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Recent developments in pressure retarded osmosis for desalination and power generation

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  • Tawalbeh, Muhammad
  • Al-Othman, Amani
  • Abdelwahab, Noun
  • Alami, Abdul Hai
  • Olabi, Abdul Ghani

Abstract

When two streams of different salinities are mixed, Gibbs free energy of mixing is released. This energy can be harvested and further converted to electric energy through pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) process. Despite several improvements on PRO over the past decades, there still exist several technical issues pertinent to its adequate implementation that remain unresolved. These issues are mainly (i) water transport in the membrane, (ii) membrane material, (iii) fouling, (iv) process efficiency, and (v) techno-economic viability. Different process parameters such as temperature, type of draw solution, feed concentration, and membrane type directly affect the efficiency and power density of PRO. In this review, major trends of PRO (and hybrid plants) are analyzed and the suggested improvements of PRO membranes are discussed. Since potential side-benefits of PRO include electricity production and the treatment of rejected brine from desalination, the process presents a unique path to utilize all these advantages. Therefore, PRO is also coupled with other osmotic, desalination processes to maximize efficiency. The amount of useful energy from PRO would probably be enormous if this was exploited globally. There are several questions remain unanswered about the overall feasibility of PRO as a stand-alone process. This paper offers a comprehensive background and overview on the developments in PRO to enhance its power density and feasibility.

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  • Tawalbeh, Muhammad & Al-Othman, Amani & Abdelwahab, Noun & Alami, Abdul Hai & Olabi, Abdul Ghani, 2021. "Recent developments in pressure retarded osmosis for desalination and power generation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:138:y:2021:i:c:s1364032120307784
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2020.110492
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    Cited by:

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    2. Giorgia Tomassi & Pietro Romano & Gabriele Di Giacomo, 2021. "Modern Use of Water Produced by Purification of Municipal Wastewater: A Case Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-13, November.
    3. Jung, Hyunjun & Subban, Chinmayee V. & McTigue, Joshua Dominic & Martinez, Jayson J. & Copping, Andrea E. & Osorio, Julian & Liu, Jian & Deng, Z. Daniel, 2022. "Extracting energy from ocean thermal and salinity gradients to power unmanned underwater vehicles: State of the art, current limitations, and future outlook," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    4. Sumina Namboorimadathil Backer & Ines Bouaziz & Nabeela Kallayi & Reny Thankam Thomas & Gopika Preethikumar & Mohd Sobri Takriff & Tahar Laoui & Muataz Ali Atieh, 2022. "Review: Brine Solution: Current Status, Future Management and Technology Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-47, May.
    5. Konstantinos Zachopoulos & Nikolaos Kokkos & Costas Elmasides & Georgios Sylaios, 2022. "Coupling Hydrodynamic and Energy Production Models for Salinity Gradient Energy Assessment in a Salt-Wedge Estuary (Strymon River, Northern Greece)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-24, April.
    6. Jiao, Yanmei & Yang, Chun & Zhang, Wenyao & Wang, Qiuwang & Zhao, Cunlu, 2024. "A review on direct osmotic power generation: Mechanism and membranes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    7. Ruiz-García, A. & Tadeo, F. & Nuez, I., 2023. "Role of permeability coefficients in salinity gradient energy generation by PRO systems with spiral wound membrane modules," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    8. Abdelkader, Bassel A. & Navas, Daniel Ruiz & Sharqawy, Mostafa H., 2023. "A novel spiral wound module design for harvesting salinity gradient energy using pressure retarded osmosis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 542-553.
    9. Xu, Jiacheng & Liang, Yingzong & Luo, Xianglong & Chen, Jianyong & Yang, Zhi & Chen, Ying, 2023. "Towards cost-effective osmotic power harnessing: Mass exchanger network synthesis for multi-stream pressure-retarded osmosis systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 330(PA).

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