Main Technical and Economic Guidelines to Implement Wind/Solar-Powered Reverse-Osmosis Desalination Systems

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Sir,

Special issue: Desalination Process by Renewal Energy(RE)" is very good initiative from the perspectives of the rapidly growing SWRO market; 1.Technology transition of distillation to membrane.

2.From small plants to " Mega-size SWRO" plants. The latest Mega-SWRO project Top -10 is 545,520- 1, 000,000 m³/d.

3.Many of "Mega-SWRO" use RE.

4.Affodable Price of Desalinated Water $ 0.28-0.53/m³.

 

 Reference:

1. Masaru Kurihara, Membranes 2021,11,906.
2. Mohammad Abunayyan, IDA Global Connections, Summer 2021, 8-14
3. Aamer Ali, Ramato Ashu Tufa, et al, "Membrane technology in renewable -energy-driven desalination", Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 81(2018) 1-21.

In addition, Mohammad Abunayyan called " Renewable powered reverse osmosis desalination"=" Renewable power generation" + Water Desalination

 Reference: IDA Global Connections, Summer 2021.

As a result, the authors needs to make some changes to 9.Future Perspectives.

 

Author Response

Thank you very much for your suggestions and the interesting references provided, we have included some data extracted from them in the future perspectives section.

• Technology transition of distillation to membrane: Nothing to contribute, this is something well-known for a long time. 
• From small plants to “Mega-size SWRO" plants: Due to the economy of scale, reverse osmosis process has experienced an increase in the production capacity of desalination plants in recent years. Several years ago the production lines were made up of RO racks of 5,000 m³/day, while today they are RO racks of 10,000 or 15000 m³/day.
• Many of “Mega-SWRO” use RE: From the references provided, we have incorporated in the section of “future perspectives” the importance of using RES in Mega SWRO desalination plants in order to achieve a more secure and sustainable seawater desalination.
• Affordable Price of Desalinated Water: due to all the advances experienced in the RO process in terms of better RO membranes and more efficient energy recovery devices, together with higher production capacities; the water cost in desalination has decreased in last years. From the references provided we have included in section 9 that some SWRO plants in the Gulf Cooperation Council have achieved reduced water costs by using low cost energy and the selection of the most efficient and reliable technologies.

Reviewer 2 Report

In this manuscript, the authors present a general vision of the technical and economic aspects of solar and wind powered reverse osmosis. Indications and recommendations on the pre-treatment, the energy recovery, the generation system and the energy storage have been given. Furthermore, a short set of guidelines for the design, operation and maintenance of autonomous RO units was included as well. Overall, this manuscript is excellently written and laid out.

However, I have several suggestions for this manuscript. I recommend that this manuscript be accepted after revision.

1. I suggest that the authors provide the schematic diagram of wind / solar powered reverse osmosis desalination systems, so that readers can understand this manuscript more easily.
2. In Table 1, I suggest that the authors give more recent data.
3. In section “3. Appropriate Pre-treatment”, the authors should provide a schematic diagram of the physical pre-treatment and chemical pre-treatment.

Author Response

Thank you for your suggestions.

An in-depth revision of the English language has been carried out. 

In figure 1 we have provided a schematic diagram of wind/solar powered reverse osmosis desalination systems.

Table 1 has been replaced by another with more recent data.

In figure 2 we have provided a schematic diagram of the physical and chemical pre-treatment used in RO desalination process.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

This revised version include the recent progress of the mega- SWRO plants.