DESOLINATION partners op SolarPACES 2024: Toont baanbrekend onderzoek naar innovatie in hernieuwbare energie!

DESOLINATION partners op SolarPACES 2024: Toont baanbrekend onderzoek naar innovatie in hernieuwbare energie!

Op de 30e SolarPACES-conferentie in Rome, Italië, het DESOLINATION-project, vertegenwoordigd door haar partners, de University of Derby, Universiteit van Teesside, and UNIBS, heeft een indrukwekkende impact met zijn innovatieve onderzoek naar hernieuwbare energie en ontziltingstechnologieën.

Een revolutie in energieopwekking met op CO2-mengsels gebaseerde energiecycli

Een van de opvallende momenten was de presentatie van Het Net Zero-team van Teesside University. Vertegenwoordigd door Professor Patchigolla Kumar en zijn dynamische onderzoeksteam-Dr. Abubakr Ayub, Balkan Mutlu, and Kristofer PoirierHet team deelde baanbrekende ontwikkelingen op het gebied van geconcentreerde zonne-energie (CSP) en duurzame ontzilting.

Balkan Mutlu presenteerden hun baanbrekende onderzoek, “Optimalisatie van op CO2-mengsels gebaseerde vermogenscycli voor CSP-toepassingen: Een multi-objectieve benadering.”

Dit werk kan een revolutie teweegbrengen in Geconcentreerde zonne-energie (CSP) systemen en hun efficiëntie aanzienlijk verbeteren.

  • Geavanceerde multi-objectieve optimalisatietechnieken gebruiken om de efficiëntie te verbeteren,
  • Ontwikkeling van nieuwe werkvloeistoffen met CO2-mengsels die de energieopwekking verbeteren.

Door zich te richten op het optimaliseren van deze kritieke aspecten wil het team de prestaties van CSP-centrales aanzienlijk verbeteren en de grenzen van duurzame energieopwekking verleggen. De innovatieve aanpak belooft een hogere efficiëntie en lagere emissies, waardoor CSP een meer levensvatbare oplossing wordt voor de wereldwijde energie-uitdagingen.

Waterschaarste aanpakken met Zero Liquid Discharge-ontzilting

Een andere baanbrekende innovatie werd gepresenteerd door Kristofer Poirier, die het volgende liet zien “Innovatieve Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) ontzilting voor het terugwinnen van mineralen met behulp van zonne- en geothermische energie.”

In deze aanpak pakt het team waterschaarste aan door:

  • Zonne-energie en geothermische energie combineren om ontziltingsprocessen van energie te voorzien,
  • bereiken bij 100% waterterugwinning en het terugwinnen van waardevolle mineralen, zoals lithiumcarbonaat, uit pekel,
  • Afval verminderen en duurzaamheid verbeteren door afvalproducten om te zetten in hoogzuivere mineralen die verkocht kunnen worden.

Dit ZLD-proces minimaliseert niet alleen de impact op het milieu, maar biedt ook economische voordelen door afval om te zetten in waardevolle bronnen. Een casestudy op het eiland Tenerife liet zien hoe dit nieuwe proces zowel de winstgevendheid als de duurzaamheid van door zonne-energie en geothermische energie aangedreven ontzilting kan verbeteren.

Een oproep voor duurzame waterproductie

De presentaties op SolarPACES benadrukten het belang van pekel mijnbouw voor het verbeteren van de levensvatbaarheid van ontziltingsprojecten. Door waardevolle mineralen te extraheren en vloeistoflozing tot nul terug te brengen, baant het Net Zero-team van Teesside University de weg voor duurzamere, winstgevende ontziltingsprocessen. Dit werk is van cruciaal belang om de wereldwijde waterschaarste aan te pakken en tegelijkertijd de koolstofuitstoot te verminderen, omdat het proces integreert technologieën voor het afvangen van koolstof in ontziltingssystemen.

Kristofer Poirier deelde zijn enthousiasme na de presentatie van het innovatieve ZLD-proces en sprak zijn dank uit aan de Net Zero Industrieel Innovatiecentrum en iedereen die betrokken was bij het SolarPACES-evenement.

“Het was een geweldige kans om een aantal van ”s werelds meest vooraanstaande experts op het gebied van geconcentreerde zonne-energie en industriële proceswarmte te ontmoeten," aldus de directeur.”

merkte hij op en benadrukte het belang van samenwerking bij het bevorderen van wereldwijde duurzaamheidsinspanningen.

Vooruitkijken: Teesside University's toewijding aan Net Zero

Het onderzoek dat werd gepresenteerd op SolarPACES is slechts één onderdeel van de bredere inspanningen van Teesside University om te komen tot netto nul emissies. Door haar Net Zero Industrieel Innovatiecentrum, De universiteit blijft de grenzen verleggen van hernieuwbare energie, duurzaamheid van water en industriële procesefficiëntie.

Naarmate het team vordert, willen ze graag samenwerken met industriële partners en onderzoekers over de hele wereld om deze innovaties op grotere schaal toe te passen en een echte impact te hebben. Met elke doorbraak brengen ze ons dichter bij een toekomst waarin schone, hernieuwbare energie voorziet niet alleen in onze elektriciteitsbehoeften, maar ook in essentiële processen zoals ontzilting.

Italy's Solar Thermal Legacy

Historical and Modern Achievements in CSP

Italy has been at the forefront of solar thermal technology for over a decade. The Archimede plant, inaugurated in 2010, was the first CSP demo plant in Italy to utilize molten salt for heat transfer and storage in a parabolic trough system. This pioneering project set the stage for future advancements in the field.

In recent years, Italy has continued to lead the way with the commissioning of its first commercial CSP plant and several others in advanced stages of construction. This blend of historical innovation and modern progress makes Italy a fitting host for the 30th SolarPACES Conference, where tradition and cutting-edge technology converge.

DESOLINATION partners have just held their 4th progress meeting at Lund University!

DESOLINATION partners have just held their 4th progress meeting at Lund University!

Credentials: Hilde Skar Olsen, Lunds Tekniska Högskola

Once again, DESOLINATION project partners came together to share their progress and coordinate their next steps. This time, our consortium had the pleasure of being hosted by the Membrane Group of the University of Lund in Sweden, for a hybrid meeting!

The DESOLINATION project began in 2021 and aims to build a unique plant producing fresh water from waste heat recovered from concentrating solar power (CSP) plants. The demonstrator will be sent to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for testing in 2025.

After reviewing all our progress, our team had the chance to visit the laboratories of the Membrane Group at Lund University, where they will test the membrane desalination concept on pilot scale.

This physical meeting was great opportunity to organize discussion groups between two of our workpackages dealing with the optimization of the CSP thermal cycle for desalination and how to optimize desalination processes.

Many thanks to all the partners for these valuable exchanges, which help move the project forward!

Together, let’s demonstrate how concentrated solar power can be coupled with an advanced desalination system to produce freshwater!

Join our “New developments in membranes” online workshop

Join our “New developments in membranes” online workshop

In the last days, our project member, Prof. Frank Lipnizki from the Department of Chemical Engineering of Lund University (Sweden) has had the opportunity to organise a workshop on “New Membrane Developments” with some great international speakers.

The online workshop is free-of-charge and took place on Thursday 7th of December from 9:00 – 11:00am.

The aim of the workshop is to provide an overview on recent developments of membrane with focus on water and wastewater. For this, the LUND team has invited some of the leading researchers in the field from Japan, Egypt, India and Sweden.

Membranes are the centre of all the stages of the desalination process, nanofiltration (NF) pre-treatment, Forward Osmosis (FO) and Membrane Distillation (MD) processes. In DESOLINATION, modelling and small-scale testing activities will target the optimization of all steps of hybrid membrane separations. First, NF membranes will be used to reduce fouling and scaling effect in FO. Then, the FO separation membrane will be fine-tuned to ensure control over high water flux in combination with low reverse flux from the draw to the feed solution and thus maximize the efficiency and use of the osmotic pressure difference between the seawater and the draw solution. Lastly, the MD separation membrane needs to optimize the removal of pure water from the draw solution and must therefore be adapted to the chemical and physical properties of the draw solution designed for thermal heat recovery, as well as to the temperature and pressure conditions required for the VMD recovery process.

AGENDA

09:00 – Welcome (Prof. Frank Lipnizki, Lund University, Sweden)

09:05  – Prof. Takeo Yamaguchi (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan): Modification of antifouling membrane surfaces

09:30 – Prof. Marwa Shalaby (National Research Centre Cairo, Egypt):  Water shortage and membrane applications

09:55 – Prof. Sabu Thomas (Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, India): Polysaccharide based membranes for water purification: Recent advances

10:20 – Prof. (assoc.) Naser Tavajohi (Umeå University, Sweden): A greener approach to PVDF membrane production

10:45 – Final Discussion (ALL)

11:00 – End

Meeting ID: 335 628 157 200
Passcode: y3oLXa

ENLIT Europe 2023 – the DESOLINATION project was exhibiting at the energy forum!

ENLIT Europe 2023 – the DESOLINATION project was exhibiting at the energy forum!

From November 28 to 30, the DESOLINATION project had the opportunity to exhibit at #EnlitEurope 2023, an end-to-end, inclusive and ever-growing forum addressing all aspects of the energy agenda in Paris Expo Porte de Versailles.

An excellent opportunity for our EU-funded projects (participating in programmes such as Horizon Europe, Life and CEF), to showcase our achievements and results to energy investors and other stakeholders, enabling a basis for discussion for the implementation of sustainable measures in the field of energy transition.

Our team, represented by Damien Serret from TEMISTh, Lola Mosseri-Lefebvre and Solène Fovelle from Euroquality, was delighted to meet partner organisations from various EU-funded projects at Enlit Europe 2023 and tell them more about how additive manufacturing can help improve energy efficiency to save CO2 and produce fresh water at 📍𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝟳. 𝟮.𝗛𝟴𝟬-𝟮𝟬 (Pavilion 7 – Entrance A2).

On the third floor, in the Decarbonation section, our project partner Aalborg CSP A/S, represented by Miguel Herrador Moreno, also took the opportunity to promote the project and explain its role as responsible for overseeing the development of the plant’s concentrated solar power (CSP) desalination system.

Having developed the first desalination system powered by concentrated solar power, Aalborg CSP A/S is responsible for overseeing and supporting the development of the plant to ensure its industrial potential for post-project use.

During the Hub Sessions, the projects participating in the EU Projects Zone will share our best practices, findings and technologies.

29 Nov 2023

EU Projects Zone Hub – Theatre 2 (Hall 7.2)

EU Projects – ETIPs Forum

On Wednesday, DESOLINATION, represented by Damien Serret from project partner TEMISth, took part in a hub session promoted by the ETIPs FORUM focusing on the role of Research & Innovation (R&I) in the deployment of renewable energies (RES) and enhanced energy storage capacities.

An interactive discussion will brainstorm and debate possible ways to promote the market uptake of key energy technologies pivotal for increasing RES share at the European and national levels and to ensure that Member States align with the latest EU policy requirements.

The debate will see the participation of ETIP Hydropower, ETIP Bioenergy and Batteries Europe, the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA), and the European project Energetic.

About ENLIT

Launched in 2017, The EU Projects Zone has welcomed a growing number of EU funded projects showcasing their findings at our annual Conference and Exhibition, involving hundreds of partners and contributing to an engaging programme.

Membrane Desalination 2023 (MEMDES2023)

Membrane Desalination 2023 (MEMDES2023)

Join the DESOLINATION project partners at the 6th International Conference on Desalination using Membrane Technology in Sitges (Spain) from 19th to 22nd November 2023 to discuss the latest developments in desalination using membrane technology!

Three of our project partners Nadin Al-Jariry, Jonas Hedlund from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Luleå University of Technology, Muhammad Suleman from Lund University, and Irena Petrinić, Ross D. Jansen-van Vuuren, Thomas Luxbacher, and Hermina Bukšek from the University of Maribor, had the opportunity to present our project to leading academic researchers, scientists and engineers from the membrane desalination sector and associated industries, as well as to representatives of governmental organizations, international agencies and aid organizations.

The Univeristy of Maribor presented ‘Thermo-responsive Polyalkylene Glycol-based draw solutions for forward osmosis in seawater desalination‘ as a poster contribution. 

Together with Lund University, they also gave an oral presentation focusing on ‘Modeling forward osmosis-membrane distillation hybrid process for seawater desalination: flux prediction and process optimization‘ co-prepared by Suleman Muhammad, Al-Rudainy Basel, Petrinić Irena, and Frank Lipnizki.

Presentation extracted from the event website

Growing population, changing climate and increasing urbanisation require increasing freshwater supply and the sustainable water usage for industries and agriculture is of top priority. One of the most viable solutions is to tap from the seawater and wastewater. Membrane technologies have been established as the golden standard for desalination to address the global deficit for clean water. However, it is still expensive, which is one of the main obstacles for prevalent adoption of membranes.

Innovation is key to reduce the energy consumption and the total cost. This can be advanced by developing high performance reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes, robust module and process design, as well as other novel desalination technologies. We have seen promise in breaking the permselectivity trade-off using state-of-the-art nanomaterials. Biomimetic single ion channel and artificial water channel have shown exciting results in bench tests. The Sixth International Conference on Membrane Desalination 2023 (MEMDES 2023) is the dedicated forum to disseminate the cutting-edge research and development in this regard.