A process integration method of integrated solar photovoltaic water purification system

Abstract

Water and energy are very important resources to be used for industrial, agricultural purposes, commercialization and residential household. Mainly, water in household are used for cleaning, cooking, drinking and washing. In Malaysia, demand of water supply increases per capita every year. Higher use of freshwater resource not only affects the environment but also incur cost such as increasing water tariff to the household bill. To decrease the amount of fresh water used, it is important to make use of alternative water sources such as greywater. Solar photovoltaic water purification system is a new technology which can purify greywater by using solar thermal to be recycled, at the same time generates electricity from solar photovoltaic. In this paper, a new process integration method is proposed to optimise the solar photovoltaic water purification system design and sizing for the building A set of new graphical tools are introduced. The tools can determine the sizing of the system such as storage tank before purification, capacity of solar water distillation and sizing of storage tank for purified water. Economic analysis is done to determine the capital cost of the system as well as the payback period. The system will be implemented in a four-occupant household in Malaysia, and another case study will be carried out of the same number of occupants in a dry and water scarce country, Papua New Guinea, to compare the cost between these two. In conclusion, implementation of integrated solar photovoltaic water purification system will have lower payback period in water scarce country as desalination of water is expensive causing high water tariff. Other factors that may affect the results are the number of occupant and their lifestyle.