Desalinating Seawater with Zero Carbon Emission and Cogeneration of Electricity: Optimal Configuration with Process Intensification

This work proposes an innovative desalination technology with zero carbon emission and cogeneration of renewable electricity. To break the energy-water nexus of the widely used multieffect desalinator (MED), a solar collector is retrofitted along with vapor compression systems. To reduce the external energy supply, an organic Rankine cycle is developed for process integration with a solar system and steam boiler, which yields surplus electricity and equipment reduction of MED. A theoretical framework is formulated to illustrate the seawater desalinator after validating it with data sets of three plants operated in Tripoli (Libya), Kish Island (Iran), and Umm Al-Nar (the UAE). Genetic algorithm is strategized to identify the globally optimal parameters of the decarbonized desalinator that cogenerates power (earning 2,504,659 $/year from surplus electricity), ensuring 190.17% higher productivity at a lower (up to 54.5%) cost over the plant scenario. This sustainable cost-effective seawater desalinator has promising potential to catalyze resolving the global water scarcity problem.