Enhancing Energy-Efficiency in Water Filtration Through System Integration: A Pathway to Greener Hydrogen Production

Water filtration is a critical process in various industries and applications due to its role in purifying water and removing contaminants. However, conventional filtration processes face significant challenges in terms of energy efficiency and water recovery. This is both economically and environmentally problematic. At the same time, emerging technologies such as green hydrogen production require consistent access to high quality water. It is therefore important to develop sustainable and energy-efficient water filtration models. This study proposes an innovative filtration model that combines membrane separation technologies with geothermal energy integration. The aim of this model is to effectively treat seawater into water suitable for green hydrogen production while maximising energy recovery and efficiency. A multi-stage filtration process including nanofiltration and reverse osmosis is used to filter the water. The rejected streams from this process are then sent to a geothermal integration system that uses the waste heat to generate electricity. Preliminary results indicate that this integrated model can achieve over 90 % water recovery from seawater feed, a significant improvement over conventional method. Energy consumption is also estimated to be 50-60 % lower at 2-3 kWh/m3. Most importantly, the treated water meets purity standards for use in proton exchange membrane electrolysers for hydrogen production.