Search results for "Desalination."

Electrodialysis Applications in Wastewater Treatment for Environmental Protection and Resources Recovery: A Systematic Review on Progress and Perspec…

2020

This paper presents a comprehensive review of studies on electrodialysis (ED) applications in wastewater treatment, outlining the current status and the future prospect. ED is a membrane process of separation under the action of an electric field, where ions are selectively transported across ion-exchange membranes. ED of both conventional or unconventional fashion has been tested to treat several waste or spent aqueous solutions, including effluents from various industrial processes, municipal wastewater or salt water treatment plants, and animal farms. Properties such as selectivity, high separation efficiency, and chemical-free treatment make ED methods adequate for desalination and othe…

A novel fluid-structure 2D modelling tool for the assessment of membrane deformation effects on electrodialysis units performances

Exergetic and exergoeconomic analysis of a renewable polygeneration system serving a small isolated community

2014

A great interest has been arising in the last decade for the sustainable supply of energy and fresh water, also due to the rapidly growing demand from developing countries. Facing this demand by traditional technologies and fossil energy sources implies evident difficulties and risks, because of the scarcity and high cost of fuels and their relevant environmental impact in terms of local pollution and global warming emissions. Then, the efforts of researchers have been focusing on alternative solutions, either based on the use of renewable energy sources and on innovative plant schemes for the combined and efficient production of several energy and material flows. In this paper an innovativ…

A novel solar trigeneration system integrating Photovoltaic/Thermal collectors and seawater desalination: dynamic simulation and economic assessment

2013

This paper investigates the integration of renewable energy sources and water systems, presenting a novel solar system producing simultaneously: electrical energy, thermal energy, cooling energy and domestic water. The polygeneration system under analysis includes photovoltaic/thermal solar collectors (PVT), a multi-effect distillation (MED) system for seawater desalination, a single-stage LiBr-H2O absorption chiller and additional components, such as storage tanks, auxiliary heaters and balance of plant devices. The PVT produces simultaneously electrical energy and thermal energy, at a maximum temperature of about 100 °C. The electrical energy is delivered to the grid, whereas the thermal …

Coupling sustainable energy with membrane distillation processes for seawater desalination

2010

Desalination technologies nowadays is a very interesting and emerging alternative to conventional water sources; their high energy consumption, however, generates some problems in adopting them, especially in remote areas where electric grid is not available and fuel transportation is not always sustainable. In this paper a short overview of possible couplings between the membrane distillation technology for desalination and the use of sustainable thermal energy sources is presented. Two case studies of ongoing research projects at Universita di Palermo are also presented.

DYNAMIC MODELLING OF A DESALINATION MSF UNIT AND COMPARISON WITH EXPERIMENTAL DATA

2008

Investigation of flashing phenomena in MSF chambers

2007

The MSF process has covered in the last years more than 50% of world production of desalinated water from the sea. Although this process has been used for several decades, the large energy requirements force to search for new and feasible ways to improve the overall thermal efficiency. Few studies have bee carried out in lab-scale, pilot and industrial MSF units, underlining the complexity of flashing phenomena and the importance of operating parameters settings for optimal performance. In the present work a study on fundamental phenomena occurring inside MSF chambers has been carried out, focusing on the dependence of flashing efficiency on operating parameters and the effects of flashing …

An ultrathin suspended hydrophobic porous membrane for high-efficiency water desalination

2017

Abstract An ultrathin highly fluorinated porous membrane was designed for a large production of desalted water at very low energy consumption. Imprinting water droplets were used through a low thermally conductive tetra-fluoroethylene (TFE)/2,2,4-trifluoro-5-tri-fluorometoxy-1,3-dioxol (TIT) (HYFLON AD 60) solution and the generated porous nanofilm was suspended onto a polyethersulfone (PES) honeycomb texture. The very tiny fluorinated thickness together with a large number of small-shaped pores provided the membrane for enhanced anti-wetting surface properties, extremely reduced resistance to water vapor transfer and outstanding thermal efficiency. Fine materials structure-transport relati…

CFD simulation of a membrane distillation module channel

2009

The interest towards the use of membrane distillation (MD) processes for seawater desalination has been rising recently due to the ease of coupling MD with waste and/or solar thermal energy. Notwithstanding the flexibility of the process and its potential for further developments in membrane performances, one of the main drawbacks is the thermal efficiency reduction caused by temperature polarization. Because of such phenomenon, only a small amount of the driving force potentially available for the separation process, i.e. the temperature difference between evaporating and condensing fluids, is actually used for the separation. In order to reduce temperature polarization a study on the effe…

The state of water resources in major mediterranean islands

2014

This work analyses the state of water resources in six Mediterranean islands: Corsica, Crete, Cyprus, Mallorca, Malta and Sicily. The analysis is focused on the prevailing social, economic and hydroclimatological characteristics of these islands in order to identify the main common features affecting water availability, demand and use. A detailed analysis of the state of water resources in all the considered islands has been carried out. A background of current conditions relating to freshwater availability, quality and use has been established. Different strategies to face water scarcity and enhance water quality in theislands have been assessed in a context of climate change which is a co…