors causing biofouling formation, were both reduced by about 90%. In seawater reverse osmosis systems, pretreatment of the feeded water is the main strategy to control biofouling, which is formed by the establishment of biofilms on a membrane surface. The biofouling formation produces an impact in the performance of the reverse osmosis process and operating costs.

L’eau est une ressource qui va manquer dans les prochaines années, pourtant l’eau couvre ¾ de la planète et environ 97% de l’eau sur Terre est de l’eau salée. Du fait de sa nette abondance, dessaler l’eau de mer, ou les eaux saumâtres, est une solution présentant un immense attrait. C’est dans ce contexte global que s’inscrivent ces travaux. Le but de cette thèse est de modéliser des installations de dessalement d’eau de mer, basées sur la distillation multiple-effets (MED), soumises à des régimes transitoires. Ce procédé permet d’assurer à la fois une grande flexibilité aux variations de charge et des performances énergétiques élevées. Dans le cadre de cette étude, un couplage d’une usine MED avec une source d’énergie renouvelable, donc intermittente, est envisagé. Pour étudier le potentiel et la faisabilité d’un tel couplage, un modèle dynamique représentatif des installations MED est présenté. Ce modèle permet le suivi et l’étude de toutes les variables agissant sur les performances globales de l’installation ainsi que l’identification des variables critiques pouvant nuire au fonctionnement de ces installations en régime transitoire. Ce modèle a ensuite été couplé à un modèle d’une centrale solaire à concentration afin de conclure sur le potentiel d’une telle association. Pour pouvoir assurer un fonctionnement optimal de l’installation MED en régime transitoire, une stratégie de régulation est présentée et intégrée / Demand for water will continue to increase over the next decades, leading to more stress on limited resources and ecosystems. However, ¾ of the Earth is water and 97% of it is seawater. Therefore, it is highly interesting to desalinate seawater. It is within this framework that this work was carried out. The goal of this PhD was to model desalination plants, based on the Multiple-Effect Distillation (MED) process, when they are operated under dynamic conditions. The MED plants are mature desalination processes with high energetic performances and are very flexible to load variations. For this study, a coupling between a MED plant and a renewable energy source, therefore transient, was assumed. To study the potential and the feasibility of such an association, a dynamic model representative of the MED plants was developed. With this, it is now possible to study the evolution of all the variables that have a consequence on the plant’s performances as well as to identify which variables are the most critical to the dynamic operation of the MED plant. This model was then combined with a concentrated solar power plant to conclude about the potential of this coupling. To assure an optimal operation of the MED plant under dynamic conditions, a regulation strategy was developed and implemented

Notions of connectivity and relationality increasingly pervade theories, discourses and practices of environmental governance. Recently, the concept of the 'resource nexus' has emerged as an important new framework that emphasises the interconnections, tensions and synergies between sectors that have traditionally been managed separately. Part of a broader trend towards integrated environmental governance, nexus thinking rests on the premise that the challenges facing water, energy, food and other resources are inexorably connected and contingent. Although presenting itself as a radically new framework, the nexus discourse in current form is techno-managerial in character, profoundly de-politicising, and reinforces neoliberal approaches to environmental governance. At the same time, the 'material turn' in social science research has re-engaged ideas of social, political and material relationality to understand the complexity and heterogeneity of the socio-natural condition in the twenty-first century. Although theoretically and ontologically diverse, the fields of political ecology, assemblage thinking and infrastructure studies all critically interrogate the politics of relationality. Mobilising an urban political ecology framework, and drawing on notions of emergence and distributed agency from assemblage thinking, this research examines the politics of the water-energy nexus through a critical analysis of the extraordinary emergence of seawater desalination as a significant new urban water supply for Southern California, USA, and Baja California, Mexico. Research was conducted in the San Diego-Tijuana metropolitan region, where a large desalting facility has recently been completed to supply San Diego with purified ocean water, and a larger 'binational' facility is planned in Mexico to supply both sides of the border. The research makes three broad contributions. First, to understand desalination as emerging from the historical coproduction and urbanisation of water and energy in the American West. Second, to examine the transitioning environmental politics concomitant with calls for greater understanding of interrelationality. And third, to interrogate the efficacy of technology in reconfiguring the co-constitution of water, energy and society.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Extensive research and development activities have been conducted to explore opportunities for sustainable and viable methods of producing potable water using solar energy. This project included a new configuration for the solar cooker with indirect heating, which also operates as a desalination unit. The objective was to develop a new cooking pan which could be coupled with a three-stage desalination tower. Thus, the pan could be used for cooking or as the storage tank of the desalination tower. This new pan was installed in a solar cooker with indirect heating and the complete system was tested under field conditions. The sealing was improved, and the system produced more than 5.7L, with electrical conductivity lower than 10ÂS/cm, COP, 1.77 and GOR, 0,35, values consistent with the literature and above the values obtained with the original pan. / Extensivas atividades de pesquisa e desenvolvimento vÃm sendo conduzidas para explorar oportunidades de mÃtodos sustentÃveis e viÃveis de produÃÃo de Ãgua potÃvel utilizando energia solar. Este projeto abrange uma nova configuraÃÃo para o fogÃo solar com aquecimento indireto operar tambÃm como dessalinizador. O objetivo foi desenvolver uma nova panela que pode ser acoplada com uma torre de trÃs estÃgios de dessalinizaÃÃo. Assim, a panela pode ser utilizada tanto para cozinhar ou como o tanque de armazenamento da torre de dessalinizaÃÃo. Esta nova panela foi instalada em um fogÃo solar com aquecimento indireto e todo o sistema foi testado em condiÃÃes de campo. O acoplamento foi otimizado, aumentando a produÃÃo total em relaÃÃo ao projeto anterior. O sistema produziu mais de 5,7L de Ãgua dessalinizada, com condutividade elÃtrica mÃdia abaixo de 10ÂS/cm, COP, 1,77 e GOR 0,35, valores compatÃveis com a literatura e acima dos valores obtidos com a panela original.

Este trabalho apresenta uma configuração alternativa para a dessalinização de água e geração de energia elétrica com recurso à energia eólica. Trata-se de um modelo físico que permite armazenar água do mar ou água salobra sob a forma de energia potencial gravitacional, através do seu bombeamento até um reservatório a uma determinada altura. O bombeamento é feito com o recurso à energia do vento. Uma vez, tendo a água sida acumulada no reservatório, sua energia potencial gravitacional EPG é usada para a sua dessalinização ou/e para a geração de eletricidade. O referido modelo é semelhante a um grupo de bombas de pistões. Os pistões possuem formato especial de modo que se consiga obter pressões elevadas suficientes quer para a dessalinização de água por osmose reversa, quer para a geração de eletricidade através de turbinas Pelton. Consegue-se o movimento alternado dos pistões a partir da transferência da energia da água acumulada (EPG) através dum sistema de roldanas e contrapesos. Assim sendo, provar que o modelo é capaz de transformar a EPG de baixa pressão (inferior a 2 bar) em energia cinética de um fluxo com alta pressão (superior a 55 bar) se apresenta como o foco principal deste trabalho. Com esse foco em mira, construiu-se um protótipo com o objetivo de demonstrar a viabilidade técnica da proposta. Imagens do protótipo são apresentadas neste trabalho. Em relação à osmose reversa, a referida configuração difere do que é convencional em plantas de dessalinização que usam esse processo, pelo fato de contemplar o uso de EPG. Com o modelo proposto, consegue-se um fluxo à entrada dos módulos de membrana (ou à saída do injetor da turbina Pelton) com pressão suficiente para a osmose reversa (ou para geração de eletricidade). Em relação à captação da energia eólica para o bombeamento de água, o modelo é divido em dois sistemas.O primeiro (sistema 1) usa cataventos tradicionais e o segundo (sistema 2) aerogeradores. É feita a comparação qualitativa entre os dois sistemas com base em alguns parâmetros tais como área ocupada, versatilidade etc. / This work presents an alternative configuration for sea, and brackish water desalination by reverse osmosis and electricity generation, resorting to wind energy. It is a physical model that allows the storage of sea or brackish water as gravitational potential energy, through its pumping to a reservoir located at a certain height. The water pumping is done resorting to wind energy. Once the water is stored in the reservoir, its gravitational potential energy GPE is used for its desalination or/and for electricity generation. The referred model is similar to a group of piston pumps. The pistons have a special shape so that it is possible to achieve the high pressures that are enough, either for water desalination by reverse osmosis or for electricity generation with Pelton turbines. The alternated movement of the pistons is achieved with the energy transfer from the stored water (GPE), through a system of pulleys and counterweights. Thus, to prove that the model is capable of transforming the GPE at low pressure (below 2 bar) into kinetic energy of a flux with high pressure (over 55 bar) is the main focus of this work. Targeting that focus, a prototype was constructed with the objective of demonstrating the technical viability of the proposal. Images of the prototype will be shown in this work. In respect of reverse osmosis, the referred configuration differs from the conventional in desalination plants that use the method, in that it incorporates the use of GPE. With the proposed model, one achieves a flux at the inlet of the membranes (or at the exit of the injector of the Pelton turbine) with enough pressure for reverse osmosis (or for electricity generation). In respect of the harvesting of wind energy for water pumping, the model is divided into two systems. The first system (system 1), uses the traditional windmills and the second one (system 2), uses wind generators.In respect of the harvesting of wind energy for water pumping, the model is divided into two systems. The first system (system 1), uses the traditional windmills and the second one (system 2), uses wind generators. It is carried out a comparison between the two systems based on some parameters such as occupied area, versatility and so on.

abstract: Nanoporous materials, with pore sizes less than one nanometer, have been incorporated as filler materials into state-of-the-art polyamide-based thin-film composite membranes to create thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes for reverse osmosis (RO) desalination. However, these TFN membranes have inconsistent changes in desalination performance as a result of filler incorporation. The nano-sized filler’s transport role for enhancing water permeability is unknown: specifically, there is debate around the individual transport contributions of the polymer, nanoporous particle, and polymer/particle interface. Limited studies exist on the pressure-driven water transport mechanism through nanoporous single-crystal nanoparticles. An understanding of the nanoporous particles water transport role in TFN membranes will provide a better physical insight on the improvement of desalination membranes. This dissertation investigates water permeation through single-crystal molecular sieve zeolite A particles in TFN membranes in four steps. First, the meta-analysis of nanoporous materials (e.g., zeolites, MOFs, and graphene-based materials) in TFN membranes demonstrated non-uniform water-salt permselectivity performance changes with nanoporous fillers. Second, a systematic study was performed investigating different sizes of non-porous (pore-closed) and nanoporous (pore-opened) zeolite particles incorporated into conventionally polymerized TFN membranes; however, the challenges of particle aggregation, non-uniform particle dispersion, and possible particle leaching from the membranes limit analysis. Third, to limit aggregation and improve dispersion on the membrane, a TFN-model membrane synthesis recipe was developed that immobilized the nanoparticles onto the support membranes surface before the polymerization reaction. Fourth, to quantify the possible water transport pathways in these membranes, two different resistance models were employed. The experimental results show that both TFN and TFN-model membranes with pore-opened particles have higher water permeance compared to those with pore-closed particles. Further analysis using the resistance in parallel and hybrid models yields that water permeability through the zeolite pores is smaller than that of the particle/polymer interface and higher than the water permeability of the pure polymer. Thus, nanoporous particles increase water permeability in TFN membranes primarily through increased water transport at particle/polymer interface. Because solute rejection is not significantly altered in our TFN and TFN-model systems, the results reveal that local changes in the polymer region at the polymer/particle interface yield high water permeability. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Chemical Engineering 2018