Co-ordination Action for Autonomous Desalination Units Based on Renewable Energy Systems (ADU-RES) INCO PROGRAMME MPC-1-50 90 93 Work Package 2 “AUTONOMOUS DESALINATION UNITS USING RES” WP2 Participants CRES, GREECE JRC, EU WIP, GERMANY ITC, SPAIN CREST, U.K. FhG- ISE, GERMANY FM21, MOROCCO INRGREF, TUNISE RSS, JORDAN October 2005 WP2 Participants ORGANIZATION Participant Researchers Centre for Renewable Energy Sources, (CRES) Eftihia TZEN GREECE Joint Research Centre (JRC), EU Neringa NARBUTIENE Robert EDWARDS WIP, Germany Christian EPP Michael PAPAPETROU Instituto Tecnologico de Canarias, (ITC), Spain Baltasar Penate SUAREZ Vicente Subiela ORTIN Gonzalo Piernavieja IZQUIERDO CREST, U.K. Murray THOMSON David INFIELD Fraunhofer ISE, Germany Ulrike SEIBERT Joachim KOSCHIKOWSKI FM21, Morocco Abdelkader MOKHLISSE Mohamed ABOUFIRRAS National Institute for Research on Rural Thameur CHAIBI Engineering, Water and Forestry (INRGREF), Mohamed Nejib REJEB Tunisia Royal Scientific Society (RSS), Jordan Mohammad SAIDAM TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................. I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...............................................................................................1 1. INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................4 2. DESALINATION RES COUPLING-STATE OF THE ART ...................................7 3. GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR TECHNOLOGIES SELECTION ......................14 4. OVERVIEW OF DESALINATION RES APPLICATIONS ..................................17 4.1 WIND ENERGY DRIVEN REVERSE OSMOSIS TECHNOLOGY ..............17 4.2 WIND ENERGY DRIVEN VAPOUR COMPRESSION TECHNOLOGY......38 4.3 PHOTOVOLTAIC DRIVEN REVERSE OSMOSIS TECHNOLOGY...........44 4.4 SOLAR THERMAL SYSTEM DRIVEN MULTI-EFFECT DISTILLATION TECHNOLOGY ...............................................................................................61 4.5 HYBRID POWER SUPPLY PLANT DRIVEN REVERSE OSMOSIS TECHNOLOGY ...............................................................................................83 5. CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS..........................................................97 6. DESALINATION RES PROJECTS..........................................................................99 6.1. EU CO-FINANCED PROJECTS ........................................................................99 6.2 MERDC PROJECTS....................................................................................222 6.3. OTHER PROJECTS .....................................................................................249 7. DESALINATION RES MODELS ...........................................................................257 REFERENCES...............................................................................................................275 APPENDIX.....................................................................................................................279 A1. LIST OF RES-DESALINATION APPLICATIONS.....................................280 3 RES-DISTILLATION APPLICATIONS ≤ 50 M /DAY ...........................280 3 RES-MEMBRANE APPLICATIONS ≤ 50 M /DAY ..........................288 3 RES HYBRID - DESALINATION APPLICATIONS ≤ 50 M /DAY ...........................303 A2. OTHER RES - DESALINATION TECHNOLOGIES..................................305 BIBLIOGRAPHY..........................................................................................................317 WP2 ADU-RES i Executive Summary Water scarcity has always been part of the history of the Mediterranean. Through history, water has been the essential element for economic and social development and for the stability of Mediterranean cultures and civilizations. Water in most countries and regions of the Mediterranean is a limiting factor. The arid and semi-arid countries of the Mediterranean combine a low rate of rainfall and a high rate of evapotranspiration, therefore only small amount flows into rivers or percolates to aquifers. Furthermore, the level of exploitation of the water resources is generally high in most countries and pressure over water resources is increasing. Exploitation ratios are over 50%, or even nearing 100% in many parts of Mediterranean countries such as in Egypt, Palestinian Authority, Tunisia, Libya, etc., making the need of non- conventional water resources vital. Desalination is becoming a major option particularly in the islands where the effects of severe droughts cannot be overcame by expensive transportation of water from the mainland. The cost of desalination is still high as compared to other conventional sources of supply. However, many islands are using desalination technologies to cover from 18% to 50% of the water use in the domestic sector. Research on increased energy efficiency and use of renewable energy is achieving important results and is expected to make this option increasingly implement able, with the possibility of reducing stress on existing water supplies. Most of the Mediterranean countries exhibit significant Renewable Energy Sources (RES) potential. The coupling of renewable energy sources with desalination processes is seen as having the potential to offer a sustainable route for increasing the supplies of potable water. It is unlikely to solve the world’s water problem in the immediate future but it does offer the potential of providing a sustainable source of potable water to some communities, particularly those in arid areas where there are no indigenous sources of fossil fuels. Although RES desalination has interested those involved in desalting, the applications were mostly confined to isolated locations where continual transport of fuel posed a serious problem. However, with the rapid increase in fossil fuel costs WP2 ADU-RES 1 during the past decade there has been renewed interest in the use of new energy sources from desalination throughout the world. Aim of the present work is to promote the use of sustainable energy technologies for water production and to convey existing results of previous related EC or other Programmes to industrial entities, decision makers and end-users. Under this point of view, a list of available technologies, sizing and cost information, case studies results are provided. The present work concerns with small autonomous systems approximately up to 50m3/day product water capacity and mainly focused on the three most applicable technologies combination (solar thermal distillation, Photovoltaic-Reverse Osmosis, Wind Energy - Reverse Osmosis). An overview of desalination technologies driven by RES is presented, focusing on the most promising combinations. Technically mature technologies reviewed are: solar thermal energy and distillation desalination process which include solar collectors coupled with Multiple Effect Distillation (MED) desalination process; photovoltaic and membrane desalination processes: photovoltaic (PV) coupling with Reverse Osmosis (RO); wind energy and membrane desalination process: wind energy conversion coupling with RO process; as well as wind energy and distillation process; wind energy and Mechanical Vapor Compression. Several installations around the world are examined in detail. Technical characteristics, design data, lessons learnt as well as cost data are also presented. A number of projects, co-financed by the European Union and Middle East Desalination Research Centre, were overviewed focusing on R&D areas in coupling RES with desalination processes. It was noted that the use of RES in desalination is convenient in remote small areas as the cost of produced water is not compatible with conventional fuel-driven production. The latter problem influenced the attempts to develop less expensive systems with minimal requirements for their operation and maintenance. Reverse Osmosis-focused projects tried to solve corrosion problems in PV or wind-driven desalination plant. It was concluded that many demonstration projects failed due to the lack of further financing and support of local communities consequently the most recent projects involve the target groups in most of the stages of the projects implementation. WP2 ADU-RES 2 Furthermore, several models concerning with the design and financial analysis of desalination technologies with RES is also included in the present document. Below a description of the chapters included in this document is presented: The First Chapter is an introduction on what this desalination with renewables document presents and its main subjects. The Second Chapter presents the state-of-the-art of the possible couplings of desalination with renewables. Chapter Three describes a set of basic guidelines for the selection and design of a RES-Desalination system. In Chapter Four, the fundamental and more promising desalination renewable energy technologies are described via several applications. The cases refer to photovoltaic and wind energy technologies coupled with Reverse Osmosis desalination process, wind energy and distillation, solar thermal technology coupled with distillation desalination processes as well as hybrid Reverse Osmosis plants. Chapter five presents several conclusions and recommendation concerning the matching of the two technologies. Chapter 6 presents a brief overview of desalination RES projects co-financed by the European Commission Programmes, and non-EC Programmes. Chapter 7 presents the simulation software packages that have been developed in the field of desalination RES. In the