Development strategies and solar thermal energy utilization for water desalination systems in remote regions: a review

• Published in: Desalination and water treatment 2014-06, Vol.52 (22-24), p.4053-4070
• Main Authors: Kabeel, A.E., El-Said, Emad M.S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arid regions; Desalination; Economics; Energy utilization; Land; Meters; Remote regions; Solar energy; Solar heating; Solar thermal desalination
• ISSN: 1944-3986; 1944-3994; 1944-3986
• DOI: 10.1080/19443994.2013.808394

This paper reviews the current solar thermal desalination research activities with systems production in the range of 10–150 liter/day for remote or arid regions. A comparative study between different sustainable efforts in such solar thermal desalination systems as well as economics has been done. Throughout the review, the results indicated that most of the reviewed systems are in research stage and have not clear economical feasibility such as the price per cubic meter of water which may stimulates the decision-maker to direct these studies into the actual commercial applications. Also, the review showed that although many developed systems have several novel and valuable features, more efforts are required to further investigate more efficient, economical, and applicable solar thermal energy-driven desalination systems. Small production systems as solar stills and HDH can be used if fresh water demand is low and the land are available at low cost. The economical analyses carried out so far have not been able to provide a strong basis for comparing economic viability of each desalination technology. It is difficult, if not impossible, to assess the economic performance of a particular technology and compare it with others because of the differences of system capacities, locations, system technologies, and water sources.