title: Renewable energy powered membrane technology. 2. The effect of energy fluctuations on performance of a photovoltaic hybrid membrane system.
abstract: This paper reports on the performance fluctuations during the operation of a batteryless hybrid ultrafiltration--nanofiltration/reverse osmosis (UF-NF/RO) membrane desalination system powered by photovoltaics treating brackish groundwater in outback Australia. The renewable energy powered membrane (RE-membrane) system is designed to supply clean drinking water to a remote community of about 50 inhabitants. The performance of the RE-membrane system over four different solar days is summarized using four different NF membranes (BW30, NF90, ESPA4, TFC-S), and examined in more detail for the BW30 membrane. On an Australian spring day, the system produced 1.1 m3 of permeate with an average conductivity of 0.28 mS x cm(-1), recovering 28% of the brackish (8.29 mS x cm(-1) conductivity) feedwater with an average specific energy consumption of 2.3 kWh x m(-3). The RE-membrane system tolerated large fluctuations in solar irradiance (500--1200 W x m(-2)), resulting in only small increases in the permeate conductivity. When equipped with the NF90 (cloudy day) and ESPA4 (rainy day) membranes, the system was still able to produce 1.36 m(-3) and 0.85 m(-3) of good quality permeate, respectively. The TFC-S membrane was not able to produce adequate water quality from the bore water tested. It is concluded that batteryless operation is a simple and robust way to operate such systems under conditions ranging from clear skies to medium cloud cover.
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, United Kingdom. B.S.Richards@hw.ac.uk
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.forename: D P S
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Capão
authors.forename: A I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Schäfer
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D003246:Conservation of Energy Resources; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D010777:Photochemistry
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial