TY - GEN
T1 - Development of a village-scale, solar-powered reverse osmosis system
AU - Bian, David W.
AU - Sokol, Julia A.
AU - Yun, Janet H.
AU - Mascarenhas, Craig A.
AU - Emeghara, Chinasa
AU - Watson, Sterling M.
AU - Buresh, Christopher
AU - Vander Werff, Annie
AU - Wright, Natasha C.
AU - Winter, Amos G.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright 2016 by ASME.
Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2016/1/1
Y1 - 2016/1/1
N2 - This paper details the development of a photovoltaic reverse osmosis water desalination system for a groundwater well in Bercy, Haiti. The well was constructed to provide potable drinking and agricultural water for the 300-person community. However, its water has a salinity level of 5,290 ppm, rendering it harmful for both human consumption and soil fertility. This reverse osmosis system is designed to be low-cost and operational off-grid while providing 900 gallons per day of desalinated water for the community. The system is composed of a photovoltaic power system, a submersible solar pump, and three reverse osmosis membranes. The system is designed to have a material cost significantly below that of any commercially-available system of similar scale. Furthermore, it has an average water production cost of $1.21/m3 and an average specific energy of 1.2 kWh/m3. Its performance was tested in the laboratory by connecting the desalination module to a DC power supply, demonstrating good agreement with its modeled performance. The installation of the full system with the PV module will take place on-site in the summer of 2016. Following implementation, the system will be monitored and compared against predicted performance. The first attempt is meant to serve as a verification and validation of the system as a whole. However, successful operation within the given cost target could pave the way for wider use of off-grid reverse osmosis systems at many remote locations with limited freshwater access around the world.
AB - This paper details the development of a photovoltaic reverse osmosis water desalination system for a groundwater well in Bercy, Haiti. The well was constructed to provide potable drinking and agricultural water for the 300-person community. However, its water has a salinity level of 5,290 ppm, rendering it harmful for both human consumption and soil fertility. This reverse osmosis system is designed to be low-cost and operational off-grid while providing 900 gallons per day of desalinated water for the community. The system is composed of a photovoltaic power system, a submersible solar pump, and three reverse osmosis membranes. The system is designed to have a material cost significantly below that of any commercially-available system of similar scale. Furthermore, it has an average water production cost of $1.21/m3 and an average specific energy of 1.2 kWh/m3. Its performance was tested in the laboratory by connecting the desalination module to a DC power supply, demonstrating good agreement with its modeled performance. The installation of the full system with the PV module will take place on-site in the summer of 2016. Following implementation, the system will be monitored and compared against predicted performance. The first attempt is meant to serve as a verification and validation of the system as a whole. However, successful operation within the given cost target could pave the way for wider use of off-grid reverse osmosis systems at many remote locations with limited freshwater access around the world.
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U2 - 10.1115/DETC2016-59646
DO - 10.1115/DETC2016-59646
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85008151991
T3 - Proceedings of the ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference
BT - 42nd Design Automation Conference
PB - American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
T2 - ASME 2016 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, IDETC/CIE 2016
Y2 - 21 August 2016 through 24 August 2016
ER -