Impact of temperature on power recovery in osmotic power production by pressure retarded osmosis

Pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) uses the free energy of mixing when fresh river water flows into the sea to generate renewable energy. Many operating parameters affect the proper functioning of a PRO unit. Our analysis reveals the influence that the temperature has on power density and demonstrates that membrane performance is improved if the temperature is taken into account. In particular, the influence of the difference of temperatures between both sides of the membrane is investigated. This study demonstrates that structural parameters and physicochemical parameters are significantly affected by the temperature. Using streams with higher temperatures and reducing the temperature difference between the two streams, the process can achieve higher performance. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/). Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Euro-Mediterranean Institute for Sustainable Development (EUMISD)