Towards sustainable water solutions: Designing and evaluating solar-powered hybrid desalination systems
This study investigates the viability of hybrid desalination systems as a novel solution to mitigate water scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The study examines multiple hybrid configurations, such as forward osmosis–reverse osmosis (FO–RO), nanofiltration–reverse osmosis (N...
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Elsevier
2025-10-01
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| Series: | Case Studies in Thermal Engineering |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214157X25011943 |
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| author | Bourhan Tashtoush Wa'ed Alyahya |
| author_facet | Bourhan Tashtoush Wa'ed Alyahya |
| author_sort | Bourhan Tashtoush |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study investigates the viability of hybrid desalination systems as a novel solution to mitigate water scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The study examines multiple hybrid configurations, such as forward osmosis–reverse osmosis (FO–RO), nanofiltration–reverse osmosis (NF–RO), forward osmosis–nanofiltration (FO–NF), and reverse osmosis–nanofiltration (RO–NF). The study assesses the performance of these systems while incorporating renewable energy solutions, particularly solar energy and battery systems, to establish a hybrid configuration that is efficient and economically sustainable. Simulations performed in MATLAB and ANSYS provide a comprehensive analysis of key performance indicators (KPIs) including water recovery, salt rejection, water flux, and specific energy consumption (SEC). The NF–RO hybrid configuration exhibited the highest water recovery rate of 91 % and the lowest specific energy consumption of 0.328 kWh/m3 among the tested systems, establishing it as the most energy efficient solution. In contrast, the FO–RO system, although advantageous due to osmotic dilution, demonstrated a significantly elevated SEC of 2.40 kWh/m3. The study's findings underscore the economic viability of the hybrid NF–RO desalination system, presenting a competitive production cost of 0.59575 $ /m3, thereby indicating its capacity to substantially lower water production expenses. This innovative method provides an economical and sustainable remedy for addressing water scarcity in off – grid and arid areas. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-8874a08d710f46908f6a7bdf81d5e2a6 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2214-157X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-10-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Case Studies in Thermal Engineering |
| spelling | doaj-art-8874a08d710f46908f6a7bdf81d5e2a62025-08-24T05:12:45ZengElsevierCase Studies in Thermal Engineering2214-157X2025-10-017410693410.1016/j.csite.2025.106934Towards sustainable water solutions: Designing and evaluating solar-powered hybrid desalination systemsBourhan Tashtoush0Wa'ed Alyahya1Corresponding author.; Mechanical Engineering Department, Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST), IRBID, 22110, JordanMechanical Engineering Department, Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST), IRBID, 22110, JordanThis study investigates the viability of hybrid desalination systems as a novel solution to mitigate water scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The study examines multiple hybrid configurations, such as forward osmosis–reverse osmosis (FO–RO), nanofiltration–reverse osmosis (NF–RO), forward osmosis–nanofiltration (FO–NF), and reverse osmosis–nanofiltration (RO–NF). The study assesses the performance of these systems while incorporating renewable energy solutions, particularly solar energy and battery systems, to establish a hybrid configuration that is efficient and economically sustainable. Simulations performed in MATLAB and ANSYS provide a comprehensive analysis of key performance indicators (KPIs) including water recovery, salt rejection, water flux, and specific energy consumption (SEC). The NF–RO hybrid configuration exhibited the highest water recovery rate of 91 % and the lowest specific energy consumption of 0.328 kWh/m3 among the tested systems, establishing it as the most energy efficient solution. In contrast, the FO–RO system, although advantageous due to osmotic dilution, demonstrated a significantly elevated SEC of 2.40 kWh/m3. The study's findings underscore the economic viability of the hybrid NF–RO desalination system, presenting a competitive production cost of 0.59575 $ /m3, thereby indicating its capacity to substantially lower water production expenses. This innovative method provides an economical and sustainable remedy for addressing water scarcity in off – grid and arid areas.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214157X25011943DesalinationBrackish waterForward osmosisReverse osmosisNanofiltrationHybrid systems |
| spellingShingle | Bourhan Tashtoush Wa'ed Alyahya Towards sustainable water solutions: Designing and evaluating solar-powered hybrid desalination systems Case Studies in Thermal Engineering Desalination Brackish water Forward osmosis Reverse osmosis Nanofiltration Hybrid systems |
| title | Towards sustainable water solutions: Designing and evaluating solar-powered hybrid desalination systems |
| title_full | Towards sustainable water solutions: Designing and evaluating solar-powered hybrid desalination systems |
| title_fullStr | Towards sustainable water solutions: Designing and evaluating solar-powered hybrid desalination systems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Towards sustainable water solutions: Designing and evaluating solar-powered hybrid desalination systems |
| title_short | Towards sustainable water solutions: Designing and evaluating solar-powered hybrid desalination systems |
| title_sort | towards sustainable water solutions designing and evaluating solar powered hybrid desalination systems |
| topic | Desalination Brackish water Forward osmosis Reverse osmosis Nanofiltration Hybrid systems |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214157X25011943 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bourhantashtoush towardssustainablewatersolutionsdesigningandevaluatingsolarpoweredhybriddesalinationsystems AT waedalyahya towardssustainablewatersolutionsdesigningandevaluatingsolarpoweredhybriddesalinationsystems |