Demonstration of a real-time maximum power point tracker for salt gradient osmotic power systems

Sanjana Yagnambhatt, Saber Khanmohammadi and Jonathan Maisonneuve

Applied Energy, 2024, vol. 376, issue PA, No S0306261924015885

Abstract: Clean energy is needed to sustainably power our economies and communities. Salt gradients, which are available in marine ecosystems as well as from the brine of engineered desalination systems, are a renewable source of energy. Membrane-based osmotic power processes have been proposed for converting the free energy of mixing seawater and diluted water to useful mechanical work. It has been shown that during osmosis, the applied mechanical load as well as the circulation rates of diluted feed and concentrated draw through the membrane module have a significant impact of transport dynamics, including polarization and friction. Therefore, to maximize performance of this process, it is necessary to carefully adjust these operating conditions. Using modelling and simulation, our group has previously shown that it is possible to coordinate the control of these key operating variables in order to maximize net power output. In this work, we report on our efforts to experimentally demonstrate the concept of real-time maximum power point tracking for a salt gradient osmotic power system. The transient response of a laboratory scale osmotic system is characterized, showing water permeate flux, pressure losses, and power output in response to step changes in applied pressure and to feed and draw circulation rates. A “perturb and observe” feedback algorithm and control strategy are implemented and as a result, the real-time net power output of the osmotic power system is shown to more than double relative to baseline conditions. Such real-time control strategies have broad applications to a variety of membrane processes and can be customized to track selected performance metrics.

Keywords: Salt gradient energy; Pressure retarded osmosis; Osmotic power; Reverse osmosis; Desalination; Maximum power point tracking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261924015885
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:376:y:2024:i:pa:s0306261924015885

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.124205

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().