1st Edition

Renewable Energy Applications for Freshwater Production

Edited By Jochen Bundschuh, Jan Hoinkis Copyright 2012
    292 Pages
    by CRC Press

    292 Pages
    by CRC Press

    Worldwide, many regions have a great potential to cover part of their pressing water needs by renewable energy powered water treatment processes using either thermal or membrane based technologies. Not only arid and semiarid regions are increasingly suffering from water shortage but also many other regions face a limitation of freshwater resources either by increasing contamination of surface water bodies or groundwater resources unsuitable for drinking and irrigation purposes either due to their high grade of mineralization or their contents of toxic components. In many areas without centralized water supply, treatment techniques using locally available renewable energy resources such as wind, solar and geothermal can provide an economical, social and environmentally sustainable option for clean water production from seawater and from highly mineralized or otherwise unsuitable ground- and surface water.

    This book provides an overview on possible cost-efficient techniques and application opportunities for different scales and shows why the implementation of these technologies faces numerous technological, economic and policy barriers and provides suggestions how they can be overcome. It serves as a synoptic compendium of the fundamentals of freshwater production using renewable energies, applicable to all types of water, ranging from brackish to marine water and also including industrial and communal residual water. The book is aimed at professionals, academics and decision makers worldwide, working in the areas of water resources, water supply,land planning, energy planning, greenhouse gases emission mitigation and rural development.

    About the book series
    Editorial board
    Contributors
    Foreword
    Preface
    Editors’ preface
    About the editors
    Acknowledgements

    1 Addressing freshwater shortage with renewable energies
    (J. Bundschuh & J. Hoinkis)
    1.1 Introduction
    1.2 The water problem
    1.3 The energy problem
    1.4 Overview on technologies based on renewable energies for freshwater production
    1.4.1 Sustainable freshwater solutions through wastewater treatment and reuse powered by renewable energies
    1.4.2 Sustainable drinking water solutions through desalination by solar and wind energy 1.4.3 Geothermal resources options for desalination
    1.5 Conclusions and outlook

    2 Overview of renewable energy technologies for freshwater production
    (M. Goosen, H. Mahmoudi & N. Ghaffour)
    2.1 Introduction
    2.2 Freshwater production using renewable energies
    2.2.1 Applications of solar energy for water desalination
    2.2.2 Wind power and desalination
    2.2.3 Wave and tidal power for desalination
    2.2.4 Geothermal desalination
    2.3 Scale-up and economic considerations
    2.3.1 Factors affecting scale-up
    2.3.2 Cost-efficiency compared to conventional energy sources
    2.3.3 Market potential
    2.3.4 Process selection and risk management
    2.3.5 Promotion of renewable energy policy and reduction in reliance on conventional power generation
    2.4 Case studies
    2.4.1 Desalination using renewable energies in Algeria
    2.4.2 Seawater greenhouse development for Oman in the Arabian Gulf
    2.4.3 Water desalination with renewable energies in Baja California Peninsula in Mexico
    2.4.4 Geothermal energy in seawater desalination in Milos Island, Greece
    2.4.5 The Kwinana desalination plant and wind farm in Perth,Western Australia
    2.4.6 A proposed wave energy converter coupled to an RO desalination plant for Orkney, UK
    2.4.7 A proposal for combined large-scale solar power and desalination plants for the North Africa, Middle East and European region and international renewable energy alliances
    2.4.8 Solar-powered membrane distillation in Spain, Italy and Tunisia
    2.4.9 Solar-powered adsorption desalination prototype in Saudi Arabia
    2.5 Environmental concerns and sustainability
    2.6 Regulatory, policy and legal considerations
    2.7 Choosing the most appropriate technology for freshwater production
    2.8 Concluding remarks

    3 Use of passive solar thermal energy for freshwater production
    (G. Zaragoza, D. Alarcón & J. Blanco)
    3.1 Introduction
    3.1.1 A history of the solar still
    3.2 Passive solar stills
    3.3 Thermodynamic modelling of the solar still
    3.3.1 Convective heat transfer
    3.3.2 Evaporative heat transfer
    3.4 Performance of the solar still
    3.5 Designs and techniques to improve the performance of the solar still
    3.5.1 Enhancing the light transmission
    3.5.2 Enhancing the evaporation
    3.5.3 Working in sub-atmospheric conditions
    3.5.4 Enhancing the heat absorption
    3.5.5 Storing the incident solar energy
    3.5.6 Reducing the depth of water in the basin
    3.5.7 Reducing the temperature of the cover
    3.5.8 Separating evaporating and condensing zones
    3.5.9 Reusing the latent heat of condensation in two or more stages

    4 Solar desalination with humidification-dehumidification process: design and analysis
    (H. Ben Bacha)
    4.1 Introduction
    4.2 State-of-the-art
    4.2.1 Open-water/closed-air cycle
    4.2.2 Closed-water/open-air cycle
    4.3 Design and working principle of the SMCEC desalination unit
    4.4 Components mathematical modeling
    4.4.1 Solar collector modeling
    4.4.2 Evaporation tower modeling
    4.4.3 Condensation tower modeling
    4.5 Numerical results
    4.5.1 Solar collector
    4.5.2 Evaporation tower
    4.5.3 Condensation tower
    4.5.4 Entire desalination unit
    4.6 Experimental validation
    4.6.1 Solar collector
    4.6.2 Distillation module
    4.7 Cost analysis

    5 Solar PV powered RO systems
    (V.J. Subiela, B. Peñate, F. Castellano & F.J. Domínguez)
    5.1 Introduction
    5.2 Review of the state-of-the-art
    5.3 How to implement a PV-RO system
    5.3.1 Generalities
    5.3.2 The implementation process
    5.4 Description of the technological concept
    5.4.1 Approach to the solution
    5.4.2 Description of the PV technology
    5.4.3 Stand-alone photovoltaic sub-systems
    5.4.4 Stand-alone PV-RO
    5.5 Technical characteristics of selected operating systems
    5.5.1 PV-RO system in Tunisia
    5.5.2 PV-RO systems in Morocco
    5.6 Economic and social issues
    5.6.1 Water cost analysis
    5.6.2 Influences of the social and institutional local reality
    5.6.3 Case of Tunisia
    5.6.4 Case of Morocco
    5.7 Conclusions

    6 Wind energy powered technologies for freshwater production: fundamentals and case studies
    (E. Tzen)
    6.1 Introduction
    6.2 Wind energy technology
    6.3 Wind energy for freshwater production
    6.3.1 Wind reverse osmosis systems
    6.3.2 Wind mechanical vapor compression systems
    6.3.3 Wind electrodialysis systems
    6.4 Wind desalination market 1
    6.5 Conclusions

    7 Geothermal water treatment – preliminary experiences from Poland with a global overview of membrane and hybrid desalination technologies
    (W. Bujakowski, B. Tomaszewska & M. Bodzek)
    7.1 Introduction
    7.2 Global overview of membrane technologies
    7.2.1 Types of membrane processes
    7.3 Hybrid desalination processes
    7.4 Framework for desalinating geothermal water in Poland
    7.4.1 Presence and quality of geothermal waters in Poland
    7.4.2 Choice of desalination technologies
    7.4.3 Pilot desalination facility
    7.4.4 Preliminary research results
    7.5 Summary

    8 Solar disinfection as low-cost technologies for clean water production
    (J.M. Meichtry & M.I. Litter)
    8.1 Introduction to low-cost technologies for disinfection and decontamination of drinking water for human consumption
    8.1.1 The problem of water
    8.1.2 Alternative water treatment technologies
    8.2 Drinking water disinfection
    8.3 Use of solar energy for disinfection
    8.3.1 The solar disinfection method (SODIS)
    8.3.2 Fundamentals of SODIS and mechanisms of disinfection
    8.3.3 Experimental conditions for SODIS
    8.4 Heterogeneous photocatalysis
    8.4.1 Fundamentals of HP
    8.4.2 Use of heterogeneous photocatalysis in water disinfection
    8.4.3 Mechanisms of photocatalytic disinfection processes and disinfection kinetics
    8.4.4 Effect of photocatalyst: Immobilization
    8.4.5 Photoreactors for heterogeneous photocatalytic disinfection
    8.5 Fenton and photo-Fenton processes in water disinfection
    8.6 Conclusions

    Subject index
    Book series page

    Biography

    Jochen Bundschuh (Germany, 1960), finished his PhD on numerical modeling of heat transport in aquifers in Tübingen in 1990. He is working in geothermics, subsurface and surface hydrology and integrated water resources management, and connected disciplines. From 1993 to 1999 he served as an expert for the German Agency of Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and as a long-term professor for the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) in Argentine. From 2001 to 2008 he worked within the framework of the German governmental cooperation (Integrated Expert Program of CIM; GTZ/BA) as adviser in mission to Costa Rica at the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE). Here, he assisted the country in evaluation and development of its huge low-enthalpy geothermal resources for power generation. Since 2005, he is an affiliate professor of the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. In 2006, he was elected Vice-President of the International Society of Groundwater for Sustainable Development ISGSD. From 2009 - 2011 he was visiting professor at the Department of Earth Sciences at the National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan. By the end of 2011 he was appointed as professor in hydrogeology at the University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Australia where he leads where he leads a working group of 26 researchers working on the wide field of water resources and low/middle enthalpy geothermal resources, water and wastewater treatment and sustainable and renewable energy resources (http://www.ncea.org.au/groundwater). In November 2012, Prof. Bundschuh was appointed as president of the newly established Australian Chapter of the International Medical Geology Association (IMGA).
     Dr. Bundschuh is author of the books “Low-Enthalpy Geothermal Resources for Power Generation" (2008) (CRC Press/Balkema – Taylor & Francis Group) and “Introduction to the Numerical Modeling of Groundwater and Geothermal Systems: Fundamentals of Mass, Energy and Solute Transport in Poroelastic Rocks”. He is editor of the books “Geothermal Energy Resources for Developing Countries” (2002), “Natural Arsenic in Groundwater” (2005), and the two-volume monograph “Central America: Geology, Resources and Hazards” (2007), “Groundwater for Sustainable Development” (2008), “Natural Arsenic in Groundwater of Latin America (2008). Dr. Bundschuh is editor of the book series “Multiphysics Modeling”, “Arsenic in the Environment”, and “Sustainable Energy Developments” (all CRC Press/Balkema – Taylor & Francis Group).

    Jan Hoinkis  (Germany 1957), holds a degree in chemistry and a doctorate in the field of thermodynamics from Technical University Karlsruhe. He has about 7 years work experience in chemical industry being head of a group for process development. Since 1996 he is professor at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences where he is teaching and conducting research in the field of process engineering in combination with sensor/control systems. He is specialised in the areas of water treatment and water recycling by use of membrane technologies. He has co-ordinated a variety of national and international R&D projects in co-operation with research institutes and companies among them EU funded projects (AsiaProEco, LIFE, FP7). Since 2008 he is scientific director of the Institute of Applied Research at the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences. He is author of several peer-reviewed scientific publications and contributions to international conferences.