Techno-Economic Analysis towards Full-Scale Pressure Retarded Osmosis Plants

Elizabeth I. Obode, Ahmed Badreldin, Samer Adham, Marcelo Castier and Ahmed Abdel-Wahab ()
Additional contact information
Elizabeth I. Obode: Chemical Engineering Program, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Doha P.O. Box 23874, Qatar
Ahmed Badreldin: Chemical Engineering Program, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Doha P.O. Box 23874, Qatar
Samer Adham: ConocoPhillips Global Water Sustainability Center, Qatar Science & Technology Park, Doha P.O. Box 24750, Qatar
Marcelo Castier: Chemical Engineering Program, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Doha P.O. Box 23874, Qatar
Ahmed Abdel-Wahab: Chemical Engineering Program, Texas A&M University at Qatar, Doha P.O. Box 23874, Qatar

Energies, 2022, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-24

Abstract: Pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) is a power generation process that harnesses the salinity gradient between two water bodies of different salinities. Using high salinity water as a draw solution, this work assesses the techno-economic feasibility of the technology to generate electricity using single and multistage systems. This work utilizes a simulator built on the rigorous Q-Electrolattice equation of state and a mass transfer model that accounts for concentration polarization, combined with the Dakota optimization tool to perform sensitivity analysis and optimization studies. The economic indicator of interest is the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE), which serves to compare PRO with other sources of renewable energy. An LCOE value of USD 0.1255/kWh was obtained from the use of commercial membranes at an efficiency of 100% for the mechanical components of the PRO system. This LCOE drops to USD 0.0704/kWh when an ideal membrane is used—thus showing the improvements to economics possible with improved membrane properties. With currently obtainable membrane properties and mechanical equipment, the LCOE of a single-stage process increases to USD 0.352/kWh, which is not cost-competitive with other renewable energy sources. Setting up multistage PRO systems towards minimizing the LCOE was found to be detrimental to the net power production by the plant.

Keywords: pressure retarded osmosis; osmotic energy; salinity gradient energy; levelized cost of electricity (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:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/1/325/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/1/325/ (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:16:y:2022:i:1:p:325-:d:1017505

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 ().