Solar Photovoltaic-Powered Membrane Distillation as Sustainable Clean Energy Technology in Desalination

The present article discusses the application of a new technology using solar photovoltaic (PV) cell coupled with membrane distillation (MD) in the desalination of tap water. Salinity decreases the palatibility of water and causes long-term health issues. MD is the most promising technology to provide safe and clean drinking water to households and for other applications in small quantities. It consumes less energy than the existing commercial brackish water reverse osmosis (RO; pressure- driven) desalination technology (48%) used for the production of drinking water. A large population in India relies on tap water, groundwater, surface water, deep well water and municipal water for drinking and domestic utilization. These sources are highly contaminated due to the presence of harmful metals like fluoride and arsenic causing serious health hazards. The present study compares water quality analysis by chemical methods of both RO and solar PV-driven MD technology. The quality of distillate obtained by MD is excellent and this has been proved by the results of chemical analysis of water. Thermal efficiency of MD operating with solar PV cells and others operated purely by conventional mode is calculated and the results are compared. The study shows higher production of drinking water for solar PV-driven MD.