As resources of both water and traditional fuels are becoming increasingly limited, the need for desalination technologies that can operate using sustainable energy is growing. This chapter looks at the major ways in which solar energy, which is particularly promising in this respect, can be integrated with desalination technologies. The chapter first examines the tested desalination techniques of reverse osmosis and (reverse) electrodialysis, which can be powered using photovoltaic systems, and discusses their mechanisms as well as their advantages and disadvantages. The second main focus is on types of solar thermal collectors and their use with membrane distillation technology, which is a less well established but very promising desalination method. © 2014 Woodhead Publishing Limited All rights reserved.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
Caputo, G., & Giaconia, A. (2013). Membrane technologies for solar-desalination plants. In Membranes for Clean and Renewable Power Applications Elsevier Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1533/9780857098658.5.347