Sustainable seawater desalination – Analysis & Evaluation of solar power & energy storage technologies in combination with seawater desalination & brine recovery applications

Worldwide, more than 844 million people do not have access to clean drinking water. With climate change accelerating the global water crisis, more sustainable solutions are needed to combat rising water scarcity in regions like Middle East North Africa (MENA). Seawater desalination plants are one solution for this challenge.However, these plants continuously require high energy input to remove impurities and also produces large volumes of waste brine which is typically discharged into the ocean,contributing to marine pollution. The first objective of the thesis is to explore how solar technologies can sustainably meet the high energy demands of seawater desalination while also considering overnight energy storage options for uninterrupted freshwater production. The second objective is to review the performance and cost capabilities ofwaste brine recovery technologies when applied to seawater desalination practices. The overall aim is to find sustainable and innovative solutions to reduce brine volumes,minimize marine pollution, and power seawater desalination with clean energy. Photovoltaics and concentrated solar power technologies were researched in depth for their energy performance and cost effectiveness in water-scarce regions. Both solar technologies were found to provide a competitive levelized cost of electricity compared to traditional fossil fuel energy sources. Several research projects were evaluated and found to produce similar or lower capital and operational costs than current fossil-fuel powered seawater desalination. To tackle the second objective, integrated membrane technologies were reviewed for their potential to recycle the waste brine from seawater desalination. The results found that integrated membranes can increase freshwater recovery percent ages and treats the remaining brine into crystal salts via nucleation using a membrane crystallizer. The crystals produced as a by product ofseawater desalination can be repurposed, recycled, and sold for additional economic benefits instead of disposal as waste into the ocean.Renewable energy systems can be combined with sustainable desalination applications to meet rising water demand, reduce the environmental pollution and increase the economic value of freshwater treatment plants8