PV-RO Technology- Current Status, Challenges, Opportunities and Future Advancement

Photovoltaic (PV) driven reverse osmosis desalination systems are technically viable options for production of clean water for small remote communities, arid areas and coastal regions worldwide. Several of these systems are in operation in many parts of world and few commercial products are available in market. There operational and maintenance issues have not been well reported in literature. These systems face multitude of challenges such as high water production cost, susceptibility of fouling, repeated shut-downs due to blocking of fine filtration, and failure of the water intake, breakdowns of motors/pumps, leaks, excessive reliance on chemicals, parts and modules cost and replacements all increases the life cycle cost of ownership and environmental risk of disposing excessive brine solution particularly during in land operation. This project will enhance the performance of existing PVRO system which will be built on (a) A comprehensive data mining: To perform an up-to-date review to specifically identify operation, maintenance, energy, environment and cost issues in existing PVRO designs. Identifying the challenges and opportunities of improvements in above areas of PV RO designs, (b) making advancements in operation, maintenance and reliability for fouling control and cleaning cycle(s) scheduling using predictive models of fouling growth from practical point of view, (c) making advancement in the environmental aspects of small scale PVRO systems through minimization of usage of chemicals as well as deploying effective disinfection strategies where needed, (d) strategies leading to reduction of life cycle costing and comparison of proposed solution(s) in view of contribution and advancement. Furthermore, a commercial UV-illuminated photo-catalytic disinfection system/unit will be utilized for environment-friendly disinfection of clean water produced by PVRO system at KFUPM PVRO lab. Such a disinfection system may either be augmented with a pretreatment system for bacterial disinfection of feed water or by integrating in proposed PVRO system. And based upon the knowledge and skills and expertise generated a cost effective and environmental friendly (a green product) PVRO system will be proposed which will be on higher technology level leading to a step forward for cost-effective and environment-friendly PVRO system(s). This goal will be achieved by studying the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of such systems in a structural design of experiment framework. This will generate information to design ROBUST PV, small RO, and associated enhanced UV disinfection unit. The design system will have Energy Recovery option when used for coastal application (with high salinity of water). The proposed system will rely on commercially available parts modules, motors, pumps, piping, instrumentation, gages, electronics and control; systems. The proposed system will operates effectively under all conditions of solar irradiance and feed water chemistry specific to Saudi Arabia and nearby region. The commercial controller will comprise both energy management and process control features. An intensive Lab testing of PVRO systems will be performed to evaluate the Key performance indicators of the entire system, the methodologies adopted and underlying models for developing final design will be validated. Design/solution(s) pertinent to life cycle cost reduction and minimal environmental impact of PVRO systems will be proposed. Keywords: Desalination; RO; Seawater; Brackish Water; Renewable Energy ;PV; Balance of System; Environmental Friendly; Enhanced UV disinfection; sustainable PVRO; Life cycle cost analysis; Economic evaluation; Robust design.