Design and performance of small-scale reverse osmosis desalination for brackish water powered by photovoltaic units: a review

Abstract

Abstract The reverse osmosis (RO) water desalination system powered by the photovoltaic (PV) unit is commonly used to produce drinking water due to their reasonable price. This review focused to display different designs of small-scale PV powered brackish water RO (PV-BWRO) systems that were installed to improve the water productivity at remote areas. The configuration of BWRO units, which determined the operating cost, permeate flow and amount of rejected water, is of great concerns in this work. The specific energy consumption (SEC), total capital cost and water production cost are also analysed to display the feasibility of application of PV unit for small-scale BWRO desalination system. The single-stage configuration was suitable for most of small-scale BWRO systems owning high recovery rates (i.e., higher than 50%). The PV solar system pairing with batteries was not recommended at production capacities below 5 m3 for their high cost and short lifetime. Independently operated PV-BWRO systems required the highest capital cost while produced the lowest operating and overall production costs compared to hybrid systems.