Desalination by renewable energy: A mini review of the recent patents

Abstract

Recent patents on water desalination by using renewable energy technologies are critically reviewed with highlighting on environmental impacts and sustainable development. An overview of using wind, hydroelectric, wave and tidal, wind/solar, geothermal, and solar renewable energy technologies for desalinated water production are assessed. Solar energy is the mother of all other renewable energies; it does not pollute, it is free and available everywhere. Several patents have been invented systems and methods that collected and converted solar energy to electrical energy via solar energy which can be used for water desalination. Wind farm with wind-driven pressurizing devices is used to desalinate salt water by reverse osmosis. Geothermal has been used as an effective method for water desalination. It is highly recommended to provide seawater desalination powered by a renewable energy source in remote areas. On the other hand, sequentially staged of energy conversion steps operate at low efficiencies.

Keywords

• desalination
• economics
• environmental concerns
• renewable energy technology
• sustainable development