Adsorption reverse electrodialysis driven by power plant waste heat to generate electricity and provide cooling

Steam power plants release more than half of the primary energy input as ultra low temperature heat below40(circle)Cinto the environment causing thermal pollution. The emitted heat has a very low exergy content making it challenging to use as heat input by another process. Adsorption desalination combined with reverse electrodialysis can be powered by this heat and convert it into electricity. Thus, the system can mitigate thermal pollution and generate electricity at the same time. This study combines a validated reverse electrodialysis model with a dynamic adsorption desalination model that is validated with experimental data within this work. The experiments were conducted using a small-scale adsorption desalinator and silica gel proving the feasibility of the regeneration at heat source temperatures as low as40(circle)C. The simulations of the integrated system analyse different heat integration scenarios showing exergy efficiencies up to 15% and energy efficiencies up to 0.55%. Hence, the system could generate 65 kW electricity from a 20 MW heat source considering pumping losses.

Automated summary

The study demonstrates that utilizing ultra low temperature heat released by steam power plants, combined with adsorption desalination and reverse electrodialysis technology, can reduce thermal pollution and generate electricity.