TY - JOUR
T1 - Renewable energy-driven desalination technologies: A comprehensive review on challenges and potential applications of integrated systems
AU - Ghaffour, NorEddine
AU - Bundschuh, Jochen
AU - Mahmoudi, Hacène
AU - Goosen, Mattheus F A
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
PY - 2015/1
Y1 - 2015/1
N2 - Despite the tremendous improvements in conventional desalination technologies, its wide use is still limited due primarily to high energy requirements which are currently met with expensive fossil fuels. The use of alternative energy sources is essential to meet the growing demand for water desalination. In the last few decades a lot of effort has being directed in the use of different renewable energy (RE) sources to run desalination processes. However, the expansion of these efforts towards larger scale plants is hampered by several techno-economic challenges. Several medium-scale RE-driven desalination plants have been installed worldwide. Nevertheless, most of these plants are connected to the electrical grid to assure a continuous energy supply for stable operation. Furthermore, RE is mostly used to produce electric power which can be used to run desalination systems. This review paper focuses on an integrated approach in using RE-driven with an emphasis on solar and geothermal desalination technologies. Innovative and sustainable desalination processes which are suitable for integrated RE systems are presented. An assessment of the benefits of these technologies and their limitations are also discussed.
AB - Despite the tremendous improvements in conventional desalination technologies, its wide use is still limited due primarily to high energy requirements which are currently met with expensive fossil fuels. The use of alternative energy sources is essential to meet the growing demand for water desalination. In the last few decades a lot of effort has being directed in the use of different renewable energy (RE) sources to run desalination processes. However, the expansion of these efforts towards larger scale plants is hampered by several techno-economic challenges. Several medium-scale RE-driven desalination plants have been installed worldwide. Nevertheless, most of these plants are connected to the electrical grid to assure a continuous energy supply for stable operation. Furthermore, RE is mostly used to produce electric power which can be used to run desalination systems. This review paper focuses on an integrated approach in using RE-driven with an emphasis on solar and geothermal desalination technologies. Innovative and sustainable desalination processes which are suitable for integrated RE systems are presented. An assessment of the benefits of these technologies and their limitations are also discussed.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/566159
UR - https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0011916414005475
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84916624641&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.desal.2014.10.024
DO - 10.1016/j.desal.2014.10.024
M3 - Article
SN - 0011-9164
VL - 356
SP - 94
EP - 114
JO - Desalination
JF - Desalination
ER -
