Integrated system based on solar chimney and wind energy for hybrid desalination via reverse osmosis and multi-stage flash with brine recovery

This paper studies the viability of utilizing an integrated system to yield electricity and freshwater, with solar chimney and wind energy as its leading technologies. An initial analysis is performed to evaluate the electricity generation and heat absorption by the storage system of the solar chimney. Moreover, thermal and membrane-based desalination technologies are included in a cascaded manner to produce freshwater, utilizing the heat source of the solar chimney thermal storage. In addition, a Pressure-Retarded Osmosis subsystem is incorporated to use the discharged brine from the desalination systems, creating an additional electrical output by recovering brine energy. A wind power plant is added for generating more power while satisfying the demand of the multisystem. For energy storage purposes, a pumped hydro system is implemented to store freshwater and meet electrical and water demand without interruption. As a result, the integrated system, including a 5 × 3.4 MW wind farm, presents an overall energetic efficiency of 52.53% during the discharge of the water tank, and 52.51% while storing the water. These efficiencies are significantly higher than a stand-alone solar chimney (0.44%) dedicated to electricity generation only.