Integrated water–energy–environment nexus in solar desalination: A multi-criteria optimization of organic Rankine cycle-driven reverse osmosis

This research presents a new method to reduce the environmental impact of reverse osmosis (RO) systems in solar farms. The concept involves enhancing the connection between water, energy, and the environment by utilizing an RO system that is powered by an organic Rankine cycle (ORC), which produces electricity using heat from a solar field. The study examines various ORC setups and operating fluids based on energy analysis (1E), exergy (2E), economic (3E), and environmental effects (4E) to create clean water. Important aspects of the optimization process include selecting the ORC setup, picking the working fluid for the ORC, and establishing the design parameters for the solar parabolic farm. These parameters are fine-tuned using a genetic algorithm technique. The findings show a 12% decrease in environmental impact and a 7.5% improvement in exergy efficiency due to this three-objective optimization strategy.