Objective
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
Many attempts have been made at developing commercial solar desalination systems but no such system has materialised. The reason for this is that while technical options have been demonstrated they are too complicated or too expensive to compete with fossil fuel systems.
The objective of this project is to design and build a prototype solar desalination plant that will be commercially viable and produce water at less than $2/m3. The plant will have a capacity of 750 m3/day.
TECHNICAL APPROACH
The approach taken is to use a desalination technology that has the lowest energy consumption and combine it with a solar thermal system that produces the least cost energy that is compatible with the desalination technology:
- a commercially available vacuum vapour compression (VVC) desalination system which is normally electrically powered will be converted to run on steam at 25 bar pressure. Mechanical energy consumption can then be reduced to below 10 kWh/m3
- a fixed mirror concentrator and a tracking receiver will provide thermal power for the desalination unit. An annual solar-steam energy efficiency of 43% is predicted.
EXPECTED ACHIEVEMENTS AND EXPLOITATION
The system can operate in solar only or hybrid mode. The project tasks comprise: 1) Modification and testing of VVC unit to operate on steam 2) Design and testing of the heat transfer system (receiver, storage and boiler), 3)System Optimisation 4) Final Design and Construction 5) Commissioning and Monitoring and 6) Integration Issues. The most risky task is the design of the solar receiver.
There are five milestones:
- VVC desalination unit achieves an energy consumption less than 10 kWh/m3 - Solar receiver achieves target efficiency of 65%
- Prototype is completed and produces 750 m3/day of clean water under solar only conditions.
- Prototype achieves an availability of 80%.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology environmental engineering ecosystem-based management climatic change mitigation
- engineering and technology chemical engineering separation technologies desalination
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels renewable energy solar energy solar thermal
You need to log in or register to use this function
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Data not available
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
CB2 6SU Cambridge
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.