Abstract Reverse osmosis (RO) plants powered by photovoltaic (PV) panels at community scale for remote places are increasing in importance. However, RO recovery rates in these seawater desalination plants are usually below 40% because of non-optimized plant configurations. Low recovery rates increase both the global costs of the plant and the volume of concentrate discharge, which is an ecological issue. This study aims to determine the RO plant configuration that enables the highest recovery rate and leads to the lowest global costs for small PV RO plants. The choice of the plant configuration includes the type, number and arrangement of the RO modules, single or double stage configuration, the area of the PV panels, the possibility of using batteries, and of using evaporation ponds for concentrate disposal. Based on an “optimization procedure” and cost estimation, the best PV RO plant configurations were found according to the production needed. A 65% recovery rate could be possible in double stage plants producing more than 5 m 3 ·d − 1 and would reduce costs. The use of a battery could reduce the costs in plants producing 5 m 3 ·d − 1 because the extra cost of the battery would be compensated by the possibility of using fewer RO modules.

中文翻译：

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光伏能源驱动的小型反渗透海水淡化厂生态设计策略的综合方法

摘要 在社区规模的偏远地区，由光伏 (PV) 面板供电的反渗透 (RO) 工厂的重要性日益增加。然而，由于未优化的工厂配置，这些海水淡化厂的 RO 回收率通常低于 40%。低回收率会增加工厂的全球成本和浓缩物排放量，这是一个生态问题。本研究旨在确定能够实现最高回收率并为小型 PV RO 工厂带来最低全球成本的 RO 工厂配置。工厂配置的选择包括 RO 模块的类型、数量和布置、单级或双级配置、光伏电池板的面积、使用电池的可能性以及使用蒸发池进行浓缩物处理。在“优化程序”和成本估算的基础上，根据所需的生产找到了最佳的 PV RO 设备配置。在生产超过 5 m 3 ·d − 1 的双阶段工厂中，65% 的回收率是可能的，并且会降低成本。电池的使用可以降低生产 5 m 3 ·d - 1 的工厂的成本，因为电池的额外成本可以通过使用更少的反渗透模块的可能性来补偿。