Type
ArticleAuthors
Ng, Kim Choon
Shahzad, Muhammad Wakil
KAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) DivisionEnvironmental Science and Engineering Program
Water Desalination and Reuse Research Center (WDRC)
Date
2017-09-22Online Publication Date
2017-09-22Print Publication Date
2018-02Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/625778
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The conventional desalination processes are not only energy intensive but also environment un-friendly. They are operating far from thermodynamic limit, 10–12%, making them un-sustainable for future water supplies. An innovative desalination processes are required to meet future sustainable desalination goal and COP21 goal. In this paper, we proposed a multi-effect desalination system operated with ocean thermocline energy, thermal energy harnessed from seawater temperature gradient. It can exploit low temperature differential between surface hot water temperature and deep-sea cold-water temperature to produce fresh water. Detailed theoretical model was developed and simulation was conducted in FORTRAN using international mathematical and statistical library (IMSL). We presented four different cases with deep-sea cold water temperature varies from 5 to 13°C and MED stages varies from 3 to 6. It shows that the proposed cycle can achieve highest level of universal performance ratio, UPR = 158, achieving about 18.8% of the ideal limit. With the major energy input emanated from the renewable solar, the proposed cycle is truly a “green desalination” method of low global warming potential (GWP), best suited for tropical coastal shores having bathymetry depths up to 300m or more.Citation
Ng KC, Shahzad MW (2018) Sustainable desalination using ocean thermocline energy. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 82: 240–246. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.08.087.Sponsors
The authors would like to thank the King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) for the generous grant awarded to Project no. 7000000411.Publisher
Elsevier BVAdditional Links
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032117312339ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1016/j.rser.2017.08.087