Conceptual designs of integrated process for simultaneous production of potable water, electricity, and salt

The main aim of this study was to conduct preliminary analysis on the performance of two conceptual designs that integrate the production of potable water, electricity, and salt. We used reverse osmosis (RO), pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO), and electrodialysis (ED) to produce potable water, electricity, and salt, respectively. The objective of the analysis is to observe how the relative positions of RO and PRO in the integrated process affect the five key parameters, i.e. the total dissolved solids (TDS) of potable water, permeate rate, the total energy requirement of the RO and ED units, net delivered power, and salt potential. We simulated each integrated design using previously validated mathematical expressions of RO, PRO, and ED. We found that the net delivered power is higher when the RO unit is located before the PRO unit. The same sequence also results in lower energy requirement for producing potable water, although the permeate rate is smaller than that of the rival sequence. On the other hand, the salt potential is not affected by the relative positions of the RO and PRO units.