An estimated 1 billion people are living both without access to clean drinking water or electricity. The small photovoltaic (PV)-powered hybrid membrane system described here is designed to address the plight of some of these people. PV and membrane technologies are chosen due to suitability for operation in remote and often harsh conditions. An ultrafiltration (UF) pre-treatment is included to remove bacteria and most pathogens, while a reverse osmosis (RO) or nanofiltration (NF) membrane desalinates the brackish feedwater. Several parameters were examined in order to optimise the system performance, including (i) feed salt concentration, (ii) operating pressure, (iii) system recovery, (iv) specific energy consumption (SEC, kWh/m3), and (v) salt retention. In addition, experiments were performed over a whole day to determine system performance under varying levels of solar radiation. The minimum SEC (relatively high due to the current single-pass mode of operation) varies from 5.5 kWh/m3 at a feed concentration of 1 g/L salt to 26 kWh/m3 at a feed concentration of 7.5 g/L salt, which is the upper limit of the system in terms of salt concentration.
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Research Article|
December 01 2004
Performance of a small solar-powered hybrid membrane system for remote communities under varying feedwater salinities
A.I. Schäfer;
1Environmental Engineering,University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia (E-mail: Schaefer@uow.edu.au)
E-mail: Schaefer@uow.edu.au
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C. Remy;
C. Remy
1Environmental Engineering,University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia (E-mail: Schaefer@uow.edu.au)
2Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Berlin, Germany (E-mail: agentno2@web.de)
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B.S. Richards
B.S. Richards
3Centre of Excellence for Advanced Silicon Photovoltaics and Photonics,University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia (E-mail: B.Richards@unsw.edu.au)
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Water Supply (2004) 4 (5-6): 233–243.
Citation
A.I. Schäfer, C. Remy, B.S. Richards; Performance of a small solar-powered hybrid membrane system for remote communities under varying feedwater salinities. Water Supply 1 December 2004; 4 (5-6): 233–243. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/ws.2004.0113
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