1. UKM Learning and Research Repository
2. PHD Thesis / Tesis PHD
3. Solar Energy Research Institute / Institut Penyelidikan Tenaga Suria (SERI)

Title:	Development of stand-alone PV-BWRO system for Malaysian climate
Authors:	Poovanaesvaran Paramaesvaran (P43933)
Supervisor:	Mohammad Alghoul, Prof. Dr.
Keywords:	Stand alone PV-BWRO system PV-BWRO system for Malaysian climate Saline water conversion
Issue Date:	14-Mar-2014
Description:	Photovoltaic reverse osmosis (PVRO) is the most promising form of renewable energy powered desalination system in producing fresh water. It is a pollutant free and cost-effective solution for remote locations where the cost of energy is high. RO consumes the least amount of energy compared to other desalination processes. Water in remote locations in Malaysia is mainly made up of brackish water, with salinity of up to 15,000 mg/l, and cannot be directly consumed due to its high salinity. Treatment of brackish water in remote locations is also not an easy task, due to the lack of manpower, expertise, and high cost of energy. Malaysia is located near the equator with hot, humid tropical climate, with an average solar radiation of 4.9 kWh/m2/day. The aim of this thesis is to develop a stand-alone PV-BWRO system under Malaysian climate that requires less manpower, consumes low energy, and able to provide fresh water to people in remote location. Comprehensive conceptual and technical approaches are performed in this work in order to design the PV-BWRO system under the Malaysian climate. A pilot test unit is designed and developed to validate the appropriateness of conceptual and technical approaches, and to quantify the expected performance of the PV-BWRO system under different operational modes. The test unit is located at Green Energy Innovation Technology Park in the National University of Malaysia. It is a 2 kW PV system, consisting of 16 module (multi-crystalline SolarTif-125 W), 8 (12 V 200 Ah GP-I22000) batteries, and a 2 kW converter (STUDER Xtender). The load of the RO unit is 600 W. It consists of two pressure vessels with one 4” x 40” TW30-4040 membrane each, stainless steel high-pressure pump (Procon® 8.3 bar), producing 0.1 m3/h of fresh water with permeate salinity less than 250 mg/l from brackish water (15,000 mg/l). It produces 0.14 m3/h, 0.19 m3/h, and 0.24 m3/h for feed water with salinity of 10,000 mg/l, 5,000 mg/l and 2,000 mg/l, respectively. The output of the RO unit under the PV system operating for 10 hours during daytime would be able to produce 1 m3/d with a battery autonomy of 46.5 hours. A cost-effective and a novel mobile PVRO system fitted in a mobile container is designed based on the maximum salinity of 15,000 mg/l, with the same methodology. The optimal PV system to be fixed on the mobile container is 5.1 kWp using 17 modules, 30 batteries connected as 2-string batteries in parallel with 24 bus voltage, and a 4 kW converter. The optimum load of an RO system that can be powered by the PV system is 1.9 kW. This system would able to generate clean freshwater in remote locations as well as in disaster areas, where fresh water is a valuable commodity. The optimum RO design to produce fresh water salinity less than 50 mg/l is a single-stage system, consisting of three SW30HRLE-4040 membranes. It would be able to produce 0.59 m3/h from feed water with salinity of 15,000 mg/l. Operating for 8 hours during daytime; it would able to produce 4.72 m3/d of fresh water with battery autonomy of 68.7 hours. The salinity of feed water in remote areas of Malaysia varies. The same system would be able to produce more fresh water from the feed water with salinity less than 15,000 mg/l. It would able to produce 0.66 m3/h, 0.75 m3/h, and 0.82 m3/h for feed water, with salinity of 10,000 mg/l, 5,000 mg/l and 1,000 mg/l respectively. The cost of fresh water produced at the feed salinity of 15,000 mg/l is RM 11.69/m3, with a payback period of 1.4 years.,PhD
Pages:	223
Call Number:	TD480.4.P646 2014 3 tesis
Publisher:	UKM, Bangi
Appears in Collections:	Solar Energy Research Institute / Institut Penyelidikan Tenaga Suria (SERI)

Items in DSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.