Evaluation of Solar Energy Powered Seawater Desalination Processes: A Review

Mudhar A. Al-Obaidi, Rana H. A. Zubo, Farhan Lafta Rashid, Hassan J. Dakkama, Raed Abd-Alhameed () and Iqbal M. Mujtaba
Additional contact information
Mudhar A. Al-Obaidi: Technical Institute of Baquba, Middle Technical University, Baghdad 10074, Iraq
Rana H. A. Zubo: Technical Engineering College Kirkuk, Northern Technical University, Kirkuk 36001, Iraq
Farhan Lafta Rashid: Petroleum Engineering Department, College of Engineering, University of Kerbala, Karbala 56001, Iraq
Hassan J. Dakkama: Technical Engineering College-Baghdad, Middle Technical University, Baghdad 10074, Iraq
Raed Abd-Alhameed: Department of Biomedical and Electronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Informatics, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, UK
Iqbal M. Mujtaba: Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering and Informatics, University of Bradford, Bradford BD7 1DP, UK

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 18, 1-16

Abstract: Solar energy, amongst all renewable energies, has attracted inexhaustible attention all over the world as a supplier of sustainable energy. The energy requirement of major seawater desalination processes such as multistage flash (MSF), multi-effect distillation (MED) and reverse osmosis (RO) are fulfilled by burning fossil fuels, which impact the environment significantly due to the emission of greenhouse gases. The integration of solar energy systems into seawater desalination processes is an attractive and alternative solution to fossil fuels. This study aims to (i) assess the progress of solar energy systems including concentrated solar power (CSP) and photovoltaic (PV) to power both thermal and membrane seawater desalination processes including MSF, MED, and RO and (ii) evaluate the economic considerations and associated challenges with recommendations for further improvements. Thus, several studies on a different combination of seawater desalination processes of solar energy systems are reviewed and analysed concerning specific energy consumption and freshwater production cost. It is observed that although solar energy systems have the potential of reducing carbon footprint significantly, the cost of water production still favours the use of fossil fuels. Further research and development on solar energy systems are required to make their use in desalination economically viable. Alternatively, the carbon tax on the use of fossil fuels may persuade desalination industries to adopt renewable energy such as solar.

Keywords: seawater desalination; multi-effect distillation; multistage flash; reverse osmosis; photovoltaic and concentrated solar power; specific energy consumption; water production cost (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/18/6562/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/18/6562/ (text/html)

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:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:18:p:6562-:d:909782

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().