Decarbonized Thermal\nVapor Compressor-Based Solar\nDesalinator: Evaluating the Yield and Economy over Plant Scenario

Achieving carbon neutrality in the multieffect desalination\n(MED)\nintegrated with thermal vapor compression (TVC) system is an ambitious\ntarget by utilizing renewable resources. This work develops an industrial-scale\nsolar power-driven MED-TVC to explore its techno-economic feasibility\nfor sustainable production of drinking water. For this, a theoretical\nframework is derived and numerically simulated prior to validate the\nMED-TVC formulation with data sets of three plants operated in Tripoli\n(Libya), Kish Iceland (Iran), and Umm Al-Nar (UAE). The model is extended\nto set the design and operating parameters for optimal MED-TVC performance\nby developing a powerful genetic algorithm-based optimization strategy\nwith three conflicting objectives (maximize potable water production\nand minimize potable water production cost (PWPC) and CO<sub>2</sub> emission). The solar cell is further proposed to be designed for\nthe generation of motive steam required to drive the desalination\nunit with the target of eliminating CO<sub>2</sub> emission. Finally,\nto account the environmental damage via product cost, carbon tax is\nintroduced in the economic assessment study of the thermal-based desalination\nscheme. It is investigated that the proposed solar power-driven optimal\nMED-TVC guarantees zero emission with higher freshwater productivity\nat a lower cost over the real-time MED-TVC plant and better PWPC than\nmany existing solar MED scenarios.