(300e) Exergy and Energy Analysis for Solar Vs Membrane Water Desalination

Separation of salt from water is necessary for many applications in several industry fields. Because of the high energy demand of the operation, many approaches have been intended.

The use of solar energy to accomplish this operation has been successfully intended and is now applied in a commercial scale.  The technology for solar panels design and construction has evolved enormously in the last few decades. Nevertheless, not many researchers have considered and energy-exergy analysis of the operation which has the potential to bring many insights that may become useful in the field of solar panels technology.

This paper is intended to present such analysis and shows a comparison between the technology that uses membranes for separation (more specifically, reverse osmosis) and solar panels.