<p>As the number of water stressed regions around the world
continues to growth due to a steadily increasing demand and climate change; the
use of unconventional water sources, such as, brackish or seawater, through the
implementation of desalination technologies has increased significantly. Reverse
osmosis has established itself as the most widespread and energy efficient desalination
technology, thanks to the development of high permeability membranes, high
efficient pumps, and the integration of energy recovery devices; but, it still
faces important challenges, such as, high specific energy consumption compared
with traditional water treatment technologies, and poses environmental threats
due to its significant CO<sub>2 </sub>emissions and the need of disposal of
high salinity brine.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The aim of this research is to address and provide solutions
for two of the major challenge areas in reverse osmosis: reduction of the
energy consumption and strategies to facilitate its integration with renewable
energy sources to decrease its environmental impact. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>In chapter 2, the modeling and design of a double-acting
batch reverse osmosis system is presented. A reduced specific energy
consumption compared with previously proposed configurations was found. Moreover,
the new design presents solutions to practical concerns that have limited the
implementation of Batch reverse osmosis processes such as high start time and
downtime, and permeate contamination. On the other hand, a novel hydraulic
modeling is introduced to calculate the evolution of the pressure and other
important parameters during the cycle.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Chapter 3 presents a novel method which allows reverse
osmosis plants to vary their power usage according to the energy availability,
therefore, providing demand response capabilities. The effects on the energy
consumption and performance of the reverse osmosis desalination facility due to
the implementation of this technique are also studied. The split-salinity
demand response reverse osmosis process proposed here poses as the first
approach to grant demand response capabilities to reverse osmosis plants that
provides energy gains and can be applied to existing plants. </p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/12746312 |
| Date | 12 October 2021 |
| Creators | Sandra P Cordoba Renteria (9192116) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/Energy_optimization_in_reverse_osmosis_by_developing_an_improved_system_design_and_a_novel_demand_response_approach/12746312 |
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