Ozonetech teams up with the Swedish KTH Royal Institute of Technology to untie blue energy
Harvesting the osmotic energy which is released when two streams with different salinity mix is a 65 year old dream. Current methods to utilize this energy are membrane-based technologies that suffer from membrane fouling. To overcome this issue, pre-treatment processes are employed prior to the membranes. However, current pre-treatment processes are highly energy intensive which means the net power generation capacity of the system can become negative. In this project, the focus is to improve the pre-treatment processes to reduce the power demand and simplify the current membrane maintenance demand. The project includes both experiential and theoretical assessments.
Preliminary investigations show there is a potential to reduce the pretreatment energy demand by 60% which corresponds to saving 2.5 kg of eq. CO2 per 1000 m3 of processed water. The results of this project can pave the way for commercialization of power generation from blue energy.