WindDeSalter Technology: Direct use of wind energy for seawater desalination by vapour compression or reverse osmosis

摘要

Due to increasing population figures, people's higher demands and the changing climatic conditions, the need for clean drinking water is permanently on the rise. In addition, there is the paramount necessity to lessen the carbon dioxide (CO{sub}2) emission by reducing the use of fossil fuels for climate protection reasons. The UN Convention on Climate Protection in Kyoto has laid down the target for such a reduction in 1997. These goals and the limited fuel reserves strengthen the use of regenerative energy sources worldwide for all applications, among them being seawater desalination. With the WindDeSalter technology, aerodyn introduces an innovative method of directly employing wind energy for seawater desalination. It does so without taking the detour via electrical energy and at the same time uses the WEC as the body for all components of the desalination plant. Moreover bigger plants can be built right into the sea as self-sufficient offshore-plants, so as to minimise visual and acoustic effects on the population and thus improve their acceptance. This is very cost efficient in system comparison with traditional, electrically operated desalination plant with downstream WEC's, which means that the cost for the end product 'drinking water' is reduced significantly.