Development of a Village-Scale, Solar-Powered Reverse Osmosis System

• Main Authors: Buresh, Christopher (Author), Vander Werff, Annie (Author), Bian, David W. (Contributor), Sokol, Julia Alexandrovna (Contributor), Yun, Janet Hongsun (Contributor), Mascarenhas, Craig Anthony (Contributor), Emeghara, Chinasa (Contributor), Watson, Sterling M. (Contributor), Wright, Natasha Catherine (Contributor), Winter, Amos G. (Contributor)
• Other Authors: MIT-SUTD Collaboration (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (Contributor), Sloan School of Management (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: ASME International, 2019-03-07T13:24:59Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

 This paper details the development of a photovoltaic reverse osmosis water desalination system for a groundwater well in Bercy, Haiti. The well was constructed to provide potable drinking and agricultural water for the 300-person community. However, its water has a salinity level of 5,290 ppm, rendering it harmful for both human consumption and soil fertility. This reverse osmosis system is designed to be low-cost and operational off-grid while providing 900 gallons per day of desalinated water for the community. The system is composed of a photovoltaic power system, a submersible solar pump, and three reverse osmosis membranes. The system is designed to have a material cost significantly below that of any commercially-available system of similar scale. Furthermore, it has an average water production cost of $1.21/m3 and an average specific energy of 1.2 kWh/m3. Its performance was tested in the laboratory by connecting the desalination module to a DC power supply, demonstrating good agreement with its modeled performance. The installation of the full system with the PV module will take place on-site in the summer of 2016. Following implementation, the system will be monitored and compared against predicted performance. The first attempt is meant to serve as a verification and validation of the system as a whole. However, successful operation within the given cost target could pave the way for wider use of off-grid reverse osmosis systems at many remote locations with limited freshwater access around the world.