no / In this work, a model based MINLP (mixed integer nonlinear programming) optimisation framework is developed for evaluating boron rejection in a reverse osmosis (RO) desalination process. A mathematical model (for the RU process) based on solution diffusion model and thin film theory is incorporated in the optimisation framework. A superstructure of the RU network is developed which includes two passes: (a) seawater pass containing normal two-stage RU system housing seawater membrane modules and (b) the brackish water pass (BW) accommodating brackish water membrane modules. For fixed freshwater demand, the objective of this work is to demonstrate the effectiveness of the MINLP approach for analyzing and optimizing the design and operation of RU network while attaining desired limit on boron concentration in the freshwater produced. The effect of seasonal variation in seawater temperature and pH on boron removal efficiency is also discussed.

Yes / Reducing the cost of fresh water has always been a major concern in the desalination industry. A solar powered hybrid multi-effect distillation and reverse osmosis desalination plant (MED+RO) has been designed and optimised from an economical point of view in a previous work by the same authors. In the present study, the possibility of coupling the desalination plant with a photovoltaic (PV) solar farm is investigated, with the aim of generating electricity at low cost and in a sustainable way. A detailed mathematical model for the PV system has been implemented from the literature. Interestingly, the model can predict the cost of the PV system in terms of capital cost and electricity cost per kWh considering the input data of solar irradiation, duration of daylight and technical specification of a real solar module. Consequently, the solar PV model has been combined with the desalination model, which enables to estimate the cost of fresh water per cubic meter. Data about four locations, namely Isola di Pantelleria (IT), Las Palmas (ES), Abu Dhabi (UAE), and Perth (AUS), have been used to economically test the feasibility of installing the proposed plant, and especially of the PV solar farm.

Yes / In recent times two or more desalination processes have been combined to form integrated systems that have been widely used to resolve the limitations of individual processes as well as producing high performance systems. In this regard, a simple integrated system of the Multi Effect Distillation (MED)/Thermal Vapour Compression (TVC) and Permeate Reprocessing Reverse Osmosis (PRRO) process was developed by the same authors and confirmed its validity after a comparison study against other developed configurations. However, this design has a considerable amount of retentate flowrate and low productivity. To resolve this issue, two novel designs of MED and double reverse osmosis (RO) processes including Permeate and Retentate Reprocessing designs (PRRP and RRRO) are developed and modelled in this paper. To systematically assess the consistency of the presented designs, the performance indicators of the novel designs are compared against previous simple designs of MED and PRRO processes at a specified set of operating conditions. Results show the superiority of the integrated MED and double permeate reprocessing design. This has specifically achieved both economic and environmental advantages where total productivity is increased by around 9% and total retentate flowrate (disposed to water bodies) is reduced by 5% with a marginally reduced energy consumption.

Thesis (MEng) -- Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: South Africa has historically been reliant on inexpensive surface and groundwater resources; however, as pressure on these resources continues to grow, seawater desalination has begun to emerge as a potential future supply source. One of the towns earmarked as a candidate for large-scale seawater desalination is Cape Town. In order to maximise the benefits and minimise the costs of such a scheme, the desalination plant needs to be considered as an integral part of the current system. Integrated planning has been lacking at the existing seawater desalination plants in South Africa, most of which were constructed as emergency schemes and are financially cumbersome for the municipalities to operate and manage. Recent research related to inter-basin water transfer schemes has shown that a comprehensive approach is required in assessing water supply from a new scheme in which the system as a whole is modelled stochastically and the estimated water transfer extracted. This comprehensive approach was the foundation of the modelling undertaken in this research. Existing models of the Western Cape system were adapted to include a seawater desalination plant, and short-term and long-term analyses were completed for a variety of possible desalination plant operating scenarios and capacities. The increase in system yield and the annual supply from the desalination plant were determined. First-order capital and operating costs were estimated, and these costs were combined with the annual supply values to calculate and compare unit reference values. The maximum increase in yield was found to occur when the seawater desalination plant is used as a base supply, operational all the time. There was little benefit, in terms of system yield, in using the desalination plant as an emergency supply source only. Unit reference values for the desalination plant decrease as the percentage supply from the desalination plant increases, meaning that the lowest possible cost per cubic metre of water supplied is when the desalination plant is used as a base supply. It was also apparent that the unit reference values decrease with an increase in desalination plant capacity, suggesting that, from an economic perspective, the optimal solution would be to have one large desalination plant operational immediately. The lower the reservoir trigger level at which the desalination plant becomes active, the larger the stochastic variation in the supply from the desalination plant and hence the larger the variation in the costs. Hence, using stochastic modelling to calculate unit reference values is particularly important for integrating a desalination plant into an existing conventional supply system when used as a peak or emergency supply source. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Suid-Afrika maak histories staat op goedkoop oppervlak- en grondwaterhulpbronne. Namate druk op hierdie hulpbronne aanhou toeneem, begin seewaterontsouting egter as ’n moontlike toekomstige waterbron na vore tree. Een van die stede wat as ’n kandidaat vir grootskaalse ontsouting geïdentifiseer is, is Kaapstad. Vir die meeste moontlike voordele teen die laagste moontlike koste, moet so ’n ontsoutingsaanleg as ’n integrale deel van die huidige stelsel beskou word. Geïntegreerde beplanning het tot dusver tekortgeskiet by bestaande ontsoutingsaanlegte in Suid-Afrika, wat merendeels as noodskemas opgerig is en waarvan die bedryf en bestuur ’n finansiële las op munisipaliteite plaas. Onlangse navorsing oor skemas vir tussenbekkenwateroordrag toon dat ’n omvattende benadering vereis word om watervoorsiening uit ’n nuwe skema te beoordeel. Volgens so ’n benadering word die stelsel in die geheel stogasties gemodelleer en die geraamde wateroordrag onttrek. Dié omvattende benadering was dan ook die grondslag vir die modellering wat in hierdie navorsing onderneem is. Bestaande modelle van die Wes-Kaapse stelsel is aangepas om ’n ontsoutingsaanleg in te sluit, en kort- en langtermynontledings is vir verskeie moontlike ontsoutingsaanlegvermoëns en -bedryfscenario’s voltooi. Die toename in stelselopbrengs en die jaarlikse watervoorsiening uit die ontsoutingsaanleg is bepaal. Kapitaal- en bedryfskoste van die eerste orde is geraam, welke koste toe met die jaarlikse voorsieningswaardes gekombineer is om eenheidsverwysingswaardes te bereken en te vergelyk. Die maksimum toename in opbrengs blyk te wees wanneer die ontsoutingsaanleg as ’n basisbron dien wat te alle tye in werking is. Wat stelselopbrengs betref, was daar weinig voordeel in die gebruik van die aanleg as ’n noodwaterbron. Eenheidsverwysingswaardes vir die ontsoutingsaanleg neem af namate die persentasie voorsiening uit die aanleg toeneem, wat beteken dat die laagste moontlike koste per kubieke meter water verkry word wanneer die ontsoutingsaanleg as ’n deurlopende basisbron dien. Dit was ook duidelik dat die eenheidsverwysingswaardes afneem met ’n toename in aanlegvermoë, wat te kenne gee dat die optimale oplossing uit ’n ekonomiese oogpunt sou wees om onmiddellik een groot ontsoutingsaanleg in bedryf te stel. Hoe laer die opgaardamvlak waarop die ontsoutingsaanleg in werking tree, hoe groter die stogastiese variasie in watervoorsiening uit die aanleg, en hoe groter die variasie in koste. Daarom is die gebruik van stogastiese modellering om eenheidsverwysingswaardes te bereken veral belangrik vir ’n ontsoutingsaanleg wat as ’n spits- of noodwaterbron dien.

Water shortage issues have been growing concerns in many cities around the world in recent years, especially in Eastern cities of Australia, which is the driest continent on the earth. The aim of this PhD thesis is a development of a model to study the use of waste incineration energy supplemented by alternative energy to power seawater desalination. It is to aid the freshwater supply of a drought stricken city in Eastern Australia. My work contributes to a development of efficient model in a simpler understandable way to reduce efforts required for modelling complex multi domain problems. This research is motivated by the successive severe drought conditions that affected many Australian cities in the past few years, compounded with an additional strain from a fast growing population. While we dump our waste into the Australian landscape, in more densely populated cities in Europe and Asia, the waste is incinerated to obtain thermal energy for various purposes. The waste is used as an energy source while at the same time reducing the amount of space needed for landfill. Seawater desalination has been uccessfully practiced for quite some time particularly in the Middle Eastern countries. To deal with increasing water shortage crisis, many cities around the world have opted or are considering seawater desalination to supplement their freshwater supply. The combination of both - waste incineration and seawater desalination - has rarely been studied. This is a twofold problem that requires modelling the problem of water demand and supply together with waste incineration to find a sustainable solution. This is a complex task. The effort needed for this can be reduced by using a modelling approach that is more efficient than the traditionally used statistical approaches. In this thesis, I present a comprehensive model developed using a dynamic system approach combined with artificial neural networks. It simulates water demand and supply as well as the possible amount of the desalinated water that can be produced using the energy from clean city waste incineration. This is done while taking in various influential factors including population growth and irregular weather patterns. This research comprises a literature review on seawater desalination and waste incineration, the establishment of water demand and supply dynamics of Gold Coast City as my case study and identifying any modelling difficulties that need to be overcome. This is followed by the development of a comprehensive model and its components, model calibration and simulation experiments. It was found that with the energy of waste incineration, up to 60% of the freshwater demand could be fulfilled by seawater desalination in a sustainable way.

Les petites unités de dessalement au point d’usage sont une alternative pour l’accès à l'eau potable des communautés isolées de zones côtières ou insulaires. Dans cette thèse, la distillation membranaire (MD) est le procédé de choix pour l’application visée. De plus, les lieux d’implantation ciblés souffrent souvent d’un manque d’accès à l’énergie, mais la plupart d’entre eux sont exposés à des niveaux élevés de radiation solaire. Afin de réduire les pertes de chaleur du système et d'intensifier le procédé, un module intégrant des membranes planes de MD sous vide (VMD) et un collecteur solaire à plaque plane (FPC) apparaît comme une technologie possible. Cette étude a pour objectifs d’étudier la faisabilité de ce concept et de déterminer les paramètres de l’équipement et les conditions opératoires les plus favorables pour l’application visée en cherchant à réduire la consommation d’électricité (par des panneaux photovoltaïques PV) et améliorer simultanément l’efficacité énergétique et la production d’eau dans l’ensemble du module VMD-FPC. Les analyses de sensibilité et les optimisations multi-objectifs sont effectuées à partir de séries de simulations. La productivité quotidienne peut atteindre 96 L pour une surface de module de 3 m2. Un coût énergétique quasi-constant d’une puissance PV de 4,2 à 5,0 W L-1 est observé, permettant d’ajuster la capacité du système. Pour une puissance PV limitée à 130 W (installation mobile), plus de 30 L de distillat peuvent être obtenus avec une surface de 0,83 m2 par une belle journée d'été à Toulouse, en tenant compte des paramètres de fonctionnement optimisés et des matériaux réels. / Small-scale desalination at the point of use offers a potential access to drinking water to communities living in remote coastal areas or isolated islands. In this dissertation, Membrane Distillation (MD) is the applied technology for the aforementioned application scenario. Moreover, the target places are also often in the lack of stable and centralized heat and power supply, while most of them benefit from high solar radiations. In order to further reduce the system heat loss and to intensify the process, the integration in the same module of flat-sheet distillation membranes for Vacuum MD (VMD) and direct solar heating by flat-plate collector (FPC) appears as a possible option. This study aims to explore the feasibility of this concept and to determine the more favorable design and operating conditions for the target application. The main task in this regard is to reduce electricity consumption (provided by photovoltaic PV panels) and simultaneously improve the energy efficiency and water production throughout the VMD-FPC module. The sensitivity analyses and multi-objective optimizations are conducted based on series of simulations. Results show that the potential daily productivity of the system can reach up to 96 L for a module surface area of 3 m2. A quasi-constant power cost of PV of 4.2 - 5.0 W L-1 is observed, permitting a flexible adjustment of the system capacity. Under a limitation of an average PV power of 130 W, more than 30 L of distillate can be obtained with a surface area of 0.83 m2 on a sunny summer-day in Toulouse, taking the optimized operating parameters and real-world material properties into account.

Der Gegenstand dieser Arbeit ist eine neue Optimierungsmethode zur Minimierung der Produktkosten von Kraftwerksprozessen ohne und mit nachgeschalteten Anwendungen. Diese Methode, die Planern und Projektanten als Werkzeug zur Auslegung von Kraftwerken dienen soll, wird erläutert und exemplarisch zur Optimierung eines ausgewählten Gas- und Dampfturbinenkraftwerkes verwendet. Im Rahmen der Untersuchungen werden dabei zwei Varianten betrachtet: Der Kraftwerksentwurf/-betrieb ohne und mit Auskopplung von Energie- und Stoffströmen. Beim Kraftwerksentwurf/-betrieb mit Auskopplung von Energie- und Stoffströmen wird das Gas- und Dampfturbinenkraftwerk mit einer nachgeschalteten hybriden Meerwasserentsalzungsanlage verknüpft. Zur Identifizierung der jeweils zu optimierenden Komponenten/Parameter werden bei der neuen Methode Elemente der thermo- bzw. exergoökonomischen Analyse und der Sensitivitäts- und Trendlinienanalysen verwendet. Die Optimierung selbst folgt dem Koordinatenverfahren nach Gauß und Seidel. Anhand der Optimierungsergebnisse und der Kriterien ’Auswahl/Beitrag der Komponenten/Parameter’ sowie ’Rechenumfang’ wird die neue Optimierungsmethode mit bekannten thermo- bzw. exergoökonomischen Optimierungsmethoden (Quadranten-/Matrix-Methode, thermo-/exergoökonomische Kennzahlen-Methode) verglichen und bewertet. Zur Ergebnisdiskussion werden Parameterstudien erstellt. Abschließend werden Empfehlungen zur Gestaltung des untersuchten Gas- und Dampfturbinenkraftwerkes gegeben und Ansätze für weiterführende Forschungsarbeiten in der Kraftwerkstechnik abgeleitet.

Der Gegenstand dieser Arbeit ist eine neue Optimierungsmethode zur Minimierung der Produktkosten von Kraftwerksprozessen ohne und mit nachgeschalteten Anwendungen. Diese Methode, die Planern und Projektanten als Werkzeug zur Auslegung von Kraftwerken dienen soll, wird erläutert und exemplarisch zur Optimierung eines ausgewählten Gas- und Dampfturbinenkraftwerkes verwendet. Im Rahmen der Untersuchungen werden dabei zwei Varianten betrachtet: Der Kraftwerksentwurf/-betrieb ohne und mit Auskopplung von Energie- und Stoffströmen. Beim Kraftwerksentwurf/-betrieb mit Auskopplung von Energie- und Stoffströmen wird das Gas- und Dampfturbinenkraftwerk mit einer nachgeschalteten hybriden Meerwasserentsalzungsanlage verknüpft. Zur Identifizierung der jeweils zu optimierenden Komponenten/Parameter werden bei der neuen Methode Elemente der thermo- bzw. exergoökonomischen Analyse und der Sensitivitäts- und Trendlinienanalysen verwendet. Die Optimierung selbst folgt dem Koordinatenverfahren nach Gauß und Seidel. Anhand der Optimierungsergebnisse und der Kriterien ’Auswahl/Beitrag der Komponenten/Parameter’ sowie ’Rechenumfang’ wird die neue Optimierungsmethode mit bekannten thermo- bzw. exergoökonomischen Optimierungsmethoden (Quadranten-/Matrix-Methode, thermo-/exergoökonomische Kennzahlen-Methode) verglichen und bewertet. Zur Ergebnisdiskussion werden Parameterstudien erstellt. Abschließend werden Empfehlungen zur Gestaltung des untersuchten Gas- und Dampfturbinenkraftwerkes gegeben und Ansätze für weiterführende Forschungsarbeiten in der Kraftwerkstechnik abgeleitet.

This thesis project investigates, analyzes, designs, simulates, constructs and tests a dual-axis solar tracker system to track the sun and concentrates the heat of the sunlight, using a Fresnel lens, into a small area, which is above of an evaporator, to increase the temperature of the seawater to convert it into freshwater. The dual-axis solar tracker was designed with the main objectives that the structure was portable, dismountable, lightweight, low cost, corrosion resistant, wires inside pipes, accurate, small size, follow the sun automatically, off-grid (electrical), use green energy (solar powered), and has an empty area right below of the lens. First, a 500 mm diameter flat Fresnel lens was selected and simulated based on an algorithmic method achieved by a previous PhD student at UNT using MATLAB®, to give the optimization lens dimensions. The lens profile was drawn with AutoCAD®, then output profile lens was simulated in COMSOL Multiphysics®. The objective was to provide the high efficiency, optimum and high precision of the focal rays and heat to the receiver of the evaporator. A novel dual-axis solar tracker system was then designed that is portable, dismountable, lightweight and corrosion resistant. The solar tracker tracks the sun in two axis of rotation automatically during the day time, maximizing the angles of inclination on each axis. After testing computer simulations, the dual-axis solar tracker system was constructed and tested. Last, a detailed cost analysis was performed of the entire project. The outcome of this work can be applied for desalination seawater purposes or other any Fresnel lens application that require a focal high temperature directed by dual-axis solar tracker system.