Recommended Citation
Binti Khairul Hisham, Aliah Adriana, "Wind-Powered Continuous Reverse Osmosis Water Desalination" (2022). Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship. Paper 31.
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/duri/31
Date of this Version
12-18-2022
Keywords
water desalination, reverse osmosis, wind energy, wind turbine
Abstract
Water scarcity is a grave issue that is faced by lots of people worldwide. This phenomenon is further exacerbated by climate change, overpopulation, and water-intense industrial activities. To combat this issue, reverse osmosis (RO) water desalination system is broadly introduced in order to produce freshwater while maintaining the desired thermodynamic efficiency and economic feasibility. RO water desalination is a process of separating freshwater from salt water using a semi-permeable membrane. In status quo, there are various forms of energy present in RO system (e.g: hydraulic, mechanical, electrical energy, etc.) to power the hydraulic components. The conversion from one form of energy to the other results in a significant amount of energy loss due to entropy. Not only that, the RO system also operates on fossil fuels that are harmful to the environment. To address these issues, this research project focuses on harnessing wind energy from hydraulic wind turbine as a prime source of energy to power a continuous RO system. Wind energy is a clean form of energy which is sustainable for long-term use. Upon the completion of this research project, the continuous RO system is able to successfully operate using the simulated wind energy from the wind turbine’s cyber physical system (CPS). Additionally, using a hydrostatic transmitted-wind turbine, the mechanical to electrical energy conversion from the wind turbine to the pump in the RO system is successfully eliminated.