Modeling and techno-economic study of a solar reverse osmosis desalination plant

In this research, the design of a solar reverse osmosis desalination plant was investigated by integrating various components using TRNSYS and ROSA software. To this goal, a two-stage reverse osmosis system with 50% recovery in the city of Chabahar was modeled. The calculations were performed in three different case studies, i.e., a photovoltaic power plant, a solar collector power plant with Organic Rankine Cycles, and a photovoltaic thermal power plant with Organic Rankine Cycles, with the reverse osmosis desalination plant being a novel investigation. Water production and electrical energy generation of each case study were evaluated both on a daily and yearly bases. The simulation results showed that the photovoltaic thermal system at a 25 ° angle, with a water production of 82,052.05 (m³/day), could produce the most. On the other hand, the solar collector with Organic Rankine Cycles generated the least of all. Moreover, the photovoltaic thermal system was able to reduce the annual CO₂ emissions by about 44.593 × 10⁶ (kg) using solar energy instead of natural gas. Finally, this system proved to be feasible in terms of economic analyses.