renewable energy applications in desalination: state of the art

Solar Energy 75 (2003) 381–393

www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Renewable energy applications in desalination: state of the art

Lourdes Garc�ııa-Rodr�ııguez *

Departamento F�ıısica Fundamental y Experimental, Electr�oonica y Sistemas, Universidad de La Laguna,

Avda. Astrof�ıısico Francisco S�aanchez s/n, 38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain

Received 6 June 2003; accepted 1 August 2003

Abstract

Millions of people have no access to a secure source of fresh water. Nevertheless, since many arid regions are coastal

areas, seawater desalination is a reasonable alternative. On the other hand, the energy requirements of desalination

processes are high. Then, the energy supply in low development countries or isolated areas may be a problem, especially

if electricity is required. Since most arid regions have high renewable energy resources, the use of renewable energies in

seawater desalination exhibits an interesting chance, or even the only way to offer a secure source of fresh water. The

status and perspectives of development of coupling renewable energy systems with desalination units are reviewed. It is

pointed out that there are place of development even for such technologies that seem to be the most mature ones.

� 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction

This paper deals with the status of renewable energy

applications in desalination. Solar thermal and photo-

voltaic (PV) systems, wind power, biomass, oceanic and

geothermal energy are considered.

Belessiotis and Delyannis (2000) and Delyannis and

Belessiotis (1996) present valuable reviews of renewable

energy systems. Other general reviews of renewable en-

ergy-powered desalination are, among others: Belessiotis

and Delyannis (2001), Baltas et al. (1996), Garc�ııa-Rodr�ııguez (2002b), or Rodr�ııguez-Giron�ees et al. (1996).Besides that, Voivontas et al. (2001) developed software

about renewable energy-powered desalination that in-

clude costs analysis. In addition, since solar desalination

is one of the most promising technology there are many

reviews in the literature as follows: Ajona (1991),

Delyannis (1987), Delyannis and Belessiotis (1996),

or Garc�ııa-Rodr�ııguez and G�oomez-Camacho (2001b).

Interesting comparison of such system are given in ref-

erences: El-Nashar (1992), Kalogirou (1998), Garc�ııa-Rodr�ııguez and G�oomez Camacho (2002a) and finally,

* Tel.: +34-922-318102; fax: +34-922-318228.

E-mail address: [email protected] (L. Garc�ııa-Rodr�ııguez).

0038-092X/$ - see front matter � 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.solener.2003.08.005

Al-Shammiri and Safar (1999), Goosen et al. (2000),

Kamal et al. (1999), Mohsen and Al-Jayyousi (1999) and

Rognoni and Trezzi (1999) deal with the present status

and economics of solar desalination.

Sections 2 and 3 present a brief description of in-

dustrial desalination technologies and criterion of cou-

pling selection among the variety different renewable

energy systems. Sections from 3 to 9 show a biblio-

graphic review of the status of desalination driven by

every renewable energy source considered. Section 11

presents the perspectives of development of renewable

energy application in desalination which can be pointed

out from previous bibliographic reviews. Conclusions

are presented in Section 12.

2. Desalination technologies

Industrial desalination technologies uses semiperme-

able membranes to separate the solvent or some solutes,

or involve phase changes. All processes require a

chemical pretreatment of raw seawater to avoid scaling,

foaming, corrosion, biological growth, and fouling and

also require a chemical postreatment.

Commercial desalination processes based on distil-

lation are multistage flash (MSF) distillation, multieffect

mail to: [email protected]

382 L. Garc�ııa-Rodr�ııguez / Solar Energy 75 (2003) 381–393

distillation (MED) and vapour compression (VC), which

could be thermal VC or mechanic VC. MSF and MED

processes consist of a set of stages at successively de-

creasing temperature and pressure. MSF process is

based on the generation of vapour from seawater or

brine due to a sudden pressure reduction when seawater

enters to an evacuated chamber. The process is repeated

stage by stage at successively decreasing pressure. This

process requires an external steam supply, normally at

temperature around 100 �C. The maximum temperature

is limited by the salt concentration to avoid scaling and

this maximum limits the performance of the process. On

MED, vapours are generated due to the absorption of

thermal energy by the seawater. The steam generated in

one stage or effect is able to heat the salt solution in the

next stage because next stage is at lower temperature and

pressure. The performance of the process is proportional

to the number of stages or effects. MED plants normally

uses an external steam supply at temperature about 70

�C. On TVC and MVC, after initial vapour is generated

from the saline solution, this vapour is thermally or

mechanically compressed to generate additional pro-

duction.

Not only distillation processes involves phase change,

but also freezing process. Freezing desalination exhibits

some technical problems which limits its industrial de-

velopment.

On the other hand, other desalination process do not

involve phase changes. They are membrane processes,

reverse osmosis (RO) and electrodialysis (ED). The first

one require electricity or shaft power to drive the pump

that increase the pressure of the saline solution to that

required. This required pressure depends on the salt

concentration of the resource of saline solution, it is

normally around 70 bar for seawater desalination.

Otherwise, ED require electricity. Both of them, RO and

ED, are used for brackish water desalination, but only

RO compete with distillation processes in seawater de-

salination.

The dominant processes are MSF and RO––44% and

42% of worldwide capacity, respectively. The MSF

process represents more than 93% of the thermal process

production, while RO process represents more than 88%

of membrane processes production (El-Dessouky and

Ettouney, 2000).

3. Process selection in desalination driven by renewable

energies

With regard to the process selection, RO has the

lowest energy consumption, nevertheless it requires

skilled workers––mistakes in operation conditions may

ruin the membranes––and the availability of chemical

and membrane supplies. If these requirements are not a

problem at the plant location, the RO process can be

considered. Besides that, distillation processes offer

much more quality product and only they ensures a

suitable product in case of pollution of the raw seawater.

If both, RO and thermal processes are suitable for a

given location, the renewable energy available and the

energy required electric/mechanic/thermal by the process

limit the possible selection. Finally, the required plant

capacity, the annual and daily distribution of the fresh

water demand, the product cost, the technology matu-

rity and any problem related to the coupling of the re-

newable energy and the desalination systems determine

the selection.

If thermal energy is available it can be directly used

to drive a distillation process as MSF, MED, TVC or

other distillation processes specially designed. MED

plants are more flexible to operate at partial load, less

sensible to scaling, cheaper and more suitable for limited

capacity than MSF plants. TVC have lower perfor-

mance than MED and MSF. Besides that, the thermo-

mechanic conversion permits the indirect use of thermal

energy to drive RO, ED or MVC processes.

If electricity or shaft power can be obtained from the

available energy resources, RO, ED or MVC can be

selected. Fluctuations of the available energy would ruin

the RO system. Therefore, an intermediate energy stor-

age would be required, but it would reduce the available

energy and increase the costs. In remote areas, the ED is

most suitable for brackish water desalination because it

is more robust and its operation and maintenance are

simpler than RO systems. In addition, ED process is

able to adapt to changes of available energy input. On

the other hand, although MVC consumes more energy

than RO, it presents less problems due to the fluctua-

tions of the energy resource than RO. MVC systems are

more suitable for remote areas since they are more ro-

bust, they need fewer skilled workers and less chemicals

than RO systems. In addition, they need no membrane

replacement and offer a better quality product than RO.

Moreover, in case of polluted waters, the distillation

ensures the absence of microorganisms in the product.

4. Solar thermal energy

Solar energy is one of the most promising applica-

tions of renewable energies to seawater desalination. El-

Nashar (2000), El-Nashar (1993), Kalogirou (1997),

Caouris et al. (1989), and Tleimat (1983) discuss the

costs of solar MED and Singh and Sharma (1989) and

Gangadharan et al. (1980) the costs of MSF desalina-

tion.

4.1. Thermal energy

A solar distillation system may consist of two sepa-

rated devices, the solar collector and the distiller (indi-

L. Garc�ııa-Rodr�ııguez / Solar Energy 75 (2003) 381–393 383

rect solar desalination), or of one integrated system

(direct solar desalination).

Indirect solar desalination systems usually consist of

a commercial desalination plant that is connected to

commercial solar thermal collectors. Nevertheless, the

literature also presents a few devices specially designed

for this application. With regard to solar thermal col-

lectors, Rajvanshi (1980) designed a special solar col-

lector to be connected to a MSF distillation plant.

Besides that, Hermann et al. (2000) report the design

and test of a corrosion-free solar collector for driving a

multieffect humidification process. The pilot plant was

installed at Pozo Izquierdo (Gran Canaria, Spain)

(Rommel et al., 2000). Details of such solar collector are

given by Rommel et al. (1997) and Rommel (1998).

Moreover, Ajona (1992) give details of the ACE-20

parabolic trough collector that is optimised for driving a

solar MED plant coupled to a double effect absorption

heat pump installed at the solar research centre Plata-

forma Solar de Almer�ııa, Spain.On the other hand, special designs of distillation

devices to be coupled to solar thermal collectors are

presented by Miyatake et al. (2001). They show a pro-

totype of distiller designed for uses the steam generated

in the desalination process for driving another process.

The distillation process can be driven by solar collectors.

In addition, small capacity systems of solar multiple

condensation evaporation cycle (SMCEC) are described

by Bacha et al. (1999), two pilot plant were installed at

Tunisia. Moreover, since the standard MSF process is

not able to operate coupled to any variable heat source,

the company ATLANTIS developed an adapted MSF

system that is called �Autoflash’. It can be connected to a

solar pond (Szacsvay et al., 1998).

With regard to pilot plants of indirect solar distilla-

tion, first of all the use of salinity gradient solar ponds is

considered. The seawater or brine preheated by the

distillation plant absorbs the thermal energy delivered

by the heat storage zone of the solar pond. Tleimat and

Howe (1989) analysed an MED plant driven by a solar

pond. Different plants were implemented coupling a

solar pond to an MSF process at:

• Margarita de Savoya, Italia (Delyannis, 1987) (plant

capacity: 50–60 m3/day).

• Islands of Cape Verde (Szacsvay et al., 1999) (Atlan-

tis ‘‘Autoflash’’, plant capacity: 300 m3/day).

• Tunisia, a small prototype at the laboratoire of ther-

mique Industrielle; a solar pond of 1500 m2 drives an

MSF system with capacity of 8.6 · 10�3 m3/h (Safi,

1998).

• El Paso, Texas (Lu et al., 2000) (plant capacity: 19

m3/day).

Besides that, there are also solar pond-powered

MED plants at:

• University of Ancona, Italy (Caruso and Naviglio,

1999). It is an hybrid ME-TC plant with capacity

of 30 m3/day.

• Near Dead Sea (European Commission, 1998) (plant

capacity: 3000 m3/day).

Several authors (Bucher, 1998; Rajvanshi, 1980) se-

lected solar pond-powered desalination as one of the

most cost-effective systems. Hoffman (1992) proposes

solar pond-driven MED plants as the most cost-effective

solar MED process, competitive with the use of fossil

fuel. Finally, Matz and Feist (1967) propose solar ponds

as a solution of brine disposal at inland ED plants as

well as a source of thermal energy to heat the feed of an

ED plant, that increase its performance. The concentrate

brine of bottom boils in a flash chamber, thus concen-

trate the brine. The vapours generated condenses leaving

its latent heat to the feed of an ED plant.

Other pilot plants of indirect solar distillation im-

plemented at different location are listed below in al-

phabetic order:

• Abu Dhabi, UAE (El-Nashar, 1985): ME-18 effects

with plant capacity of 120 m3/day driven by evacu-

ated tube collectors.

• Al-Ain, UAE (Hanafi, 1991): The plant consists of an

hybrid distillation system (ME-55 stages, MSF-75

stages) with capacity of 500 m3/day driven by para-

bolic trough collectors.

• Al Azhar University in Gaza: Abu-Jabal et al. (2001)

reported the small experimental pilot plant, an MSF

of 4-stages driven by solar thermal collectors and PV-

cells to drive the auxiliary equipment. The tests per-

formed show the maximum daily production of 0.2

m3/day.

• Almer�ııa, Spain, at the Plataforma Solar de Almer�ııa(PSA): A parabolic trough solar field was connected

to a 14 effect-MED-TVC plant with capacity of 72

m3/day (Zarza Moya, 1991). On a second phase of

the project, a double-effect absorption heat pump

(HP) was coupled to the solar desalination plant

(Zarza Moya, 1995).

• Arabian Gulf (Delyannis, 1987): It is an MED plant

with capacity of 6000 m3/day driven by parabolic

trough collectors.

• Berken, Germany (Krystsis, 1996): an MSF with ca-

pacity of 10 m3/day.

• Gran Canaria, Spain (Valverde Muela, 1982); a 10

m3/day-MSF plant driven by low concentration solar

collectors.

• Hzag, Tunisia (European Commission, 1998): a dis-

tillation plant with capacity range of 0.1–0.35 m3/

day driven by solar collector.

• Kuwait (Delyannis, 1987): It is an autoregulated

MSF with capacity of 100 m3/day driven by para-

bolic trough collectors.


• La Desired Island, French Caribean (Madani, 1990):

An ME-14 effects, with capacity of 40 m3/day driven

by evacuated tube collectors.

• Lampedusa Island, Italy (Palma, 1991): A 0.3 m3/

day-MSF plant driven by low concentration solar

collectors.

• La Paz, M�eejico (Manjares and Galv�aan, 1979): It is anMSF with 10 stages and plant capacity of 10 m3/day

driven by flat plate and parabolic trough collectors.

• Safat, Kuwait (European Commission, 1998): A 10

m3/day-MSF driven by solar collectors.

• Takami Island, Japan (Delyannis, 1987): A 16 effect-

ME (plant capacity, 16 m3/day; solar collectors, flat

plate).

Finally, with regard to direct solar desalination, Fath

(1998) and Goosen et al. (2000) perform valuable re-

views and cost analysis. In most cases, such systems

consist of a solar still or a compact desalination collector

(CDC). Different designs were proposed and imple-

mented: Le Goff et al. (1991) show different designs of

CDC. Boeher (1989) reports a high-efficiency water

distillation of humid air with heat recovery, with a ca-

pacity range of 2–20 m3/day. Solar still designs in which

the evaporation and condensing zones are separated are

described in Hussain and Rahim (2001) and El-Bahi and

Inan (1999). Besides that, a device that uses a �capillaryfilm distiller’ was implemented by Bouchekima et al.

(2001) and a solar still integrated in a greenhouse roof is

reported by Chaibi (2000). Other interesting designs of

direct solar desalination systems are given in the litera-

ture (Baytorun et al., 1989; Betaque and Naegel, 1999;

Bouchekima et al., 1998; M€uuller-Holst et al., 1998;

Graef, 1991; Thanvi and Pande, 1990). On the other

hand, the distillation temperature in a solar still may be

increased by the connection of flat plate collectors

(Kumar and Tiwari, 1998; Lawrence and Tiwari, 1990;

Sodha and Adhikari, 1990; Voropoulos et al., 2001;

Yadav, 1991).

4.2. Electricity

Thermal energy delivered by a salinity-gradient solar

pond has been used, not only in seawater distillation

plants, but also in seawater and brackish water RO

desalination (Engdahl, 1987). Lu et al. (2000) describe a

solar pond-powered desalination plant at El Paso

(USA). The solar pond drives both, thermal and RO

plants. Safi and Korchani (1999) analyse the cost of dual

purpose plants connected to a solar pond.

With regard to freezing technology, a solar-assisted

freezing plant was installed at Yanbu, Saudi Arabia as

part of the SOLERAS project. The solar collector field

consists in 380 point-focusing collectors with two axis of

sun tracking (Luft, 1982). In addition, El-Nashar (1983)

simulates a freezing process driven by solar thermal

collectors.

Finally, Rheinl€aander and Lippke (1998) analyse a

cogeneration system coupling a MED plant to a solar

tower power plant, and Glueckstern (1995) presents a

detailed analysis of dual-purpose solar plants. More-

over, an hybrid MSF-RO system driven by a dual pur-

pose solar plant was installed at Kuwait (Delyannis,

1987). The desalination system consist of a 25 m3/day

(MSF plant) and a 20 m3/day (RO plant).

4.3. Shaft power

Shaft power from solar thermal energy may drive a

RO process or a MVC. A prototype of a RO plant of

300 m3/day was implemented with flat plate collectors

being Freon the working fluid (Rodr�ııguez-Giron�ees et al.,1996). In that sense, Childs et al. (1999) present a system

designed that is able to be connected to solar thermal

collectors and a RO plant.

5. Solar photovoltaic

Solar energy is directly converted into electricity by

the photovoltaic conversion. Photovoltaic cells usually

consist in silicon cells, although other semiconductors

may be used. In industrial production, efficiencies of 13–

15% may be reached on monocrystalline silicon cells and

10–11% on cell of polycrystalline silicon. The electricity

production of solar cells can be increased by concen-

trating solar radiation with reflective surfaces and by

using sun-tracking devices. The main points in research

of photovoltaic cells are the increase in efficiency, the

reduction of manufacture costs and the search for other

materials as GaAs, CdS, CdTe and CuInSe2 (CIS). The

CIS is sensible to the part of red and infrared spectrum

that the amorphous silicon does not absorb. In addition,

the CIS offers other interesting possibility (Roberts,

1991). In cells of GaAs and its alloys, as GaInP2, effi-

ciencies higher than 30% (ultrahigh-efficiency) have been

reached (Satyen, 1998).

The photovoltaic technology connected to a RO

system is commercial nowadays. Its main problem is the

high cost of PV cells. The distance at which the PV en-

ergy is competitive with conventional energy depends on

the plant capacity, on the distance to the electric grid

and on the salt concentration of the feed. Kalogirou

(2001) and Tzen et al. (1998) analyse the cost of PV-RO

desalination systems, and Al Suleimani and Nair (2000)

present a detailed cost analysis of a system installed at

Heelat ar Rakah camp of Ministry of Water Resources,

Oman. Thomson and Infield (2003) simulate and im-

plement a PV-driven RO with variable flow that is able

to operate without batteries. It was designed for Eritrea.

They performed laboratory test to validate the model


and control of the system: 3 m3/day with and PV array

of 2.4 kWp. The Canary Islands Technological Institute

(ITC, Spain) developed a stand alone system (DESSOL)

with capacity of 1–5 m3/day of nominal output. The

precommercial brochure (ITC, 2002a,b) offers a plant

capacity of 1 m3/day for 42.000 € and a plant capacity 5

m3/day for 170.000 €. In Sadous, located 70 km from

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a PV-RO brackish water desali-

nation plant was installed. It is connected to a solar still

with production of 5 m3/day. The feed water of the solar

still is the blowdown of the RO unit (10 m3/day)

(Hasnain and Alajlan, 1998). A detailed cost analyses is

also reported. With regard to other solar desalination

facilities, Table 1 shows some PV-RO systems.

Finally, PV-ED has to be taken into account since

ED process is more suitable than RO for brackish water

desalination in remote areas. Several pilot plants of ED

Table 1

Some RO plants driven by photovoltaic cells, partially based on Gar

Plant location Salt concentration

Cituis West, Jawa, Indonesiaa Brackish water

Concepci�oon del Oro, Mexicob Brackish water

Doha, Qatara Seawater

Eritreac –

Florida St. Lucie Inlet State Park,

USAa

Seawater

Hassi-Khebi, Argeliea ;d Brackish water (3.2 g/l)

Heelat ar Rakah camp of Ministry

of Water Resources, Omane

Brackish water

INETI, Lisboa, Portugalf Brackish water about 5000

ppm

Jeddah, Saudi Arabiaa ;b 42,800 ppm

Lampedusa Island, Italya Seawater

Lipari Island, Italya Seawater

North of Jawa, Indonesiab Brackish water

North west of Sicily, Italya Seawater

Perth, Australiaa Brackish water

Pozo Izquierdo- ITC, Gran

Canaria, Spaing

Seawater

Red Sea, Egypta ;h Brackish water (4.4 g/l)

Thar desert, Indiaa Brackish water

University of Almer�ııa, Almer�ııa,

Spaina ; i

Brackish water

Vancouver, Canadaa Seawater

Wanoo Roadhouse, Australiaa Brackish water

a European Commission (1998).bDelyannis (1987).c Thomson and Infield (2003).dKehal (1991).eAl Suleimani and Nair (2000).f Joyce et al. (2001)gHerold and Neskakis (2001).hMaurel (1991).i And�uujar Peral et al. (1991).

systems connected to photovoltaic cells by means of

batteries have been implemented. Gomkale and Govin-

dan (1987) analyses solar desalination for Indian villages

and concludes that �solar-cell-operated ED seems to be

more advantageous for desalting brackish water than

conventional solar still’. A PV-driven ED plant was in-

stalled at the Spencer Valley, near Gallup (New Mex-

ico). It was developed by the Bureau of Reclamation

(United States) (European Commission, 1998; Maurel,

1991). Experimental research in PV-ED was also per-

formed at Laboratory for Water Research, University of

Miami, Miami, FL, USA (Kvajic, 1981) and at the

University of Bahrain (AlMadani, 2003). Some other

PV-ED systems installed are as follows:

• Thar desert, India (0.120 m3/h, brackish water, 450

Wp) (Adiga et al., 1997).

c�ııa-Rodr�ııguez (2002b)

Plant capacity PV system

1.5 m3/h 25 kWp

1.5 m3/day 2.5 kWp

5.7 m3/day 11.2 kWp

3 m3/day 2.4 kWp

2 · 0.3 m3/day 2.7 kWp+diesel generator

0.95 m3/h 2.59 kWp

5 m3/day (5 h/day operation) 3250 kWp

0.1–0.5 m3/day –

3.2 m3/day 8 kWp

3+2 m3/h 100 kWp

2 m3/h 63 kWp

12 m3/day 25.5 kWp

– 9.8 kWp+30 kW diesel

generator

0.5–0.1 m3/h 1.2 kWp

3 m3/day 4.8 kWp

50 m3/day 19.84 kWp (pump) 0.64

kWp (control)

1 m3/day 0.45 kWp

2.5 m3/h 23.5 kWp

0.5–1 m3/day 4.8 kWp

– 6 kWp


• Ohsima Island, Nagasaki (10 m3/day, seawater) (Ku-

roda et al., 1987).

• Fukue city, Nagasaki (8.33 m3/h, brackish water)

(Ishimaru, 1994).

• Spencer Valley, New Mexico (2.8 m3/day, brackish

water) (European Commission, 1998).

Finally, Husseiny and Hamester (1981) present an

interesting design of an hybrid RO-ED system driven by

solar energy. Also the solar energy system is an hybrid

system, on the one hand, an one-axis tracking system

drives the RO unit by mean of a Rankine cycle, and on

the other hand, a PV-field drives the ED unit. The total

design capacity is 6000 m3/day.

6. Hybrid solar PV-wind power

The complementary features of wind and solar re-

sources makes the use of hybrid wind-solar systems to

drive a desalination unit a promising alternative. Man-

olakos et al. (2001) implemented useful software for

simulation of hybrid wind-PV RO systems. One of such

systems was designed in the frame of the SOLERAS

project. Besides that, the Cadarache Centre (France)

designed another unit that was installed in 1980 at Borj-

Cedria (Tunisia) (Maurel, 1991). The system consists of

a 0.1 m3/day-compact solar distiller, a 0.25 m3/h-RO

plant and an ED plant for 4 g/l brackish water. The

energetic system consists of a photovoltaic field of 4 kW

peak and two wind turbines. Other systems have been

designed and implemented, as follows: �two RO-desali-

nation plants with the GKSS-Research Centre (Ger-

many) plate module system supplied by a 6 kW wind

energy converter and a 2.5 kW solar generator for re-

mote areas’ (Petersen et al., 1979), two of these proto-

types were installed in the Northern part of Mexico

(Concepci�oon del Oro) and in a small island at the Ger-

man coast of the North Sea (Soderoog) (Petersen et al.,

1981); a 3 m3/day-plant of brackish water installed in

Israel (Weiner et al., 2001); and a system with capacity

of 1 m3/h in Oman (Al Malki et al., 1998), an others

reported in the literature (European Commission, 1998;

Keelogg et al., 1998).

7. Wind power

Wind turbines represent a mature technology for

power production and they are commercially available

on a wide range of nominal power. A valuable review of

wind technology was presented by Ackermann and

S€ooder (2002). In spite of its maturity, new control

strategies (Rjeb, 2001) and improved energy storage

systems may increase the production of wind turbines.

Since RO is the desalination process with the lowest

energy requirements and coastal areas present a high

availability of wind power resources, wind powered-

desalination is one of the most promising alternatives of

renewable energy desalination. A preliminary cost

evaluation of wind powered-RO is presented by Garc�ııa-Rodr�ııguez et al. (2001a). The influence of climatic con-

ditions and plant capacity on product cost is analysed

for seawater RO driven by wind power. Besides that, the

possible evolution of product cost due to possible future

changes in wind power and RO technologies is evalu-

ated. Finally, the influence on the competitiveness of

wind-powered RO versus conventional RO plants due to

the evolution of financial parameters and cost of con-

ventional energy is pointed out.

Kiranoudis et al. (1997) perform a detailed analysis

of a wind-powered RO plant; not only different wind

turbines and membranes are analysed, but also seawater

and brackish water feed are considered. Design para-

meters selection and operation aspects are taken into

account. Moreover, product cost is obtained as function

of different parameters. Habali and Saleh (1994) present

a study of wind-powered brackish water RO plant for

Jordan. They reported product costs lower than using

conventional diesel engines. Other interesting simula-

tions were published, as Feron (1985).

The desalination systems driven by wind power are

one the most frequent renewable energy desalination

plants. Different facilities are reported in the literature,

as follows:

A wind-powered RO plant for brackish water desa-

lination with capacity of 200 m3/day installed at Los

Moriscos (Gran Canaria, Spain) that is connected to

the grid as auxiliary energy (Veza and G�oomez-Gotor,

1991).

In 1993 starts operating a wind driven seawater de-

salination system at P�aajara (Fuerteventura Island,

Spain). It is a RO plant with capacity of 56 m3/day

driven by an hybrid diesel–wind system. It consists of

two diesel engines and a wind turbine of 225 kW

(Gonz�aalez, 1993). Such hybrid system provides the en-

ergy requirements of a village of 300 people. The design

and implementation of the systems were possible due to

the VALOREN program, the COUNCIL of P�aajara, theConsorcio de Abastecimiento de Agua of Fuerteventura

and the Instituto de Energ�ııas Renovables (IER) be-

longing to the CIEMAT (Madrid).

Ehmann and Cendagorta (1996) report a RO system

with variable load connected to a wind turbine. It was

installed at the ITC (Canary Islands Technological In-

stitute), located at Pozo Izquierdo, Gran Canaria, Spain.

They planned to study another desalination systems as

VS and ED (European Commission, 1998; Carta and

Calero, 1995). Other pilot plant test in which the RO

system is able to adapt to the variable wind energy

available is described by Miranda and Infield (2003).


The operation of the RO system with variable flow make

unnecessary the use of batteries; a small wind turbine

)2.2 kW and RO system were installed at CREST,

Loughborough University, UK.

Besides that, Robinson et al. (1992) describe a wind-

RO brackish water desalination system which was de-

signed for small remote communities in Australia. The

Canary Islands Technological Institute developed a

stand-alone system with capacities between 5 and 50 m3/

day, known as AEROGEDESA. The precommercial

brochure (ITC, 2002a,b) reports and average production

of 11 m3/day for a plant with nominal output of 13 m3/

day for an annual average wind speed of 7 m/s. Their

costs are about 90.151 € for a 10 m3/day-plant and about

150.253 € for a 50 m3/day-plant.

Other wind-driven RO systems are as follows: A RO

system driven by a wind power plant, in Island of the

County Split and Dalmatia, reported by Vujcic and

Krneta (2000). A RO plant in the Middle East, which

installation starts in 1986. It is a 25 m3/day-plant con-

nected to a hybrid wind–diesel system (Stahl, 1991).

Besides that, in Drepanon, Achaia, near Patras (Greece),

in 1995 starts the operation of other wind powered RO

system (Kostopoulos, 1996). Finally, European Com-

mission (1998) presents other facilities at:

• Island of Suderoog (North Sea), with 6–9 m3/day;

• Ile du Planier, France Pacific Islands, with 0.5 m3/h;

• Island of Helgoland, Germany (2 · 480 m3/h);

• Island of St. Nicolas, West France (hybrid wind-die-

sel) and

• Island of Drenec, France (10 kW wind energy con-

verter).

Interesting experimental research about the direct

coupling of a wind energy system and a RO unit by

means of shaft power has been carried out at the Canary

Islands Technological Institute––projects AERODESA

I and AERODESA II (ITC, 2001). In addition, in Co-

conut Island off the northern coast of Oahu, Hawai, a

brackish water desalination wind-powered RO plant was

analysed. The system coupling directly the shaft power

production of a windmill with the high pressure pump;

13 l/min can be maintained for wind speed of 5 m/s (Lui

et al., 2002).

On the other hand, with regard to MVC, a detailed

analysis of influence of main parameters was performed

by Karameldin et al. (2003). In Borkum Island, in the

North Sea one of such plants was implemented with a

fresh water production of about 0.3–2 m3/h (European

Commission, 1998; Coutelle, 1991). In Ruegen Island

(Germany) was installed another one with a 300 kW

wind energy converter and 120–300 m3/day of fresh

water production (European Commission, 1998). A de-

tailed description and results of operation tests are re-

ported by Plantikow (1999). In addition, there is a

commercial 300 m3/day-plant (Rodr�ııguez-Giron�ees et al.,1996).

Finally, ED process is interesting for brackish water

desalination since it is able to adapt to changes of

available wind power and it is most suitable for remote

areas than RO. Modelling and experimental tests results

of one of such system installed at the ITC, Gran

Canaria, Spain is presented by Veza et al. (2001). The

capacity range of this plant is 192–72 m3/day.

8. Biomass

The use of biomass in desalination is not in general a

promising alternative since organic residues are not

normally available in arid regions and the grow of bio-

mass requires more fresh water than it could generate in

a desalination plant.

9. Geothermal energy

There are different geothermal energy sources. They

may be classified in terms of the measured temperature

as low (<100 �C), medium (100–150 �C) and high tem-

perature (>150 �C). The thermal gradient in the Earth

varies between 15 and 75 �C per km depth, nevertheless,

the heat flux is anomalous in different continental areas.

Moreover, there are local centres of heat between 6 and

10 km deep due to disintegration of radioactive ele-

ments. Barbier (2002) presents a complete overview of

geothermal energy technology (see also Barbier, 1997;

L�oopez Vera, 1991; Baldacci et al., 1998). He reports that

the cost of electrical energy is generally competitive, 0.6–

2.8 UScents/MJ (2–10 UScents/kWh) and that 0.3%––

177.5 billion MJ/year (49.3 billion kWh/year)––of the

world total electrical energy generated in 2000 is from

geothermal resources.

Low temperature geothermal waters in the upper 100

m may be a reasonable energy source for desalination

(Rodr�ııguez-Giron�ees et al., 1996). Ophir (1982) reports

an economic analysis of geothermal desalination; sour-

ces of 110–130 �C were considered. He concludes that

geothermal desalination presents as low price as large

multieffect dual purpose plants.

The oldest paper found about desalination plants

assisted by geothermal energy was published in 1976.

Awerbuch et al. (1976) report that The United States

Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation,

performed an interesting research about a geothermal-

powered desalination pilot plant near Holtville, Cali-

fornia, USA since 1972. Boegli et al. (1977), also from

United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of

Reclamation, report experimental results of geother-

mal fluids desalination at East Mesa Test Site. MSF


distillation and high-temperature ED were analysed;

different evaporation tubes and membranes were tested.

With regard to distillation processes, Karytsas (1996)

performs a technical and economic analysis about the

use of geothermal sources between 75 and 90 �C on

MED. One of such plants was planned to be installed in

Cyclades Islands (Greece). Two geothermal-powered

distillation plants were installed in France (Bourouni

et al., 1999b) and in the south of Tunisia (Bourouni et

al., 2001), respectively. Both of them uses evaporators

and condensers of polypropylene with operation tem-

perature range of 60–90 �C (Bourouni et al., 1999a). In

addition, Bouchekima (2003) analyses the performance

of a solar still in which the feed water is brackish un-

derground geothermal water.

On the other hand, a high-pressure geothermal

source allows the direct use of shaft power on desali-

nation. In addition, thermal energy conversions on shaft

power or electricity would permit the coupling with

other desalination systems. Moreover, there are com-

mercial membranes (Backpulseablee) that withstand

temperatures up to 60 �C (Houcine et al., 1999), which

permits geothermal brines desalination. Moreover,

Kimura and Nomura (1981) tested two kinds of RO

membrane to desalination of brines at 70 �C.

10. Oceanic energy

The oceanic energy is expressed as the waves, the

tides and the thermal gradient of the sea. Their nominal

power are 0.5, 240 and 40 MWe, respectively. Nowa-

days, there are very few facilities of wave and tide energy

conversion to electricity (Delyannis and Belessiotis,

1996). Cl�eement et al. (2002) present a complete review of

status and perspectives of wave energy in Europe. On

the other hand, Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion

(OTEC) is a proven technology, nevertheless its high

cost limits its commercial development. This technology

is based in driving a power conversion cycle by the

temperature difference between surface seawater and

seawater at a depth of 1000 m or even more. The warm

seawater flashes in a vacuum chamber and is condenses,

after expansion, by cold water.

A variety different ocean energy-driven desalination

systems were designed as follows: Rabas and Panchal

(1991) describe an MSF desalination system coupled to

a thermal oceanic energy system. Besides that, Rey and

Lauro (1981) discuss the coupling of a thermal energy

conversion plant powered by the thermal gradient of the

sea and a distillation unit.

In addition, with regard to wave-powered desalina-

tion, the University of Delaware (USA) developed a

wave-powered RO plant, referred to as DELBOUY. Its

commercialisation started in 1985 by ISTI Delaware,

Inc. Different plant capacities, from 6 m3/day, were

available since the system is modular. The operating

experience showed an amortization period of five years

(Hicks et al., 1989). Moreover, McCormick and Kim

(1997) offer cost estimations for a wave-powered RO

plant of less than 1 dollar per 1000 gallons when the

system operates in a sea having an average wave height

of 1.5 m and a period of 7.5 s. Not only RO, but also

distillation processes were connected to wave-power

systems. Crerar et al. (1987) propose a wave-powered VS

unit; experimental and modelling is presented in Crerar

and Pritchard (1991). In addition, Heath (1996) pro-

poses a wind-wave hybrid system connected to a distil-

lation unit. The advantages of such a system would be

the availability of a more regular energy source than

wind power.

11. Potential of development

The main potentials of development in distillation are

as follows:

• The coupling of solar-assisted heat pumps. Several

authors have studied the coupling of heat pumps

and the design of new solar heat pumps (Slesarenko,

1999; Gunzbourg and Larger, 1999; Hulin et al.,

1999). Moreover, Fathalah and Aly (1991) and Aly

(1991) report simulations of heat pumps connected

to a MED plant and an MSF, respectively.

• Application of direct solar steam generation to MSF

or MED technologies (Sagie et al., 2001; Garc�ııa-Rodr�ııguez et al., 1999).

• Using nanofiltration membranes as pretreatment of

MSF distillation Al-Sofi et al. (2000). This pretreat-

ment would permit a considerable increasing of the

performance, that results in high cost reductions.

• Design of new devices. Virk et al. (2001) describe a

liquid-filled roof or wall cladding that is in thermal

contact with the atmosphere drives a conventional

distillation equipment. The energy passes to a ther-

mal storage and can be used directly or by a heat

pump to power a desalination unit. The ambient sys-

tem operates not only during the day, but also at

night. Otherwise, the test facility of the project

MEMDIS ‘‘Development of stand-alone, solar ther-

mally driven and PV-supplied desalination system

based on innovative membrane distillation’’ will be

installed at Pozo Izquierdo, Gran Canaria, Spain

(Canary Islands Technological Institute-ITC).

On the other hand, with regard to membrane pro-

cesses, the main potentials of development and cost re-

ductions are:

• Optimising of the pretreatment.

• Decreasing the cost of membranes.


• Improving of membrane features: to improve recov-

ery and salt rejection and minimise fouling effects

and chemical and biological attacks.

• Improving the ability to adapt the desalination sys-

tem to a variable input energy source.

• Increasing of membrane production with solar heat-

ing of the feed water.

• The analysis solar thermal applications.

12. Conclusions

The solar photovoltaic energy is a mature technol-

ogy, which main problem is its high cost. Nevertheless,

the connection of photovoltaic cells to membrane pro-

cesses in desalination is an interesting alternative for

stand-alone desalination systems in remote areas. Nev-

ertheless, if wind power is available, it exhibit lower

energy cost than solar PV energy.

For brackish water desalination, both of them, RO

and ED powered by wind turbines are usually the best

selection. Nevertheless, solar distillation may be ad-

vantageous for seawater desalination, although other

renewable energy resources have to be taken into ac-

count, as follows:

Geothermal energy is suitable for different desalina-

tion process at reasonable cost wherever a proper geo-

thermal source is available. One of the main advantage

is that no energy storage is required.

Wave-powered RO seems to be reasonable cost ef-

fective and VC should not be discarded, in spite of wave

energy is not already commercial.

Moreover, other systems require further analysis for

evaluating their potentials of development as solar

thermo-mechanic conversion systems applications in

membrane processes.

The most mature technologies of renewable energy

application in desalination are wind and PV-driven

membrane processes and direct and indirect solar dis-

tillation. Nevertheless, there are place of development,

specially in the coupling optimisation of renewable en-

ergy and desalination systems. On the other hand, new

pretreatments may permit a considerable increasing of

the maximum temperature of operation in distillation

plants, which results in considerable increase of the

performance.

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Minis-

terio de Ciencia y Tecnolog�ııa (project SOLARDESAL

REN2000-0176-P4-04) and the Consejer�ııa de Edu-

caci�oon, Cultura y Deportes of The Autonomous Gov-

ernment of Canary Islands (project PI2001/012).

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