Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 81 (2018) 1–21

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

Membrane technology in renewable-energy-driven desalination MARK

b,⁎ b a,b b a,b,c,d
Aamer Ali , Ramato Ashu Tufa , Francesca Macedonio , Efrem Curcio , Enrico Drioli
a
National Research Council - Institute on Membrane Technology (ITM–CNR), Via Pietro BUCCI, c/o The University of Calabria,cubo 17C, 87036 Rende CS,
Italy
b
University of Calabria - Department of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, cubo 44A, Via Pietro BUCCI, 87036 Rende CS, Italy
c
Hanyang University, WCU Energy Engineering Department, Room 917 9th Floor FTC Bldg., 17 Haengdang-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 133-791,
South Korea
d
Centre of Excellence in Desalination Technology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

A R T I C L E I N F O A BS T RAC T

Keywords: Growing requirements of freshwater and unsustainable nature of fossil fuels are driving the interest in using
Desalination renewable energy for desalination applications. Due to their less energy-intensive nature and small footprint,
Renewable energy membrane-based desalination operations are gaining significant interest in this regard. Substantial efforts have
Membrane operations been observed in integrating traditional renewable and relatively green sources of energy (wind, solar,
Pressure retarded osmosis
geothermal, tidal and nuclear) with membrane-based desalination operations, mainly reverse osmosis (RO)
Reverse electrodialysis
Membrane distillation
and electrodialysis (ED). Due to recent developments and progresses in membrane technology, interesting
membrane operations including membrane distillation (MD), pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) and reverse
electrodialysis (RED) have emerged. These operations are capable of generating clean and sustainable electricity
from various waste streams including brine and impaired water which otherwise are considered environmental
liabilities. PRO and RED require mixing of a high salinity solution (such as seawater or brine and wastewater,
respectively) with a low salinity solution to generate electricity. MD has shown the potential to generate
freshwater and electricity as standalone process. Integration of MD with PRO or RED enhances the performance
of these processes and provides a clean and sustainable route to produce freshwater and energy. The current
study reviews the recent progresses and developments in applying renewable energy sources in membrane-
based desalination with special attention on emerging membrane operations with proven capability to generate
energy from wastewater streams.

1. Introduction of global water. On top of that, distribution of freshwater resources is

Sources of freshwater have been the center for the growth of
civilization since ancient times, evident from geographic location of
old civilizations and cities [1]. Last few decades, however, have
witnessed outstandingly huge increase in water consumption mainly
due to improved living standards, increased population and massive
industrialization. Consequently, insufficient availability of fresh water
has emerged as an increasingly important challenge in many areas
across the globe. Development and further growth of civilization in
water-stressed areas are, therefore, strongly linked with the amount of
available water. It has been predicted that two third of world popula-
tion will be suffering from lack of access to clean water by 2025
(unwater.org). Even though water is one of the most abundant
materials available on earth, occupying 75% of surface; yet, most part
of the water reservoirs is not directly usable. Conventional resources of
freshwater including rivers, lakes and groundwater contain only 0.65%
not proportional to the population and water usage in various parts of
the world [2]. These statistics argue loudly in favor of extracting
portable water from non-conventional sources including sea, rivers and
lakes available in water-stressed regions.
The salinity content of brackish water are upto 10,000 ppm and
seawater normally has salinity in the range of 35,000–45,000 ppm in
the form of total dissolved salts making these waters unsuitable for
drinking and most domestic uses. Considering the indicators about
drinking water quality, World Health Organization (WHO) permits a
salinity of 500 parts per million (ppm) and 1000 ppm in certain cases
[3]. Desalination process brings the total dissolved solids down to the
permissible limit. Desalination has been mainly used for seawater
(67%), followed by brackish water (19%), river water ( 8%) and
wastewater (6%) [4]. Historically, it has been performed by using
thermal energy. The basic concept of thermal desalination has been
adopted well even in today’s thermal desalination processes including

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: a.aamer@itm.cnr.it (A. Ali).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.07.047
Received 27 September 2016; Received in revised form 7 April 2017; Accepted 10 July 2017
Available online 19 July 2017
1364-0321/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A. Ali et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 81 (2018) 1–21

total installed capacity of desalination systems is more than 90 million

m3/day (idadesal.org), equivalent to 0.6% of total global freshwater
supply (www.idadesal.org/desalination-101/desalination-by-the-num-
ber/). The calculations show that this capacity requires more than 850
million tons of oil each year [5]. This figure will become even higher
with further expansion and development of desalination plants in
various parts of the world. On the other hand, known fossil fuel
resources are reported to vanish in next 50 years. In terms of carbon
footprint, the current desalination plants across the globe emit 76
million tons of CO2 annually that will approach to 218 million tons by
2040 [17]. Furthermore, any variation in price and supply of petroleum
will directly influence the desalination sector. This scenario highlights
the importance of introducing renewable, green and more sustainable
practices in desalination sector. Comparative cost of power production
from renewable energy ( 0.07, 0.05 and 0.05–0.09 $/kW h for
geothermal, wind and solar powered, respectively) and fossil fuel
Fig. 1. PI metrics for MD, multi stage flash and RO [13].
(0.05–0.09 $/kW h) argue further in favor of using renewable energy
instead of fossil fuel [6]. Renewable desalination has potential to
multi-stage flash (MSF), multiple-effect distillation (MED) and thermal
address the challenges faced by conventional desalination. It is
vapor compression (TVC). Relatively recently, membrane techniques
expected to become economically feasible as the costs of renewable
using electrical energy have replaced thermal desalination in many
technologies continue to decline and the prices of fossil fuels continue
parts of the world [5,6], mainly due to their less energy intensive
to increase.
nature. A third category based upon hybridization of thermal and
Membrane operations driven with renewable energy can make
membrane processes has also evolved. The examples include MD and
desalination more sustainable and environment-friendly [18,19].
MSF/MED integrated with RO.
Among membrane operations, RO and ED have been mainly investi-
In addition to energy saving, membrane processes also offer the
gated for renewable desalination. However, with progress in membrane
advantages of compactness, light weightiness and high productivity
technology, interesting membrane processes are emerging with poten-
which put these processes in perfect alignment with process intensifi-
tially important contribution in desalination. Relatively new processes
cation strategy [7–10]. In order to quantify these advantages, Drioli
include MD, forward osmosis (FO), RED and PRO. These processes
and Criscuoli [7] have applied/introduced some metrics including mass
have the potential to exploit/ generate renewable energy and can
intensity (MI) (defined as the ratio of mass of raw material input to
overcome the issues related with conventional desalination processes.
product output), productivity to weight ratio (PW) and productivity to
The objective of the current study is to review the recent progress in
size ratio (PS). On the basis of these metrics, a quantitative comparison
applying renewable energy in membrane-based desalination. The study
of membrane processes with conventional MSF has been shown in
also intends to analyze the recent developments, perspectives, chal-
Fig. 1. The figure is based on a plant with desalination capacity of
lenges and future research directions for relatively less-explored
1250 m3/day. The data for MSF plant has been taken from reference
membrane operations capable of producing renewable energy in
[11] while the flux data, module dimensions and weight for RO have
desalination and wastewater treatment sectors.
been adopted from the commercial manufacturers [12]. The weight and
volume of MD modules has been considered equal to that of RO.
Various process intensification metrics plotted in Fig. 1 indicate that
1.1. Types of renewable energy for desalination
both RO and MD have lower MI than MSF due to high recovery rate.
On the other hand, PW and PS for membrane processes are consider-
Various sources of renewable energy are available in different
ably higher indicating their superiority in terms of less weight and
regions across the globe. Main conventional renewable energy sources
small footprints.
of interest for desalination include solar, geothermal, wind and tidal/
Although many milestones have been achieved in enhancing the
wave. Nuclear energy (discussed in detail in Section 1.1.5) is another
performance of desalination processes, yet a significant margin for
form of emission-free energy but has not been adopted widely for
improvement exists. The current desalination techniques (especially
desalination applications due to waste disposal issues and safety-
thermal techniques) require substantial quantities of energy to achieve
related concerns. The progress in renewable energy based desalination
separation of salts from seawater. It has been estimated that the
is closely related with the corresponding development in renewable
current global desalination capacities consume 75.2 TWh of energy per
energy technologies. The growth of these technologies in recent years
year [14]. Despite all technological improvements, RO, being the most
has been summarized in Fig. 2. The figure shows that the net amount of
economically viable technology at the commercial scale, still consumes
between 3 and 4 kW h/m3 that is more than double of the minimum 1200
(1.06 kW h/m3) theoretical energy requirement (foe seawater at
35,000 ppm salt and at a typical 50% recovery) [195]. This directly 1000
affects the specific water cost that many developing countries facing the Geothermal
800 Wind
water crisis may not afford. The current scenario of desalination
capacities reflects this fact [3]. For instance, desalination has been CSP
GW

600
most widely adopted in Middle East (mainly in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,
United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain), Spain, Australia 400
and certain parts of North America where people have high purchasing
power and living standards [15]. In order to grow the desalination 200
sector in other water stressed regions of the world at the same pace,
0
desalination cost must be lower down [16]. The second challenge for
2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

sustainable growth of desalination sector is the use of fossil fuel that

creates environmental and sustainability-related concerns. The current
Fig. 2. Evolution of global renewable energy capacity.

2
A. Ali et al.
energy produced through these technologies has increased approxi-
mately 5 times during the last ten years. Solar and wind energy
dominantly contribute to overall renewable energy capacity while the
contribution of geothermal energy has been minor. Among these, the
solar energy has been most intensively studied especially for the Middle
East and North America.
Besides the conventional renewable energy sources, salinity gradi-
ent power (SGP), also termed as Blue energy, represents a green and
nearly unexplored source of sustainable energy. As will be discussed in
Sections 1.1.6 and 3, Blue energy can be harnessed by controlled
mixing of two liquid streams with different salinity levels and has great
potential in alleviating the energy demand and carbon footprint of
desalination plants.
1.1.1. Solar energy
Solar energy is the most abundant form of renewable energy across
the globe. Some optimistic studies indicate that solar energy from 1%
of arid or semi-arid area might be sufficient to fulfill the energy demand
of entire world [20]. It has been reported that many regions in Middle
East and North Africa receive 5–7 kW h of solar insolation each solar
day. Most of these regions are rich in brackish or seawater but suffer
from lack of sufficient freshwater, making them ideal for solar energy-
driven desalination. Solar energy can be used directly to heat the saline
water for desalination or indirectly by converting into electric output.
The former category mainly includes solar stills, humidification-
dehumidification devices, solar chimneys etc. while the conversion into
electricity is generally carried out through photoelectric modules.
Photovoltaic (PV) cells are generally applied to convert solar energy
into electricity. Solar energy can be concentrated primarily to increase
the efficiency of these cells. The cost-effectiveness, overall life time and
energy storage issues, however, restrict the practical application of PV
cells. PV thermal can be used to simultaneously produce thermal and
electric output from solar energy. Modern solar desalination plants
generate steam by using solar energy that runs desalination unit
mechanically. Due to its abundant availability and flexibility of
converting into electric or thermal response, solar energy has been
the main focus for renewable desalination. As shown in Fig. 2, the most
growth among the renewable energy technologies has been observed in
solar energy. However, the real contribution of solar energy in
desalination is less than 0.02%.
1.1.2. Geothermal energy
Geothermal energy is the form of renewable energy stored in the
earth that can be pumped in form of steam and hot water which can
further be used to generate electricity. Wide variation in earth’s
temperature, ranging from room temperature to well above 300 °F,
allows using geothermal energy for a wide range of applications.
Depending upon the quality of geothermal energy, it can be used either
directly in the form of steam to run a turbine or to vaporize a low
boiling point fluid that can be further used to run the turbine.
Geothermal energy is a proven technology for electricity production,
although not spread out commercially. By 2010, more than 10,000
megawatts energy was supplied by geothermal energy in 24 different
countries across the globe, serving more than 60 million people [21].
Although the net installed capacity is less than wind energy, yet the
possibility to use geothermal energy directly for desalination is a plus
point of this technology. Geothermal wells more than 100 m depth can
be exploited for desalination [22]. Many regions with good resources of
geothermal energy face the water shortage problem. A high-pressure
geothermal source allows the direct use of shaft power on mechanically
driven desalination, whereas high-temperature geothermal fluids can
be used to generate electricity to drive RO or ED plants. In case of low
temperature geothermal energy source, the heat can be directly used
for thermal desalination. As compared to the other renewable energy
resources, geothermal resource offers the uninterrupted thermal
energy. Several case studies have been cited in the literature showing
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 81 (2018) 1–21
the techno-economic potential of geothermal energy for desalination
[23–25].
1.1.3. Wind energy
Wind energy is an abundantly available source of renewable energy
in many regions in the world. Coastal areas, mountains and islands
provide the ample opportunities to use wind energy in desalination.
Almost each country in the world has such areas enriched in wind
resources. Due to uncertainty in petroleum prices and emission of
greenhouse gases, huge development in this sector has been observed
during last years. Fig. 2 shows that wind energy installation capacity
has increased by ~9 times during 2004–2015, highlighting the interest
of growth and development in this technology. The energy from wind
turbine can serve desalination plant by providing electricity or me-
chanical power. Wind turbines represent a mature technology and have
been in operation in many countries across the globe since a long time.
Many different types of wind turbines have been developed. The growth
of the installed wind power is hampered by a number of barriers. These
are public acceptance, land requirements, visual impact, audible noise,
telecommunication interference and various impacts on natural habitat
and wild life [26]. Most of these problems, however, are solved by the
installation of offshore wind parks. Selection of location for wind
operated desalination facilities is crucial. At current stage of develop-
ment, the site for wind desalination unit must have ample air and
saline water resources and scarce water supply.
1.1.4. Wave energy
The fact that ocean waves carry a vast amount of energy has been
known since long time. In broader sense, waves can be considered as
an indirect form of solar energy because they are originated by the wind
generated by uneven distribution of solar radiations [27].. High density
of seawater (and therefore high energy associated with its movement)
adds attraction in harnessing the ocean tidal power. Coastal areas with
readily available seawater and wave energy provide the ideal platform
for wave energy-driven desalination. Effective utilization of wave
energy requires its conversion into other forms of energy such as
mechanical or electrical. There are different types of devices available
for the conversion [28]. The conversion efficiencies for wave energy are
higher than the other renewable counterparts. For instance theoretical
conversion efficiency of solar energy converters has not been exceeded
to 87% on the basis of the best considered devices while theoretically
wave energy can reach 100% conversion. Despite these facts, in
comparison to solar and wind power, the wave energy is almost absent
from the market.
1.1.5. Nuclear energy
Nuclear power is generally generated through fission reaction and
currently represents the second largest source of low CO2 emission
energy. The operational mechanism of nuclear energy is the same as
that for the traditional fuel based power station, however, the heat is
generated by a chain reaction taking place inside a nuclear reactor.
CO2-emission-free nature of the process puts it in the category of
“green technology”, although the disposal of radioactive waste and
operational safety concerns make it debatable. The cost of nuclear
power is the same as that from the coal making it further attractive for
various applications. As compared to solar and wind energy, nuclear
power ensures consistent and reliable power supply. The current
contribution of nuclear power to total global energy demand is ~
11%. Finite nature of fossil fuels, their environmental concerns and
limited technological developments in harnessing the energy from
traditional renewable energy resources argue in favor of increasing use
of renewable energy in near future in many sectors including desalina-
tion. Currently, 67 nuclear reactors with total capacity more than
64,000 MW are under construction in 15 different countries (http://
www.energypost.eu/will-new-nuclear-power-plants-built/). It has been
predicted that nuclear energy would be of vital importance to bring the
A. Ali et al.
CO2 emission level to the standards agreed upon in Paris summit. The
projections suggest a continuous growth in use of nuclear energy at
varying rates 17–94%), particularly in rapidly developing economies of
Asia (www.iaea.org).
Nuclear desalination can be defined as the production of freshwater
from brackish or seawater by using a nuclear reactor as a source of
energy for desalination facility. The nuclear facility can be solely
dedicated for production of freshwater or a part of energy from the
reactor can also be applied for energy production in context of
cogeneration plant. The energy can be used in form of thermal or
electrical output. A growing interest in using nuclear energy for
desalination has been observed worldwide in the past decades. This
has been inspired by several parameters and developments including
economic competitiveness of nuclear energy, limiting resources of
fossil fuels and their environmental concerns, rapidly growing energy
demand and significant orientation of industrial research around the
nuclear technology. Nuclear desalination has been identified suitable
for plants ranging from 80 to 500,000 m3/day (http://www.world-
nuclear.org/). The cost of nuclear desalination is comparable to
conventional energy driven desalination units.
1.1.6. Blue energy
Salinity gradient energy (Blue energy) is an osmotic energy
obtained by mixing two solutions of different salinity. It is a completely
renewable and sustainable energy with a total global potential of about
1.4–2.6 TW out of which ̴ 980 GW is extractable depending on the
employed technology [29,30]. It has been estimated that this amount of
energy would be sufficient to fulfill 20% of worlds current energy
demand [31]. At the same time, it would decrease our reliance on
carbon based fuels for energy production as shown in Fig. 3. Blue
energy can solve the problem of brine disposal at the expense of energy
production. Different membrane operations can be integrated ration-
ally to produce freshwater and energy (also minerals in certain cases).
This aspect has been discussed further in detail in Section 3.
Different facts about various resources of renewable energy have
been provided in Table 1.
1.2. Appropriate combination of renewable source and desalination
technique
Renewable energy can be applied in desalination in form of electric,
thermal and mechanical (shaft) energy. The right combination of a
renewable energy source with a desalination technology can be the key
to match both power and water demand economically, efficiently and in
an environment-friendly way. There are several parameters governing
the selection of appropriate renewable energy system for desalination.
Type of available water (brackish or seawater), type and potential of
renewable energy sources available in area, availability of grid elec-
Fig. 3. Global distribution of energy by source without (left) and with potential of utilizing Blue energy (right). Source: BP: Statistical review.
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 81 (2018) 1–21
tricity, remoteness of the area, plant size etc. will confine the number of
available combinations [33,34]. RO is the least energy consuming
conventional desalination technology available in market and therefore
it has been the most adopted choice to interface with renewable energy
sources for desalination. RO has been generally combined with PV for
small scale plants located in sunny areas. For off grid areas, autono-
mous renewable desalination systems having intermittent operations
are suggested whereas for the grid electricity areas, hybrid systems with
continuous operations are more attractive. Possible integrations of
renewable energy with various desalination techniques have been
analyzed in Fig. 4. Solar technologies based on solar heat concentra-
tion, notably concentrating solar power (CSP), produce a large amount
of heat which is suitable for MD and FO. PV and wind electricity is
often combined with membrane desalination units (RO, ED). As
electricity storage is still a challenge, combining power generation
and water desalination can also be a cost- effective option for electricity
storage when generation exceeds demand. RO and ED can be applied
for brackish water as well.
In the following section, a detailed literature overview of different
membrane operations operating with renewable energy resources has
been provided.
2. Membrane desalination technologies compatible with
renewable energies
2.1. Reverse osmosis
RO is based upon the permeation of water molecules across a
semipermeable membrane under an applied hydrostatic pressure. As a
natural phenomenon, the process exists since millions of years,
however, from scientific point of view, it was discovered by a French
clergyman and physicist Jean-Antoine Nollet in 1748. Inspired by the
vision of Kennedy administration to get freshwater from the sea, the
research on the process got revival in 1940s. However, the real
progresses towards development of today’s RO technology started after
Sidney Loeb and Srinivasa Sourirajan successfully produced a func-
tional synthetic RO membrane from cellulose acetate polymer [35].
Due to selective nature of RO membrane, ions and other solute
particles are rejected. Compared to its thermal counterparts, RO
possesses the advantages of significantly less energy consumption
(~10 fold less than thermal techniques), non-corrosive equipment,
small footprints and relatively safer operation. Due to these benefits,
share of RO in total desalination market has increased more than 60%
and an annual compound growth of more than 10% in the next years
has been predicted. Thermal desalination now exists mainly in the
regions enriched in petroleum resources such as Middle East.
Irrespective of all the improvements, the energy requirement of RO
is still more than double of theoretical specific energy demand of
A. Ali et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 81 (2018) 1–21

Table 1
Some facts about the various resources of renewable energy [32].

Source Total potential (TW h/year) Levelizied energy cost ($/MW h) Leading beneficiaries

Direct solar 12,000–40,000 80–231 China, Germany, Japan, United States, Italy , India, Spain, Greece
Wind 20,000–40,000 60 China, United States, Denmark, Germany, Spain
Geothermal 4000–40,000 116 United States, Philippines, Indonesia, Mexico, New Zealand
Tidal and wave 5500–7500 n.a –
Blue Energy 8500 n.a –

n.a not available.

tion of 2.8 kW h per cubic meter of product water. In traditional efforts,

Fig. 4. An overview of possible renewable energy technologies for various membrane-
based desalination techniques [22,36].
desalination process. Moreover, RO consumes high grade energy
extracted mainly from carbon-based fuels. RO would be the key
emphasized technology in any attempt to reduce the overall carbon
footprint of desalination.
Recently, a lot of interesting developments have been reported in
coupling various renewable energy sources with RO. Solar energy has
been the most exploited source for renewable based desalination with
RO. Solar energy is first converted into electricity to power low and
high pressure pump while the shaft energy from wind turbine can
directly operate high pressure pump as shown in Fig. 5. PV and thermal
solar driven RO units have been installed in various parts across the
globe with capacity varying from less than one m3/day to several
hundred cubic meters per day. The specific energy consumption (SEC)
of these units ranges from 0.9 to 29.1 kW h/m3 and 2.4–17.9 kW h/m3
for brackish and seawater, respectively [36]. A solar powered desalina-
tion project based on RO technology has been launched in Dubai
recently. The plant produces 30 m3 of freshwater per day at consump-
RO has been coupled with PV modules for desalination [37–40].
Relatively high cost of renewable energy (particularly from PV cells)
than traditional sources combined with limited operational hours make
renewable desalination through RO more expensive. To ensure the
uninterrupted and regular power supply around the clock, these plants
have been equipped with lead acid batteries that store electricity.
However, these batteries have short life time, particularly in hot
climate, and therefore require regular replacement that increases the
overall desalination cost significantly. These batteries also suffer from
power losses during charging and discharging cycles and their effi-
ciency goes on decreasing with age. Moreover, the disposal of these
batteries causes environmental concerns.
In order to avoid the limitations and disadvantages related with the
use of battery, the concept of energy regulation and variable flow has
been implemented. The energy and permeate flow rate can be regulated
in coherence with naturally varying solar sources. Thomson, Infield
and Lee et alhave analyzed the application of variable flow and recovery
ratio to RO plant [41–43]. The authors have claimed that the proposed
system offers advantages in terms of cost reduction and overall
performance. Soric et al [44] have developed an RO prototype powered
with solar energy without using storage batteries with low energy
impact. The main component of the prototype is the energy regulator
that ensures smooth supply of energy to RO system. In order to avoid
the energy losses related with the transformation of heat energy into
electric energy and to eliminate the need of batteries, the concept of
Rankin cycle has been introduced [45–49] where the solar collectors
are used to evaporate a low boiling point fluid (generally organic) which
drives the shaft of RO pump. The system has also been optimized in
terms of working fluid, nature of solar collector and location [50,51]. A
review of RO systems powered with solar Rankine cycle has been
provided recently by Shalaby [52]. General design recommendations

Fig. 5. Schematic diagram of solar/wind driven RO system.

5
A. Ali et al.
for solar RO systems driven with organic Rankine cycle have been
provided in a recent study from Delgado-Torres and Garcia-Rodriguez
[53].
Integration of renewable-renewable and renewable-conventional
energy sources has been suggested as another alternative to increase
the production hours or to back-up the renewable desalination system
during low solar energy period. The wind energy has been used as a
complimentary source of energy to realize the maximum renewable
energy utilization of solar driven RO unit [54,55]. However, the unit
cost of product water (€ 5.2 /m3) is higher as compared to RO driven
through electrical energy. A recent study [56] claims that RO unit
powered with hybrid PV–wind–battery and power-to-gas power plants
are able to fulfill the global water demand of 2030 at levelised water
cost of 0.59 €/m3–2.81 €/m3.
Some attention has also been focused on integrating RO units with
wind power. Desalination plants operating with wind energy, however,
must be very flexible to respond the periodic shut down and startup
operations caused by rapid variation in available wind energy at each
location. Wind powered RO units have been installed and analyzed
under the project SDAWES [57]. Carta el al [58] provided the
operational analysis of a wind energy driven RO desalination plant
using direct wind energy without any storage installed in Canary
Island. The system consisting of a wind form provides all energy
requirements to an eight module plant. The quality of product water
and the average output have been reported to be independent from the
intermittent operation. Ignacio et al [59] have studied the operation of
the same plant. Loutatidou et al [60] have claimed that wind-driven RO
plant can be competitive with thermal desalination in United Arab
Emirates. SEC, product water quality and the time spent within the safe
operating window significantly increase when operational intermit-
tency is avoided by using bank of supercapacitor [61]. Similar to solar
energy, different options have been suggested to provide smooth
energy output and water supply from wind energy driven units.
Combination of wind generator with photovoltaic energy has been
proposed to supply the uninterrupted power around the clock [62].
Another idea is to have ample water production during the energy
hours [63]. The excess water can be stored when there is no produc-
tion.
Coastal sites with abundant wave energy provide the opportunity to
exploit direct pressurization of seawater for production of freshwater.
This principle has been utilized in designing some desalination setups
where the converter absorbs wave energy and transfers it to the RO
unit. Davis [64] has analyzed the potential of wave powered desalina-
tion across different parts of the world. The calculations performed by
the author show that efficient wave powered desalination plants
operating with 1 m high waves have the potential to fulfill the irrigation
demands of a strip of 0.8 km width along an arid sunny coastline. The
figure jumps to 5 km when the waves are 2 m high. Author has also
demonstrated that wave powered desalination can reduced the water
short fall by 16%, 64% and 100% in Morocco, Oman and Somalia,
respectively. In general, compared to other resources of renewable
energy, relatively few investigations have been devoted to practically
demonstrate the potential of wave power in desalination. Sharmila et al
[65] have reported a self-sustaining wave energy desalination plant
based on Oscillating Water Column principle. The technology is based
upon alternating compressing and depressurizing the column of air
entrapped above the water column by using the wave action. The
compressed air is then used to run a turbine and extracted power has
been reported to run an RO plant with capacity of 10 m3/day. In
another study, Folley et al [66] have analyzed the potential for an
autonomous wave-powered desalination by RO plant using a pressure
exchanger-intensifier for energy recovery. The strategy proposed by the
authors avoids the conversion of wave energy first into electrical energy
and directly uses the wave energy to compress the seawater. The
numerical simulations performed by the authors demonstrate that a
SEC of less than 2 kW h/m3 of distillate can be obtained by using this
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 81 (2018) 1–21
system over a wide range of seawater conditions, making it technically
and economically suitable for seawater desalination. SEC drops down
to 1.85 kW h/m3 when recovery rate is maintained at 25–35% due to
elimination of pretreatment requirement and reduced scaling pro-
blems. From commercial point of view, the world’s first wave energy
powered desalination plant is operational now in Perth, Australia.
Worsening situation of water scarcity and issues related with use of
fossil fuels, it is expected that wave powered desalination will gain
more interest in future.
For nuclear power-driven desalination, RO as standalone process or
hybrid combinations are getting more popularity than thermal plants.
For RO, the costs have been identified one-third of that of gas driven
systems. The feasibility reports based on 150 reactor-years of experi-
ence with nuclear desalination shows the product cost in range of
$0.7–0.9/m3 (http://www.world-nuclear.org/). MED and RO have
been proven more suitable for nuclear desalination than initially tried
MSF [67]. The world’s largest nuclear desalination plant (hybrid MSF-
RO) has been working in Madras Atomic Power Station, southeast
India. The plant initially produced most of freshwater through MSF but
later on a barge-mounted RO unit was added to improve the overall
capacity of the plant. Similarly, a nuclear energy drive RO unit with
450 m3/day capacity is in operation in Pakistan since 2014. However,
the major experience comes from installation from Russia, Eastern
Europe and Canada.
In addition to using traditional renewable energy sources, some
innovative ideas have been floated to address the typical challenges of
RO process. Bullock and Andrews [68] have floated and analyzed the
concept of deep-sea RO desalination. The authors have claimed that the
proposed system can reduce the desalination cost lower to double than
the minimum theoretical energy demand of desalination process.
Significant reduction in plant cost and almost total elimination of
environmental concerns has also been claimed.
2.2. Electrodialysis
ED is a mass separation technique utilizing ion exchange mem-
branes and an electrical potential difference for separation of ionic
species from an aqueous solution and other uncharged components.
ED is mostly applied for desalination of brackish water representing
the main process for the production of potable water in some parts of
the world. In ED stack, a serious of AEMs and CEMs are alternately
placed between two electrodes (anode and cathode). The IEMs are
separated by a spacer gasket to form a dilute and concentrate
compartments. When a feed solution is pumped through these
compartments and an electrical potential is maintained between the
electrodes, the cations pass through the CEMs and migrate towards the
cathode whereas the anions pass through the AEMs and migrate
towards the anode. Consequently, the salts are depleted from the feed
solutions to form a freshwater in dilute compartments and concen-
trated effluent in concentrate compartments.
The principle of ED process has been known for about 120 years,
however, the large-scale industrial utilization of ED began about 50
years ago [69,70]. ED, as a method combining electrolysis and dialysis,
was presented for the first time by Maigrot and Sabates [71] with a
patent focusing on technique for removal of deleterious substances that
prevent or interfere with the crystallization process during manufactur-
ing of sugar [71]. The term 'electrodialysis' was not used in the above
patent, however, it was proposed for the first time in 1900 by
Schollmeyer in the patent aiming at purification of sugar syrup through
similar method [72]. In 1940, Meyer and Strauss proposed a multi-
compartment ED system comprised of a series of alternatively aligned
ion exchange membranes (IEMs) between two electrodes [73]. In such
multi-cell stack design, the irreversible energy losses are minimized
since the decomposition potentials at the electrodes could be distrib-
uted over many desalinating compartments. A breakthrough on rapid
development and application of ED for desalination and concentration
A. Ali et al.
Fig. 6. Dependence of specific energy on feed water salinity for ED and RO desalination
systems; the comparison is made to the thermodynamic least energy needed to separate
the given salt concentration from water; a specific case of feed salinity range commonly
found in Indian groundwater is considered.
of electrolyte solutions at industrial scale was observed after the
recognition of economic advantage of multi-cell stack design, and the
synthesis of highly selective ion exchange membrane by Juda and
McRae of Ionics Inc. [74] and Winger et al. at Rohm and Haas [75]. In
the 1950s, the first commercial equipment based on ED technology was
developed for desalination of brackish water [76]. In 1960s, salt
production using a monovalent selective membrane was demonstrated
first time by Asahi Co. [77]. Driven by the development of new ion
exchange membrane with good physicochemical and electrochemical
properties, ED and related technologies have been applied in food,
drug, and chemical process industry as well as biotechnology and
wastewater treatment [78,79].
Sustainable water desalination by ED requires a renewable energy
input. A number of studies have been carried out on testing and
analysis of an ED system driven by photovoltaics. AlMadani studied the
performance of a small scale ED with 24 cell pairs (membrane area of
230 × 250 mm) arranged in four hydraulic stages and two electrical
stages. The stack was driven with solar energy converted into DC by
photovoltaics having a peak power of 33 W and a nominal voltage of
12 V [80]. They observed that the quality of the product water was
substantially improved at low product flow rates (about150 gallons/
day) with salt rejection reaching up to 99% for the tested NaCl
solutions. In another work, a mathematical model has been developed
through controlled potential ED and tested for the desalination of
brackish water [81]. The model, which calculates the dilute and
concentrate concentrations as a function of time and the energy
consumption of the process, uses total ED stack voltage, solution
flow rates, and compositions, the required volume of brackish water to
be processed etc. as input parameters. Ortiz et al. demonstrated the
feasibility of desalination of brackish water by means of an ED system
directly powered with PV solar panels without the use of batteries [82].
When using 8 PV panels, the desalination process took 0.35 h and the
drinkable water production capacity of the system reached approxi-
mately 0.29 m3/h. However, when the number of PV panels was
reduced by half i.e. to 4 PV panels, the time of desalination process
was increased to 0.45 h whereas the drinkable water production
capacity was reduced to 0.22 m3/h. An ED plant coupled with a PV
panel of 450 W peak power has been tested for evaluation of
desalination performance and techno-economic analysis [83]. When
operated at 80 V, the ED plant equipped with 42 cell pairs (dimensions
of 30×60 cm) reached a capacity of about 1000 L/day at product water
salinity below 1000 ppm. Sustainability issues related to the
Photovoltaic-ED energy for the desalination of brackish water have
been assessed considering environmental, economic and social issues
[84]. Energetic considerations have also been deeply discussed con-
sidering RO as the reference technology. It was found that the use of
PV-ED lies in the range of 0.02–0.03 kg CO2 m−3 (only due to energy
supply) for a system operating with a brackish water having a
concentration of 2500–5000 mg/L and energy consumption of 0.49–
0.91 kW h m−3 [84]. This is one order of magnitude less than that of
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 81 (2018) 1–21
the grid mix supply. Matching of the intermittent output of renewable
energies with water demand, a lifetime of membranes, efficiency of
solar panels and the high production cost of freshwater are the main
barriers preventing PV-ED to market penetration. The largest solar
powered ED plant is located in Fukue City, Japan which was installed
in 1990. The plant, consisting of a 65 kWp PV array with 1.2 Ah of
storage, has an average water production capacity of 200 m3/d with an
energy consumption of 0.6–1 kW h/m3 [85]. Wright et al. designed a
village-scale ED system that runs on solar energy (PV-ED). The PV-ED
system was justified to be cost effective and energy efficient means of
desalinating groundwater in rural India [86]. It was demonstrated that
the ED system requires 75% less specific energy than RO at 1000 mg/L
and 30% less than RO at 3000 mg/L. When using PV-powered system,
the SEC of ED reaches 50% lower than RO system at 2000 mg/L,
implying the feasibility of potential expansion of PV-ED as a desalina-
tion system in those areas.
The economic feasibility of PV-ED depends upon capital and
operational costs which, in turn, depends upon operational efficiency.
The capital cost is mainly determined by the required membrane area
(RO module or ED stack), pumps, piping, valves, storage tanks,
electrical instrumentation and control equipment, energy recovery
devices and water pretreatment equipment. The operating cost is
dependent on the energy consumption and the cost of the membrane
and pre-filter replacement, pretreatment chemicals and general main-
tenance.
Fig. 6 shows the dependence of specific cost ($/m3) on feed water
salinity for ED and RO plants. ED has a lower specific cost than RO
desalination systems [87]. On the other hand, the SEC of ED plant
depends upon the salinity level of feed and water recovery rate.
Wind energy can also be a viable source of energy for desalination.
Experimental evaluations have been conducted to evaluate a system
combining wind energy with ED or Electrodialysis Reversal (EDR)
desalination system for fresh water production, as shown in Fig. 7. In
order to identify the operational modes and system constraints for
evaluation of a wind-EDR system in off-grid applications, a number of
tests were carried out on on-grid applications in Gran Canaria Island
(Spain) [88]. Attempts were made to identify the relationship between
product water quality and applied voltage as well as the energy
consumption. For voltage in the range of 80–100 V, the off-specifica-
tion product quality remains in the range of 1000–1500 μS/cm. In
another work, an ED desalination plant driven with medium-scale off
grid wind energy system has been set-up and tested to treat brackish
water [89]. For product flow rate between 3 and 8.5 m3/h, the energy
consumption fell in the range of 4–19 kW. These wind-powered ED
systems have used deep cycle lead-acid battery banks or flywheels for
storage and regulation of the energy received from the wind source
before application to desalination units. However, at locations where
the wind resource is abundant day and night like coastal areas and
mountain stations, wind energy can be a viable source of power for
desalination facilities without any requirement of energy storage. The
Fig. 7. A wind-ED system for brackish groundwater desalination [90].
A. Ali et al.
use of wind energy for powering other membrane-based desalination
technologies such as ultrafiltration and RO has been envisaged to be
economically feasible [90]. Currently, wind-powered ED processes
have used systems for storing and regulating the energy received from
the wind source before passing it to the desalination system. However,
this is associated with a reduction in process efficiency and increased
capital and running costs. On the other hand, direct coupling of the
membrane process with the wind turbine is simpler, more energy
efficient and economical approach.
Investigations on laboratory-scale wind-ED system for desalination
of brackish underground water (5000 mg/L of NaCl) resulted in the
SEC of 2.52 kW h/m3 at a wind speed of 2 m/s which increased to
4.15 kW h/m3 at 10 m/s [90]. These SEC values are lower than the
minimum SEC reported in literature (2.8 kW h/m3day) for other
desalination systems like RO system (1.5–3.0 kW h/m3), MSF (19.5–
27.3 kW h/m3), MED (14.5–21.6 kW h/m3), and vapor compression
based techniques (7.0 - 16.2 kW h/m3). The indication is that the wind-
ED system is energetically competitive with RO and significantly more
efficient than the thermal desalination systems for feeds with TDS
compositions of up to 5000 mg/L [91]. In the wind speed range of 2–
8 m/s, the water production of the wind-ED system varied in the range
of 2.02 and 3.62 m3/m2 day which is comparatively higher than the
ones reported for a number of photovoltaic-ED systems (0.2–2.3 m3/
m2 day) for desalination of brackish groundwater (2000–5000 mg/L
TDS) [92].
2.3. Membrane distillation/crystallization
MD is a thermally driven process based on vapor pressure
difference maintained across a microporous hydrophobic membrane.
MD is known since more than 50 years when Bodell introduced first
patent on the process [93], however, it is only recently that the
developments have started to gain attention for applications at large-
scale [94]. The process possesses several advantages including the
potential to exploit waste grade heat, production of high-purity water,
nearly concentration-independent operational performance, compact-
ness with respect to the conventional thermal processes, less stringent
mechanical strength requirements for membranes applied etc. [94,95].
The process has been extensively studied at lab-scale for production of
freshwater and recovery of crystals from concentrated brine solution
[96–98]. Due to its thermal-driven nature, the process has more
perspective of using solar and geothermal energy.
2.3.1. Solar driven membrane distillation
MD is one of the most suitable candidates to exploit solar energy for
desalination applications. Solar energy can be used to heat the feed
solution and can also be applied to generate electricity to run the
auxiliary equipment. The technology can be of particular interest for
the regions with abundant resources of solar energy but less availability
of fresh water such as Middle East, Australia, Spain, Italy, Greece,
South Asia and some parts of North America. Due to these reasons, the
technology has been mainly tested for applications in these regions.
SMADES, funded by EC, represents one of the prominent projects
on using solar energy for freshwater production through MD. Main
results and operational experience of the project have been described in
various publications. Banat et al [99] have analyzed the technical
feasibility of an MD system integrated with a solar still for production
of freshwater. Banat et al [100] have also described the designing and
manufacturing of a small scale autonomous solar driven air gap MD
unit for desalination in arid and remote regions. Solar thermal
collectors have been used for heating the feed solution while electricity
is supplied by solar PV. A very good quality of distillate has been
claimed at expense of 200–300 kW h/m3 of SEC. In another study,
Banat et al [101] have reported the economic analysis of a small scale
autonomous solar MD unit. The cost was a strong function of
membrane and plant life and was equal to $ 15/m3.
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 81 (2018) 1–21
While most of the systems used for solar driven MD are based on
air gap MD, vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) systems can offer
the advantage of high flux even at low feed temperatures. Wang et al
[102] have carried out the feasibility study of water production through
solar heated hollow fiber VMD systems in Hangzhou region of China.
The data was based on the record of solar radiation observed in the
area. The authors have confirmed the technical feasibility of the system.
However, detailed economic analysis and long term performance of the
system in terms of potential scaling was not reported. Mericq et al
[103] have analyzed the use of salinity gradient solar ponds and solar
collectors for MD for two configurations: heating of feed before
entering into the modules and submerging the module inside salinity
gradient solar ponds or insertion of solar collector inside the module.
The application of solar collector was pointed out as the most
promising option with water flux as high as 142 L/m2 h. On the basis
of proposed design, an MD setup in Tunisia was built; however, the
results from the setup were not reported in the article. Chen and Ho
[104] have presented the design of a direct contact MD module
equipped with solar absorber. The absorber directly uses solar radia-
tions to heat the feed within the module. Authors have suggested the
use of high incident solar radiation, thermosiphon and thin spacers to
further improve the performance of the module. Similarly, Manna et al
[105] have applied solar driven direct contact MD for the removal of
arsenic from groundwater.
Guillén-Burrieza et al [106] have reported the operational experi-
ence of three different types of air gap MD modules prepared and
tested under the framework of European project MEDESOL aimed at
investigation of solar-driven desalination. The concept of multi-stage
distillation was applied in designing of the modules to improve thermal
efficiency of the modules. The latent energy was recovered on conden-
sing side that can be used to heat the feed solution. The authors have
concluded that although the technology used by manufacturer (Scarab
AB) is suitable for coupling with solar energy, however, the wetting
resistance of the membrane and thermal efficiency of the process
performance needs to be further improved to make the technology
suitable for commercial applications. The maximum thermal energy
observed was 79% that corresponds to specific energy demand of
810 kW h/m3.
Some efforts have also been devoted to perform the economic
analysis of the solar driven MD systems at large scale. Saffarini et al
[107] have compared the economic cost of different MD configurations
and have performed the parametric analysis for economic of air gap
MD (AGMD). It was found that direct contact MD (DCMD) equipped
with energy recovery is the most economic option compared to AGMD
and VMD. The authors have suggested the use of waste grade heat for
thermal needs of MD systems and the use of solar heat for energy
generation to be used in auxiliary equipment. Raluy et al [108] have
described the five years operational experience of a solar energy-driven
MD plant. Details about various other thermal driven MD units
installed in various parts of the world have been provided in several
publications [109–111]. A list of the main projects involving renewable
energy driven MD has been provided in Table 2.
2.3.2. Geothermal energy- driven membrane distillation
Uninterrupted supply of heat makes geothermal energy particularly
attractive for desalination applications. The intensity of heat from
geothermal sources is generally not suitable for power production that
further adds the motivation of using it for desalination objectives. Also
many regions with abundant availability of geothermal energy are
facing the problem of water scarcity. Conventional thermal processes
such as MSF require very high temperature for their operation which is
generally not achievable by exploiting geothermal energy. RO is not
suitable candidate for geothermal driven desalination due to low grade
of geothermal heat and due to necessity to convert heat input into
electric input that renders a lot of energy losses. This leaves MD as the
most suitable technology to exploit geothermal energy for desalination.
A. Ali et al.
Table 2
Main projects on solar driven MD.
Project Main coordinator
compact SMADES Department of Chemical Engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology, PO Box 3030, Irbid, Jordan
MEDINA Institute on Membrane Technology, National Research Council, Italy
MEDESOL CIEMAT-Plataforma Solar de Almería, Ctra. de Senés (A349) s/n km. 4, 04200, Tabernas, Almería, Spain
MEDIRAS Fraunhofer ISE (Institute for Solar Energy Systems)
Research Institute of Petroleum Industry, West Blvd., Near Azadi Sports Complex Tehran, Zip Code: 1485733111, Iran
Despite clear opportunities and advantages, only a few attempts
have been made to apply geothermal energy for MD-based desalina-
tion. Recently Sarbatly and Chiam [112] have analyzed the application
of VMD for treatment of geothermal water. The authors have shown
that specific water cost decreases by 59% by applying geothermal
energy for VMD. Specific water cost was found to be a strong function
of membrane cost and it reduces by ~30% by decreasing membrane
cost by 40%. Jaafar and Sarbatly [113] have also analyzed the
application of MD to exploit geothermal energy. The authors have
suggested the use of AGMD or DCMD instead of VMD to avoid the pore
wetting. Recently, NREL, in association with other partners, has
launched a project aiming to assess the feasibility of using geothermal
energy to treat the blowdown water from cooling towers [114].
Despite the efforts made to analyze the feasibility of solar and
geothermal energy for MD based desalination, very different figures
about the specific energy demand and cost have been reported in
literature. SEC varies from 1 to ~9000 kW h/m3 [115], clearly indicat-
ing the underlying ambiguities. The observed dispersion can be
associated with several factors including the use of different solutions
(seawater, brine etc.), different MD configurations, different energy
sources, non-optimized operating conditions, different membrane
materials and performance, different plant size, capacity and life time,
lack of information about pretreatment requirements etc. These factors
clearly indicate the future direction of research to determine the precise
specific energy demands of the process.
2.4. Forward Osmosis
FO, as an emerging desalination process, has received increased
attention in the last decade or so. In FO, water molecules are drawn
across a semi-permeable membrane from feed water to a solution of
higher concentration (the draw solution, DS). The driving force is a
natural osmotic pressure between the DS and the feed solution (FS).
Historically, the development of FO began as early as 1965. During
this time, Batchelder patented a method of FO-desalination utilizing
sulfur dioxide as a draw solution [116]. Since then, several attempts on
the use of FO for saline water desalination have been reported with
application extended to the food, water, and energy sectors [117].
Different draw solutions were suggested including aliphatic alcohols
and sulfur dioxide [118], aluminum sulfate [119], glucose [120] and
hydrogels [121,122]. In 2002, McGinnis introduced two-stage FO
process for recovering water from aqueous solutions, taking advantage
of solutes with temperature dependent solubility [123]. A potentially
suitable draw solution is ammonium bicarbonate, a salt that decom-
poses into ammonia (NH3) and carbon dioxide (CO2) upon moderate
heating, enabling desalination of water by using waste heat or low-
grade heat. In 2005, this was demonstrated by McCutcheon et al. who
developed an FO process employing the combination of ammonia and
carbon dioxide gases in specific ratios creating a highly concentrated
DS with the possibility to remove the dissolved gases thermally [124].
This further stimulated academic and industrial interest in FO,
subsequently increasing the number of research articles and patents.
A broad range of areas were investigated: membrane development and
characterization [125–127], mass transfer analysis [128–130], fouling
[131–136], evaluation of new draw solutions [137–140] and recently
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 81 (2018) 1–21
MD configuration Duration
AGMD 2003–2005
VMD/DCMD 2006–2009
AGMD 2006–2009
PGMD 2008–2011
Pervaporation
growing area of application in hybrid systems [141–144].
Some of the advantages of FO over conventional hydraulic pres-
sure-driven membrane processes are low energy requirements and
reduced membrane fouling potential. The absence of applied hydraulic
pressure has a huge contribution in the reduction of capital and
operation of FO. However, this technology faces certain challenges
including internal concentration polarization, fouling and large energy
consumption for DS recovery. Besides, the application of FO for
drinking water production is energy intensive since additional proces-
sing unit is required in the process of water separation and recovery
from DS [145].
Combined application of FO with renewable energy resources can
be a strategy towards development of an energy efficient FO system.
The literature work on renewable energy-based FO desalination is
limited [146,147]. Schrier [139] used solar evaporation for regenera-
tion of DS while using FO to produce fuel-grade ethanol. Khaydarov
et al. [148] experimentally tested a pilot scale FO desalination system
(installed in Aral Sea Region) using solar cells as energy source for
pumping various fluids. The system consisted of a pretreatment unit
(fibroid sorbents and water disinfection device), solar batteries (capa-
city of 500 W) for pumping various fluids and solar thermal exchangers
for recovery of working solution. Test results from laboratory experi-
mental model indicated a significant reduction in SEC down to <
1 kW h/m3 for the proposed FO system. This solar powered FO system
operating on a salt solution with a total concentration of about 17 g/L
had a water productivity of 1 m3/h and a product salinity of about
50 mg/L after post-treatment. Recently, Khayet et al. [147] have used a
statistical experimental design and response surface methodology to
model and optimize a solar thermal and photovoltaic-powered FO pilot
plant. The model used FO feed flow rate, the permeate flow rate and the
temperature as input variables, whereas the water permeate flux, the
reverse solute permeate flux and the FO specific performance index
were used as response variables. The authors reported the optimum FO
operating conditions as 0.83 L/min feed flow rate, 0.31 L/min draw
solution flow rate and 32.65 °C temperature when working with 35 g/L
NaCl draw solution. Upon investigation of the FO solar-powered pilot
plant under this optimal operating conditions, the FO specific perfor-
mance index increased with the operating time due to the dilution of
the draw solution. Thus, the authors performed the regeneration of the
draw solution by means of an optimized solar powered reverse osmosis
(RO) pilot plant reaching an optimum FO specific performance index of
25.79–0.62 L/g kW h [147]. This work represents a promising attempt
to show the possibility of high water production rate at low reverse
solute permeability and reduced energy consumption for an FO pilot
plant.
Further works are in progress for implementation of solar-powered
FO desalination system. For example, new desalination processes
integrating FO with solar energy and targeting energy consumption
below 2 kW h/m3 are under development at KAUST [149]. Such
systems are designed for operability at lower temperatures and
pressures as well as intermittent energy sources without any storage
devices and connection to the electrical grid. Besides, there are
companies working on the integration of FO with other technologies
to extend its capacity for desalination. For example, Trevi Systems in
Petaluma (California) is working on coupling FO with solar power to
A. Ali et al.
Table 3
Main characteristics features of PRO, RED and MD.
Process Mode of energy generation
PRO Mechanical energy is converted into electric output
RED Electricity is directly generated by a redox reaction
MD Mechanical energy is converted into electric output
desalinate seawater by building a pilot plant in the United Arab
Emirates. In this process, solar thermal energy is used to heat and
regenerate its DS. The system is expected to have an output of 1760
cubic feet of freshwater per day and it is believed to be the first
renewable-powered FO system of its kind in the world [150].
3. Membrane operations for renewable energy production in
desalination
Two main membrane-based SGP technologies include RED and
PRO. Both technologies are close to commercialization but suffer from
the chhalnges of high cost and lack of optimal materials for membranes
fabrication [151]. Recently, MD has also been investigated for simul-
taneous production of freshwater and electricity [152]. The concept can
be extended to production of minerals as well, as discussed in Section
3.3. The main differences between these three processes have been
summarized in Table 3.
Appropriate engineering and development of RED and PRO for
efficient energy conversion ensures the achievement of alternative
clean energy resources which can possibly be used in a wide range of
applications including powering of desalination systems. By combining
PRO and RED with membrane-based desalination systems like RO and
MD, a synergetic advantage of both systems can be obtained in the logic
of process intensification [153]. Some of the recent advances in
desalination involving PRO, RED and MD are discussed in the next
sections.
3.1. Pressure retarded osmosis
PRO is one of the most interesting membrane processes to harness
clean energy from salinity gradient. Invented by Sidney Loeb in 1973
[154], the process has made slow progress and the first prototype plant
was introduced by Norwegian company Statkraft in 2009. The osmotic
pressure extracts the fresh water from dilute to the concentrated
solution, both separated through a semipermeable membrane The
pressure generated on high salinity solution side can be used to run a
hydro turbine as shown in Fig. 8 [128,155]. For this process, several
combinations of feed and draw solutions have been tested including
river and seawater [156], seawater brine and wastewater retentate,
Fig. 8. Schematic illustration of PRO process (www.yalescientific.org).
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 81 (2018) 1–21
Membrane type No. of streams required Transporting species
Semipermeable 2 Water
Ion exchange 2 Ions
Microporous hydrophobic 1 Water
freshwater and synthetic NaCl solution [157] and seawater and
municipal wastewater [158]. The current research efforts on PRO
include the development of appropriate membranes [159–162], fouling
[163–165] and process understanding and improvement [166–168].
Synergetic effects can be achieved by introducing PRO in desalina-
tion systems in terms of reduction of waste footprint of feed solution,
dilution of draw solution that can reduce the energy demand of
desalination system and can minimize the environmental consequences
of brine disposal and improvement in power density of PRO. Achilli
et al [158] have reported the experimental data on RO unit getting
benefit from pressure generated by PRO unit. The authors have also
reported the power density data of PRO-RO system ranging between
1.1–2.3 W/m2. The authors have concluded that the proposed system
can reduce the desalination energy demand below 1 kW h/m3. In order
to increase the power density of PRO process, Han et al [157] have
proposed integration of PRO with a closed loop MD process. MD
maintains high concentration of DS that extracts freshwater from feed
solution. The authors have claimed that the proposed system offers
high recovery factor, improved power production, minimum mem-
brane fouling and reduced environmental impact.
The concept of integrating PRO with other membrane operations to
get synergetic effect is gaining attention at industrial scales as well.
Currently, Applied Biomimetics and partners have setup two pilot
plants aiming to generate electricity from geothermal wastewater by
using PRO technology in Denmark (energyforskining.dk/node/8345).
The proposed plan is expected to produce emission free electricity
while, at the same time, bringing the salinity level of the geothermal
brine low to the permissible limits. Dilution of geothermal brine via
PRO will also reduce the corrosion and scaling potential of the
geothermal stream. Similar concept has been used in Mega-ton project
where a pilot plant has been constructed in Fukuoka (Japan). The plant
uses 460 m3/d of RO brine which is mixed with 420 m3/day of
wastewater. The plant has been able to achieve power density as high
as 13 W/m2 at 30 bar hydraulic pressure by using commercial hollow
fibers from TOYOBO.
Another pilot-scale PRO-hybrid research project is being conducted
under the name “Global MVP Project” in Korea (Fig. 9). The objective
of this project is to evaluate the feasibility of the RO-MD-PRO hybrid
process in terms of reducing the discharged water concentration and
10
A. Ali et al.
Fig. 9. A simplified illustration of integration of MD with PRO for simultaneous production of freshwater and energy [157].
the energy consumption. In the hybrid process, the concentrated RO
brine enters the MD feed side, and the further concentrated MD brine
is then utilized as PRO DS while the waste water effluent is used as the
feed solution. Consequently, improvement of total plant efficiency,
compared to a stand-alone RO plant, is expected due to the additional
water production by MD and the reduction of net energy consumption
resulting from the PRO energy generation. Specifically, the following
pilot plant will be built: an RO system capable of 1000 m3/d water
production, an MD system with water production capacity of 400 m3/d,
and a PRO system having 5 W/m2 power density [169].
3.2. Reverse electrodialysis
RED has emerged as the promising technology for conversion of
salinity gradient energy into electricity [170,171]. Unlike ED, which
uses electrical energy to move ions against the chemical potential, RED
generates electrical energy from the diffusion of ions in the opposite
direction. Fig. 10 shows a schematic representation of an RED system.
In RED, ion exchange membranes (IEMs) are alternatively aligned to
create high concentration compartments (HCC) and low concentration
compartments (LCC). When the HCC and LCC are alternatively fed
with high and low concentration solution, respectively, the concentra-
tion gradient initiates the diffusive flux of ion across the IEMs.
Electricity is generated by a redox reaction occurring at the electrodes.
Theoretically, a voltage of about 0.08 V is generated across one
membrane when mixing seawater (0.5 M NaCl) and river water
(0.017 M NaCl) and about 0.05 V when mixing brine (5 M NaCl) and
seawater at 298 K for a 100% selective IEM.
The concept of salinity gradient was introduced long ago in 1950s.
Pattle was the first who stated the possibility of energy generation by
mixing river water and seawater, equivalent to the energy generated
from a water falling from a height of 207 m [172]. The concept of
salinity gradient energy was later extended to other applications e.g.
Fig. 10. Schematic representation of a RED system.
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 81 (2018) 1–21
osmotic demineralization [173], mechanochemical turbine [174].
Shortly, the awareness of the limited availability of fossil fuel along
with the need for sustainable ways of global energy supply stimulated
further research on salinity gradient energy. In 1976, Weinstein and
Leitz investigated the effect of the composition of the salt solutions on
the power output, highlighting large-scale application of RED requires
well optimized IEM and operating conditions [175]. In 1978, Wick
estimated the global potential of salinity gradient power (SGP) as
2.6 TW [176]. In 1980, Lacey et al. performed model calculations of the
ion transport and financial estimation of the cost and profits of a
commercial RED plant [177]. In 1983, Audinos compared the applic-
ability of homogeneous and heterogeneous IEMs in RED [178].
Shortly, Jagur-Grodzinski and Kramer [179] studied the effect of
different salt solution streams and membrane/spacer modifications
on the output power [179]. However, RED gained more attention from
researchers worldwide from 2000 onwards. Subsequently, a number of
research were performed, focusing on stack design [180,181], mem-
brane development [182–184], process analysis and optimization
[31,185,186], fouling [187,188] and hybrid applications [151,189–
192]. In attempts towards establishing large-scale power production,
pilot scale RED systems have been developed and tested recently.
Promising outcomes have been observed on overall system perfor-
mance so far. Vermaas et al. reported the maximum power density of
2.2 W/m2 by mixing seawater and river water using specially designed
thin IEMs (Fumatech, Germany) combined with the use of thin spacers
in RED stack [193]. The reported maximum power density was
obtained at an energy efficiency of more than 30% and intermembrane
distance of 100 µm. This is the maximum power density reported so far
by mixing seawater and river water at ambient temperature. However,
this power density can be passed by varying experimental conditions
like temperature and concentration gradient. Danildis et al. obtained
power density of 3.8 W/m2 when working with river water (0.01 M
NaCl) and brine solutions (5 M NaCl) [194]. The power density was
increased by 76% (6.7 W/m2) when feed temperature was raised to 60
°C. Similarly, Tedesco et al. reported a power density reaching 6 W/m2
when working with brackish water (0.1 M NaCl) and brine (5 M NaCl)
solutions [195].
The possibility of using RED for energy generation from different
types of feed resources makes it suitable for hybrid application. Thus,
RED can possibly be integrated with membrane desalination systems
[189,196], microbial fuel cell [192,197] and water electrolysis systems
to benefit from synergetic advantages obtained by hybrid application.
The application of RED in desalination technologies has an advantage
in terms of reducing the energy required for desalination as well as
environmental effects from huge amount of brine disposal.
In hybrid MD-RED system, highly concentrated reject brine is used
for energy recovery. RED can be integrated with both thermal and
membrane desalination system but the present paper focuses on
membrane desalination systems which are currently advancing very
fast and gives quite a lot of advantages. Desalination systems like MD,
A. Ali et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 81 (2018) 1–21

RO and FO can be integrated with RED. Electricity can be produced by

RED which can be delivered to the electricity distribution network to
drive desalination systems. This is an interesting approach to design
and implement desalination systems that run with a completely
renewable energy and a minimal liquid discharge (Near-Zero liquid
discharge). Unlike wind and solar system, RED offers an advantage of
perpetual power sources since it is not weather dependent and can be
used to derive water desalination systems continuously.
RO process is a mature and reliable desalination technique for fresh
water production from seawater or brackish water. RO has a global
market share of more than 60% nowadays. During the past years,
Fig. 11. Integrated application of MD with RO and RED for water and energy
improvements have been observed in terms of membrane develop-
production [189].
ment, module design and reduction in desalination cost. However, the
process is still energy intensive compared to the conventional desalina-
conceptual illustration of the investigated hybrid system is presented in
tion techniques. SEC of RO is about 2–3 kW h/m3 (based on product
Fig. 11. In particular, DCMD was operated with Seawater RO retentate
water) which is quite higher than the thermodynamic threshold
(1 M NaCl). Depending on the performance of MD, the brine retentate
~1.1 kW h/m3 (at a recovery of about 50%) [198]. The work over the
from MD can reach a concentration up to NaCl supersaturation. Brine
pumps used to drive the membrane module accounts for a major
with a concentration of up to 5.4 M of NaCl (near supersaturation) was
portion of the energy consumed in RO system. Seawater and river
obtained from DCMD operated on RO brine (1 M NaCl) at feed
water mixing yields about 2.7 MJ/m3 (0.75 kW h/m3) and the seawater
recirculation time of 20 h and temperature gradient of 30 °C [189].
RO energy consumption is about 3–4 times this value. Among the
The DCMD brine was then used for energy recovery by RED system.
strategies to minimize this energy consumption of SWRO is the use of
The level of output power of RED depends on feed (MD brine)
highly concentrated solutions like brine from RO itself or other sources
concentration and operating parameters like temperature and flow
like MD.
rate. For example, the maximum power density of RED system was
So far, literature focusing on integrated application of RED-RO is
observed to increase from 0.9 W/m2MP to 2.4 W/m2MP when the MD
scarce. Li et al. investigated various designs of RED-RO hybrid process
brine concentration was increased from 4 M NaCl to 5.4 M NaCl (with
that exploits the synergy of both systems [190]. They explored the
LCC concentration fixed as 0.5 M NaCl), respectively [189]. The output
change in energy consumption and concentration of discharge brines
power from the RED was also observed to increase with temperature
for different system configurations and operating conditions. In one
(0.027 W/°C on average) and flow velocity which can be optimized to
configuration, the RED unit can harvests the energy in the form of
set appropriate working conditions for improved system performance.
electricity from the salinity gradient energy. The RED effluent with a
In general, energy recovery from DCMD brine by RED enables the
lower salt concentration can serve as the feed solution for the RO unit
supply of extra energy required for desalination. This represents a
to reduce the pump work. Alternatively, the use of concentrated RO
promising strategy towards low energy desalination and near-Zero
brine provides the RED unit a better high salinity source for the energy
liquid discharge. The same system can act as a heat engine to convert
recovery compared to seawater. A comparative assessment of different
low grade heat into electricity [200]. MD absorbs heat from a low grade
configurations, based on mathematical modeling, indicated that the
heat source to concentrate a salt solution and RED uses Gibb’s free
RED-RO process has a huge advantage over the traditional SWRO
energy of mixing of this concentrated stream to generate electricity.
desalination in terms of energy consumption, brine management and
Integration of RED with ED has also been proposed for simultaneous
system flexibility. About 55% reduction in pumping energy consump-
production of energy and freshwater [201].
tion of RO was observed when RED-treated solution is used as a feed
The feasibility of an integrated MD-RED depends on several factors
for RO. Depending on the type of feed employed and other parameters,
affecting the performance of individual system units. Different strate-
the RED-RO system configuration can be easily modified for intended
gies can be followed to improve the performance of the system in terms
applications.
of water production capability, output power and energy efficiency. The
Brauns [199] reported the possibility of using RED in a hybrid
energy consumption in RO or MD can be reduced by controlling the
application with seawater RO systems for simultaneous generation of
operating conditions, using appropriate pre-treatment techniques,
clean water and energy. In one of his works, he used an arbitrary
designing optimal membranes and modules [202]. The potential and
example to evaluate the performance of a hybrid RED-RO system with
hence the output power from an RED unit can be improved by
a solar-based evaporation unit at RED outlet. His assumption was that
development and use of highly permeable and low resistance IEMs
the RO desalination unit has a water production capability of 500 m3/h
[31]. Besides, the benefit obtained at higher temperature for both
at 50% recovery which implies that 500 m3/h brine solution of about
systems (MD and RED) enables the possibility to use and convert waste
1 M NaCl is produced from seawater (0.5 M NaCl). In between RED
heat to electricity.
and RO, there is a solar-based evaporation unit which is able to
Other integrated applications of RED emerging recently involve the
concentrate the RO brine up to 3.75 M NaCl. The concentrated brine is
use in sustainable greenhouse systems [203] and hybrid ED systems.
then used as an HCC solution for RED system with seawater as LCC
Farrell et al. [200] studied a sustainable greenhouse system which
solution. The electrical power required for seawater RO is estimated to
incorporates a greenhouse, RED, RO, and dehumidification-desalina-
be 1.25 MW for pure water at a production rate of 500 m3/h
tion system aiming at establishment of water and energy self-sufficient
(12,000 m3/day) considering the RO energy consumptions of 9 MJ/
agriculture in arid regions. In particular, RED supplies power to RO
m3 (2.5 kW h/m3).
through electricity generated by mixing the hypersaline groundwater
When it comes to the combined application of MD and RED, two
and seawater with subsequent cooling of the greenhouse environment
advantages can be envisaged. First, the high volume reduction factor of
to adequate temperatures. Luo et al. demonstrated an integrated ED-
MD applied to seawater RO brine enables approaching Zero-liquid
RED system for desalination of water with minimal energy consump-
discharge. Second, the highly concentrated retentate (brine) from MD
tion [204]. In such system, RED supplies the energy required for ED,
can be used for enhanced energy recovery. It’s possible to operate MD
whereas ED provides the retentate (brine) to be used in the HCC
on either seawater or brine for integrated applications with RO.
solution for RED.
Recently, Tufa et al. experimentally evaluated integrated application
of RED and MD for clean water and energy generation [189]. The

12
A. Ali et al.
Fig. 12. A schematic description of simultaneous production of freshwater and
electricity from MD by using low grade heat.
3.3. Membrane distillation/crystallization
In different natural and industrial resources, a vast amount of heat
is present in the form of low grade energy with source temperature less
than 100 °C. The examples of such energy sources include solar energy,
waste heat from power and nuclear plants, geothermal energy etc. It
has been estimated that only in US, the total amount of waste heat from
power and manufacturing plants exceeds than 1800 TW. Despite its
abundant availability, the extraction of this energy from its low grade
source is challenging due to the low temperature of the source and its
variable nature. The conventional devices such as solid-state thermo-
electric devices and thermos electrochemical systems used for harnes-
sing this energy exhibit very low efficiency [152].
MD can offer a promising solution to harness this energy and, at the
same time produces, high quality fresh water and minerals as explained
in next paragraph. In MD, the vapors formed at the high temperature
side are transported through the hydrophobic membrane and are
condensed on the other side. The increase in volume on condensing
side can be translated into hydrostatic pressure that can be used in
running a hydro turbine. The process has recently been patented by
VITO. A schematic diagram of the process has been shown in Fig. 12.
Due to its inherent capability to concentrate the solutions to
supersaturation level, MD also provides the opportunity to integrate
the concept of minerals recovery with simultaneously production of
freshwater and energy. Different wastewater streams (brine, industrial
and household wastewater etc.) contain value minerals and salts.
Extraction of freshwater from these streams through MD allows
producing clean energy as explained above and crystals can be mined
from the solution after achieving supersaturation. The concept can
assist traditional mining industry to bridge the gap between demand
and supply of different raw materials including the ones suffering from
the risk of depletion. A number of essential and strategic elements
including sodium, magnesium, barium, lithium etc. are present in
seawater brine. Thus brine can serve as open sky mine for recovery of
these components. Huge increase in demand of some of these elements
has been witnessed recently. For example, the use of strontium has
increased in oil and gas industry as weighing material in mud.
Similarly, traditional sources of lithium might not be enough in near
future to fulfill its requirements in electronic industry including hybrid
vehicles. Extraction from waste liquid streams offers a potential
solution to the problem of mineral depletion. A comparison of
potentially recoverable minerals from brine of existing desalination
plants and their current exploitation through conventional mining has
been illustrated in Fig. 13 [205]. It can be noted from the figure that
amount of Na and Mg in brine from current desalination capacities is
13
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 81 (2018) 1–21
Fig. 13. A comparative analysis of potentially recoverable minerals from brine and their
quantity obtained through traditional mining [205]. Y-axis indicates percentage of their
amount in brine with respect to their current global consumption.
more than that obtained through conventional mining. Similarly,
strontium and lithium have considerable quantities in brine indicating
an attractive opportunity for recovery of these minerals from the brine.
The situation will further improve on completion of contracted and
planned desalination capacities across the globe.
The concept of membrane crystallization (an extension of MD) for
recovery of these elements from brine was introduced by Drioli et al
[206] in 2003. The proposed integration of membrane crystallization at
RO brine enabled the process to achieve a total recovery factor of above
90% while simultaneously recovering the minerals contained in it. This
all can be achieved at the expense of low grade heat that can be
obtained by exploiting solar, geothermal or other sources of low-grade
energy. In subsequent years, it was demonstrated that membrane
crystallizers can help to obtain different polymorphs and crystalline
forms (hydrous and anhydrous) simply by tuning the operating
conditions [207–209]. Crystals obtained by using MCr possess ex-
cellent quality in terms of crystal habit and coefficient of variance. High
product value of the minerals recovered can partly compensate the high
cost of renewable energy driven desalination units.
The European funded project: Membrane Based Desalination: An
Integrated Approach (MEDINA), launched in 2006, proved the effec-
tiveness of integrated membrane processes in improving the efficiency
of desalination. Integrated membrane operations (MF, NF, RO and
MCr) were successfully applied to achieve a water recovery factor as
high as 92.4%, thus approaching zero liquid discharge and recovery of
valuable raw materials [210]. Integration can be applied in several
configurations as described in literature [211–213]. Integrated mem-
brane systems also contribute positively in improving the economy of
desalination. For instance,, if the sale of CaCO3, MgSO4·7H2O and NaCl
is considered the water production cost can be negative [213]. In this
case the desalinated fresh water can just be a by-product in mineral
production. In addition to RO brine, other industrial saline water
streams can also be considered for recovery of contained minerals.
A major project on membrane-based desalination driven with
renewable energy has recently been launched by Masdar in United
Arab Emirates (UAE), one of the most water stressed countries
declared by the united nation. 30% growth in water demand has been
predicted for UAE by 2030. In order to address the challenge in
sustainable and environment friendly way, the country has initiated a
big renewable energy desalination program (http://www.masdar.ae/
en/energy/detail/renewable-energy-water-desalination-in-uae). The
project aims at scaling up of desalination technologies by exploiting
A. Ali et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 81 (2018) 1–21

solar and geothermal energy. The project will implement membrane Table 5
and thermal processes with the set goal to achieve SEC less than 3.1 Exergetic efficiency of various desalination plants.
and 1 kW h/m3, respectively. In first phase of the project, the basic
ε [%] Reference
aspects of membrane processes such as fouling and scaling mitigation
in MD, development of an optimized full scale solar energy driven RO RO 28,01 [213]
plant, feasibility of capacitive deionization for pretreatment of RO feed 48.7a
MF-NF-RO 30.82 [213]
and development of high temperature tolerant membranes for FO will
37.7a
be carried out. The second phase will consist of commercial scale MF-NF-RO and MCr on NF brine 19.4 [213]
installation of these technologies for desalination. 22.7a
MF-NF-RO and MCr on RO brine 15.8 [213]
18.6a
4. Exergy analysis of desalination by renewable-powered
Solar MED 14.3–25.7b [217]
membrane units Triple-effect solar distiller 19–26 [218]
Douple-effect solar distiller 17–20
The energetic analysis of a system allows establishing only its Single-effect solar distiller <4 [218]
Reverse Osmosis (RO)- humidification– 20.60 [219]
energetic requirements. However, the limited energy resources compel
dehumidification (HDH)
to evaluate the dissipations, the irreversibility of a process and the desalination system
effectiveness of energy use. For evaluating the dissipations, the Second Reverse Osmosis desalination system 0.72 [219]
Law of Thermodynamics has to be considered. The latter can be Humidification–dehumidification 12.66 [219]
formulated in terms of exergy. Therefore, exergy analysis of the system (HDH) desalination system
“Compact” and “large” solar-powered 0.3 – 0.5 for exergy [220]
can provide the true measure of effective energy use. Exergy analysis
MD units collected by the solar
considers intrinsically the quality of energy: when energy loses its collector
quality, exergy is destroyed. Consequently, exergy analyses are the first “Compact” and “large” solar-powered 0.01 – 0.05 for exergy of [220]
step to understand where the weak points of processes are and on MD units solar irradiance
plants components to be improved. Thus, the exergetic efficiency εx of a
Exergetic efficiency in the case in which a Pressure Exchanger System (PES) is used.
the system is determined by dividing the Ex,leaving the system by the total b
25.7% was achieved with energy recovery.
exergy input Ex,entering the system:
Ex,leaving the system Ex,loss systems led to an evaluation of the potentialities of the integrated
εx = ⋅100 = 1 − ⋅100
Ex,entering the system Ex,entering the system membrane processes in desalination operations. They assessed that the
integrated membrane systems are an interesting alternative to the RO
Despite the great potential of exergy analysis, the emphasis on process because the introduction of NF leads to an improvement in the
exergy in chemical engineering and the application of exergy analysis in performance by maintaining almost invariant the energy requirement.
membrane systems for desalination are still scarce [214]. In general, The RO/MD and the NF/RO/MD systems require higher energy
there are very limited studies on the exergetic evaluation of desalina- consumption (due to the thermal demand) but they further increase
tion systems in literature. Exergetic aspects of a wide range of renew- the overall performance and, if the thermal energy is already available
able energy resources (RERs) have been comprehensively reviewed by in the plant, represent a very attractive alternative with respect to RO
Hepbasli [215]. The review covers wide range of RERs such as solar, process.
wind, geothermal and biomass along with their hybrid systems. In 2001 Garcia-Rodriguez and Gomez-Camacho published the
Hermann [216] identified the primary exergy reservoirs and classified results of their analysis of the solar multi-effect distillation desalination
them as either non-renewable or renewable based on their time scale of system “SOL-14” built at Plataforma Solar de Almeria, Spain [217].
replenishment (Table 4). He described exergy as a common currency This solar desalination system was thermodynamically analyzed in
that can be used to assess and compare all energy resources. order to propose possible improvements of the system. Results showed
Desalination processes require significant quantities of energy to that the exergetic efficiency of the global system goes up from 1.4% to
achieve the separation of salts from seawater. Few authors have treated 4.7% whereas the exergetic efficiency of the MED plant changes from
exergetic analysis of desalination processes and lower are those related 14.3% to 25.7% due to the energy recovery.
to membrane-based operations for water treatment. In Table 5 a Sow et al. [218] in 2005 reported an energetic and exergetic
summary of data from literature on exergetic efficiency of various analysis of single, double and triple distiller driven by solar energy.
desalination plants is reported. Exergetic analysis makes possible to show that the most significant
In 1999, Criscuoli and Drioli [221] presented an energy and exergy exergy losses were condenser losses and water alimentation losses and
analysis of a RO unit alone and coupled to the MD unit (where MD that the condenser losses decrease with the number of effects. The
operates on the RO brine), in order to determine the energy require- exergetic efficiencies have also been found. They are located between
ments related to the integrated system with respect to the RO one. They 19% and 26% for a triple-effect system, between 17% and 20% for a
extended their analysis to a complete membrane integrated system double-effect system, and less than 4% for the single-effect system.
with nanofiltration (NF) as RO pretreatment. Their energetic analysis Ranjan and Kaushik [222] affirmed that productivity increases sig-
coupled to the analysis of the overall performance of the three different nificantly by the use of integrated solar stills with better efficiency. The
overall energy and exergy efficiency of the integrated systems rise up to
Table 4 62% and 8.5%, respectively, using single effect solar stills.
Resource classification and replenishment time scale (modified from [216]).
In 2006 Mehdizadeh [223] combined the thermodynamic property
Exergy Approximate size Replenishment time scale of exergy with a mathematical model for multi-solute RO systems to
reservoirs determine the optimum operating condition for an integrated nanofil-
tration (NF)–RO seawater desalination plant. His simulation analysis
Solar nuclear 8E43J - Total radiant Milliseconds
showed that the integrated NF–RO process is favoured over the old
4E34J - Earth incident Days
Celestial bodies 5E29J Earth rotational Hours system (RO plant) due to a higher product rate and less entropy
KE production (less rate of lost work). He claimed that his theoretical
Earth thermal 2E31J thermal Days–years conclusions were confirmed by the field test results of an integrated
Terrestrial nuclear 1E31J deuterium None NF–RO test plant.

14
A. Ali et al.
Hou et al. [224] have presented exergy analysis of a solar multi-
effect humidification (MEH) units based on the humidification –
dehumidification principle. In fact, one of the well-known indirect
solar desalination systems is the humidification– dehumidification
distillation (HDD) process. According to their analysis, the solar
collector has the lowest exergy efficiency (10%), the HDD process has
lower exergy efficiency (91% for the humidification, 74% for the
dehumidification), and the water rejected has a large exergy loss
[224]. Thus, they proposed three possible ways to enhance fresh water
output per square meter area of solar collector: the first is to enhance
the energy efficiency and exergy efficiency, which is to take measures
for larger amounts of energy and exergy. The second is to improve the
flow of the solar MEH HDD process in order to gain a high energy
recovery rate and the gain output ratio. The last is to reuse the rejected
water to get fresh water, for example, to use the solar distilling method
to desalinate. This last option was analyzed by Ameri et Eshaghi [219]
in the desalination process containing RO, humidification–dehumidi-
fication (HDH) and flat plate collector (FPC). In particular, the RO–
HDH contains a single HDH that utilizes RO brine as intake to
eliminate the need of pumping and pre-treatment in HDH unit and
to increase freshwater production. The achieved results indicate that
utilization of the RO–HDH configuration increases the exergy effi-
ciency of the desalination system up to 20.60%, while RO and HDH
efficiencies are about 0.72% and 12.66% respectively. The amount of
freshwater production has been increased to 5.76 m3/h and the brine
and freshwater salinities have been reduced to less than 61,866 ppm
and 534 ppm respectively. The authors claimed therefore, that the
proposed configuration presents advantages with respect to the sepa-
rate RO and HDH systems in using high salinity feed water.
Macedonio et al. [213] have proposed seven flow sheets for
seawater desalination. In each of them different membrane units have
been integrated in pre-treatment and post-treatment stages. The seven
processes were described in detail and the exergies across the major
components of each plant were calculated in an attempt to assess the
exergy destruction distribution. They have found that in each flow sheet
the primary locations of exergy destruction are the membrane modules
in which the saline water is separated into the brine and the permeate,
and the throttling valves where the pressure of liquid is reduced. They
showed that the energetic consumption and the exergetic efficiency of
the various systems improved by replacing the throttling valves with an
energy recovery system (like a Pelton turbine or a pressure exchanger
system).
Liu et al. [225]proposed the recourse to energy recovery device for
reducing energy consumption and enhancing exergetic efficiency, too.
They applied exergy analysis to a dual-stage nanofiltration seawater
desalination. In particular, the sites with the greatest losses were
identified through energetic and exergetic analyses as well as the exergy
destruction distribution of the system. The obtained results indicated
that the main exergy destruction occurred in the membrane and
concentration stream valves. To reduce the exergy and energy con-
sumption, concentration blending and energy recovery device were
applied in an improved process, which reduced the SEC and enhanced
the exergetic efficiency and recovery ratio. The calculated SEC was
reduced to 2.09 kW h/m3, and the system recovery ratio was increased
to reach 42.78%.
Well suited to solar power generation are the Organic Rankine
cycles (ORC). Nafey and Sharaf [51] analyzed a combined solar
Rankine cycle for RO desalination process. The cycle consists of solar
field, turbine unit for power generation, condenser/pre-heating unit,
pump unit and RO module. The authors utilized as RO unit specifica-
tions, those of Sharm El-Shiekh RO desalination plant (capacity of
145.8 m3/h) with solar organic Rankine cycle. The investigations were
performed based on energy, exergy and cost analyses. They found that
between all units, solar collector field exhibited the largest effect on the
cycle specific cost, minimum exergy destruction and overall exergy
efficiency. Generally, increasing the collector evaporation temperature
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 81 (2018) 1–21
caused an increase in turbine power, Rankine efficiency, pump work
and reverse osmosis operating pressure, with decrease in collector area,
working fluid flow rate, condenser area, condenser heat load.
Banat and Jwaied [220]employed exergy analysis for evaluating the
exergy efficiency of the “compact” and “large” solar-powered MD units
developed through the SMADES EC-funded project and installed in
Jordan. The exergy efficiency of the compact and large units with
reference to the exergy collected by the solar collector was about 0.3%
and 0.5% but was 0.01% and 0.05%, respectively, when referenced to
the exergy of solar irradiance. The exergy efficiency of the flat plate
solar collectors in both units varied diurnally and the maxima was 6.5%
and 3% for the compact and large units, respectively. In agreement
with what found by Macedonio et al. [213], they found the highest
exergy destruction within the membrane module.
5. Challenges and future prospects
A considerable interest has been observed in developing desalina-
tion facilities driven with renewable energy. Further and wide spread
adaptation of the concept, however, is closely associated with the
progress in energy harnessing technology, development of system
oriented protocol for integration of renewable energy source with
desalination technique, development of better energy regulator, devel-
opment of improved energy storage devices and availability of better
membranes, particularly for MD, RED and PRO as pointed out in other
studies [18,153].
Solar energy technology has not been extensively designed for
desalination purposes and its main emphasis has been the production
of electricity. The conversion technologies suffer from high conversion
losses. In desalination, however, there is a significant margin (e.g. MSF,
MD, FO etc.) to use this energy directly for alleviating the conversion
losses. However, the solar systems need to be tailored more specifically
for these applications. Another intellectual issue is the overstated
efficiency and cost efficiency of solar energy units by the suppliers.
This results into unpredictably high cost when these systems are
applied for desalination purposes. The geographic location of high
solar energy regions across the globe has been well identified. To utilize
the potential of solar energy more efficiently, identification of appro-
priate regions with brackish water (that consumes less energy than
seawater) may also be helpful.
For solar collector, more than half of the price is consumed in solar
collector field; therefore, improved collection efficiency is one of the
most crucial factors to reduce the desalination cost of this technology.
The system cost and intermittent operations further retard the progress
of solar energy in general and for desalination in particular. An
intermittent operation does not only affect the operational time of
the plant (and therefore the overall plant capacity) but can also be a
significant factor in dictating the process stability. The intermittent
period can be somehow reduced or avoided by using energy storage
devices. The latter, however, have their own complexities and limita-
tions (short life time, high cost, disposal issues) which need to be
addressed. For geothermal energy, negative perceptions about their
environmental effects need to be satisfied. There is no significant
commercial development in using geothermal power for desalination
and therefor, the design problems still need to be identified and
tackled. The large-scale trials of geothermal energy driven desalination
by using traditional as well as well emerging technologies such as MD
are needed. There are only very limited feasibility studies and proto-
type developed for desalination through geothermal energy. The cost is
unpredictable if new geothermal well, specifically for desalination, has
to be explored.
To expand the energy production from nuclear source and its
subsequent use in desalination, several efforts at technological, public
and governmental level are required. Severe safety precautions and
measures are required to dilute the negative perception of nuclear
energy, particularly after recent Fokoshima Dai-ichi incident.
A. Ali et al.
Additional research and development are needed to align the nuclear
energy with desalination technology, particularly for emerging pro-
cesses such as MD. Governments must encourage the policies to
promote the use of nuclear energy under a broader prospect of
controlling global warming. Improved and sustainable practices must
be implemented during uranium mining process. Furthermore, the
combinations of nuclear energy with conventional renewable energy
resources can be further investigated to maintain uninterrupted power
supply from these sources.
The intermittency of renewable energy sources like wind and solar
is a fundamental barrier to the potential large-scale transition from
conventional fossil fuel to clean and renewable energies for desalina-
tion purpose. When large amounts of renewable energy sources like
solar energy, wind, and tidal energy, which are weather dependent, are
integrated into the grid, the balancing process becomes very complex.
For this reason, effective energy storage systems, which can precisely
match the total energy generation with the total load, are required.
Among the technologies, which are now gaining attention of the
scientific community, is large-scale battery storage. Batteries like
lead-acid, lithium-ion, nickel-cadmium, sodium-sulfur and flow bat-
teries [226–228] can be applied for large-scale energy storage, and for
applications involving grid power supply and management. Therefore,
future research should also focus towards the development of low-cost
batteries with good power density and long lifecycle for efficient storage
of intermittent renewable energy sources.
In addition to considering the energy storage option, a better
combination of energy resources may be an attractive option to ensure
a continuous process. The combination of grid electricity (where
available) with renewable energy source can reduce the overall carbon
footprint of the process and might offer reduction in overall water cost.
Integration of nuclear energy source with wind or solar energy can
avoid the intermittent operation and energy storage requirements.
However, the safety issues and waste disposal from nuclear plant must
be resolved in the best possible way before proceeding with this option.
Another good possibility could be the combination of wind or solar
energy with geothermal energy which could result into 100% renewable
energy for desalination objectives.
For practical implementation of RO-RED or MD-RED integrated
systems, the appropriate techno-economic analysis is required to
optimize the energy input and output as well as the water production
capability of such systems. RO requires the development of membranes
with high permeability and high anti-fouling property. Besides, opti-
mization of material and system design is necessary in order to reduce
the RO energy consumption. Similarly, membrane development,
module design, fouling and other issues like temperature polarization
and membrane wettability need to be addressed in the case of MD.
For RED, the development of low-cost membranes, pre-treatment
requirement and the economics of RED need to be clearly outlined. The
limited availability of high performance IEMs at low cost for RED
operation is a key issue constraining the commercialization of this
process. Thus, future research should also focus on design of low
resistance membranes at an affordable cost. Post et al. reported that
the membrane availability should be at a level above 1 km2/year at a
cost below 2 €/m2 in order to make RED economically affordable [75].
Cost estimation based on a 200 kW repetitive RED unit was resulted
into an electricity price of less than 0.08 €/kW h (excluding any
subsidy or compensation) which is comparable with that of wind
energy [31]. For a 0.45 MW RED stack(s) with power densities of
21.5 W/m2, a total membrane area of 42000 m2 is required. Thus,
assuming about 40 Euro/kg of material price for a specific homo-
geneous ion-conductive production, a total of 8400 Euro is required to
produce IEMs with a total area of 42000 m2 and each 5 mm thickness
[229]. This is not so prohibitive from an economical point of view
although there is no further information with respect to all the other
cost items in order to estimate the total investment cost of the
considered RE system at the moment. The power density of a typical
16
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 81 (2018) 1–21
RE stack with 1 cm/s feed velocity can be increased (up to 20%) by
blending the low salinity feed with a high salinity stream before the
stack entrance [230]. This is accompanied by about 40% reduction in
the levelized cost of energy considering the salinity of the available
river water is below 200 ppm. At the current state-of-arts, application
of RED for energy generation from concentrated brine seems to be
economically viable with a possibility of scale-up in the order of 1 MW
[231]. Again, this supports the feasibility of RE for integrated applica-
tions in membrane-based desalination systems which are accompanied
by huge amount of brine discharge. Other challenges in RED operated
under natural conditions involve fouling of IEMs. The power output of
RED system operated with real solution is significantly affected by the
presence of multivalent ions (especially Mg2+) which require further
investigation on clear understanding of these effects.
In general, implementation of the desalination systems powered by
membrane-based energy systems like RED requires full optimization of
both technologies in terms of water production capability and energy
generation. Most importantly, improvement in the output power
enables viability of RED, both technically and economically, as a power
plant to implement renewable energy-based desalination. Research
investments from governments and stakeholders are required to
advance further in this field to meet the commercial targets. This will
lead to a break-through technology for sustainable production of clean
energy and potable water assuring long term supply and security of
these resources.
Similarly, for commercialization of PRO, several challenges have to
be addressed. The main challenge is the unavailability of specific
membranes for PRO. Recently Statkraft has terminated its activities
on power generation through PRO. The company has been operating a
prototype of 10 kW capacities by applying seawater and river water as
draw and feed solution respectively, separated through a membrane
with power density of 1 W/m2 which was far less than economic break-
even (5 W/m2). Although, membranes with power density as high as
10 W/m2 have been reported in current literature, however, the price,
commercial availability and performance in practical and large-scale
environment of these membranes still remain the unanswered ques-
tions. The progress in this direction has been very slow due to
requirement of application of high pressure that can collapse the
membrane. The spacers are used to maintain the flow channels and
to improve hydrodynamic inside the modules. The application of
spacers however, enhances pressure losses and can damage the
membrane during operation under high pressure. Therefore, the
proper spacer design is of paramount importance for efficient operation
and stable performance of PRO. To increase the power density, more
permeable membranes with improved selectivity are needed. The price
of the membranes should be in similar range as that for commercial RO
membranes. Internal concentration polarization can greatly deteriorate
the process performance and must be minimized. Due to the feed side
facing the porous support layer, the fouling issues are more severe in
PRO and can offer additional complexity due to inverse salt diffusion
[232]. There is also urgent need to develop more economical and
smarter pretreatment protocols. With conventional seawater and river
streams, the power density is relatively low and the major part of the
potentially extractable energy is consumed during pretreatment. The
use of pretreated streams (e.g. retentate from RO and wastewater
treatment plants) cannot only increase the power density but can also
offer less fouling and relatively less stringent pretreatment require-
ments. More experimental experience for large scale installation is
needed. Understanding of transport phenomenon is essential to
improve the performance of this process. The use of new computational
fluid dynamic approaches and innovative process at lab-scale must be
designed to improve our knowledge and understanding in this direc-
tion. Special focus should be devoted to appropriate module design to
minimize concentration and to improve the process efficiency [233].
For MD, the availability of proper membrane is a strong prerequi-
site. The membranes for MD must possess strong and stable hydro-
A. Ali et al.
phobic character to ensure the non-wetting criteria. This aspect is of
paramount importance when considering MD for energy production.
The pore size distribution must be sharp and confined to an appro-
priate pore size. Membrane must exhibit the minimum thermal
conductivity to reduce thermal losses. The porosity must be high and
anti-fouling/scaling features must be incorporated into the membrane.
From process point of view, thermal polarization must be minimized
through better control of hydrodynamic conditions, module design and
membrane features. Special attention must be focused on appropriate
module design and energy recovery systems/arrangements. The effect
of intermittent operations, which is predictable particularly by using
solar energy, on membrane performance (wetting, scaling etc.) must be
further investigated. A better and more rational integration of renew-
able energy sources with process is essential to ensure stable and
continuous process. Due to its inherent ability of directly using heat,
the future efforts must particularly emphasize on using geothermal,
nuclear and solar energy-driven MD process. For application of MD for
simultaneous production of freshwater and electricity, very high liquid
entry pressure of membrane at permeate side must be ensured,
otherwise, the liquid from permeate side can pass through the pores
creating wetting issues. This can be achieved by tuning the pore size
and/or by using membranes with super hydrophobic character.
Recently, small scale desalination units for household purposes and
for use at small community (hotels, mine camps etc.) are getting
popularity. Due to their small energy demands, the use of renewable
energy for these units can be of particular interest. These systems have
been mainly suggested for remote location where the electricity supply
through grid is not available. Due to their small size, specific cost of
desalination through these plants is relatively high. When considering
the application of these units in the areas where grid electricity is
available, the cost of these systems can be reduced by exploiting the
renewable energy during available hours and by using the desalination
operations which are more compatible with the source of renewable
energy available in the area. For instance, MD and RO can be ideal
candidates in the areas with ample available of solar and wind energy,
respectively.
6. Conclusions
A growing interest has been seen in exploiting renewable energy
sources for desalination. The current interest has been motivated by
environmental concerns, increasing demands of freshwater and risk of
depletion of carbon based fuels in future. Solar energy has been the
most tested form of renewable energy for desalination followed by wind
energy. Both these forms have been extensively coupled with RO
process. However, intermittent nature of these sources poses serious
challenges for techno- economic feasibility of the process. Better
strategies are required to ensure the uninterrupted power supply to
desalination units powered with renewable energy. Furthermore, the
necessity to convert solar energy into mechanical energy hurts the
feasibility of their application in RO. Due to their persistent nature,
geothermal and nuclear energy can become more preferred options in
future. However, negative perceptions about using the later need to be
alleviated. Relatively less explored membrane operations with the
potential of directly using thermal energy (such as MD and FO) can
attract further interest in future. These systems can also be ideal to
decrease the specific desalination cost in small-scale units.
Besides using the renewable energy with traditional sources,
innovative membrane operations can become more interesting for
renewable energy production in future and may change the traditional
perception of renewable energy sources. The processes such as PRO
and RED are expected to contribute significantly in fulfilling the world’s
energy demands through more green and sustainable routes. The
potential benefit of these processes for large-scale desalination projects
have well been acknowledged in different research and application
projects including MEDINA, Seahero, Megaton and Global MVP. In
17
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 81 (2018) 1–21
addition to water and energy production, future desalination plants are
also expected to produce raw materials.
For practical successful implementation of new membrane pro-
cesses at large-scale, several improvements in membrane synthesis and
process design are required. Innovative methods and materials will
become of paramount importance in successfully developing the
desired membranes for water, energy and raw material production.
For MD/MCr, the use of more hydrophobic materials such as HYFLON,
HALAR, graphene and carbon nanotubes can get more interest.
Similarly, synthesis techniques such as electrospinning and thermal
induced phase separation could be more suitable to include desired
features into the membrane. For PRO membrane, better engineering of
support layer is required to decrease the fouling and internal concen-
tration polarization. The permeability and selectivity of the membrane
should be high enough to reach the minimum power density of 5 W/
m2, declared by Statkraft to successfully implement PRO process at
commercial scale. High permeability and selectivity requirements could
be met by using innovative synthesis routes such as biomimetic
membranes. For RED applications, the membranes with low resistance
and better selectivity in high concentration solutions are required. The
application of graphene and 2D membranes in all these applications
can revolutionize the process.
Implementation of green practices in general is a matter of both
technological and socio-environment aspects. In addition to technical
aspects, efforts at political and governmental levels are required to
facilitate the implementation of renewable and green practices in
desalination sectors. The implementation of renewable energy and
desalination should not have to be judged only on the basis of specific
cost, rather its overall impact on environment and sustainability must
be considered. Municipalities and governments should encourage and
finance the research and development initiatives in renewable desali-
nation.
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