EXPERIMENT AND SIMULATION OF A WIND-DRIVEN REVERSE OSMOSIS DESALINATION SYSTEM

A mathematical model was developed to simulate the performance of a prototype wind-powered reverse osmosis desalination system. The model consists of two sub-models operated in a series. The first sub-model is the wind-energy conversion sub-model, which has wind energy and feed water as its input and pressurized feed water as its output. The second sub-model is a reverse osmosis (RO) process sub-model, with pressurized feed water as its input and the flow and salinity of the product water or permeate as its output. Model coefficients were determined based on field experiments of a prototype wind powered RO desalination system of the University of Hawaii, from June to December 2001. The mathematical model developed by this study predicts the performance of wind-powered RO desalination systems under different design conditions. The system optimization is achieved using a linear programming approach. Based on the results of system optimization, a design guide is prepared, which can be used by both manufacturer and end-user of the wind-driven reverse osmosis system.