TECHNICAL SEMINAR TOPIC. A renewable energy source.

1. Department Of mechanical ENGINEERING
OSMOTIC POWER
( A NEW SOURCE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY)
PREPARED BY
MAKSUDUR RAHAMAN
(1HK14ME045)
GUIDED BY
PROF. ABDUL MUJEEB N

2. CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
PRINCIPLE OF OSMOSIS
PRESSURE RETARDED OSMOSIS
CONSTRUCTION
COMPONENTS
OPERATION
EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
ADVANTAGES
LIMITATIONS
REFERANCES

3. INTRODUCTION
• Power consumption has been increased enormously
across the world so the power generation should be
increased.
• There are many ways of power generation. Some of
them leads to environment pollution.
• So, non conventional power plants must be encouraged.

5. All power plants shown above are effected by the climatic
conditions.
Cannot be operated through out year.
A new type of power plant which is non conventional and can
be operated 24/7 is OSMOTIC POWER PLANT.

6. PRINCIPLE OF OSMOSIS
Osmosis is a process by which molecules of a solvent tends to passes
through a semi-permeable membranes from a less concentrate solution
in to more concentrate one.
The membrane only lets water molecules pass. Salt molecules, sand and
other contaminants are prevented to do so.

7. PRESSURE RETARDED OSMOSIS
It relies on water molecules moving through a semi permeable
membrane.
Semi permeable membrane allows solvent (fresh water) to pass to
the concentrated solution (sea water) side by osmosis.
This technique can be used to generate power from salinity gradient
energy resulting from the difference in salt concentration between
sea water and river water.
Output is proportional to the salinity.

8. CONSTRUCTION

9. COMPONENTS
i. Pre-treatment
ii. Pressure Exchanger
iii. Membrane Rack
iv. Booster Pump
v. Turbine

10. OPERATION

11. OPERATION
Fresh water and sea water sent into two different
modules.
The two modules are separated by a semipermeable
membrane.
The Fresh water seeps through the semipermeable
membrane to the Salt water side.
This increases pressure on the salt water module.

12. OPERATION
The salt water flows through the
turbine which in turn generates
electricity.
The brackish water is sent out to
the sea.
The high pressure salt water is
again sent to the modules through a
pressure exchanger

13. TYPES OF MEMBRANE USE
1. Cellulose acetone
membrane .
Starting with membrane
performance of
approximately 0.5 W/m², and
can be improved to 1.3
W/m².

14. MEMBRANE TYPES
2. Thin Film Composite
Membrane
• It is a polymerization
product of m-phenylene
diamine.
• Starting from 0.1 W/m²
and can be improved to 5
W/m².

15. HOW IT WORKS

16. PLANT LOCATION
• Osmotic power plant is build where theirs is abundant supply of
fresh and salt water – The river delta.

17. PLANT CAPACITY
• By practical experience it is observed that in order to achieve 1MW of
energy one cubic meters of fresh water(per second) is mixed with two
cubic meters of sea water 12 bars. The initial pressure is provided by the
pressure exchanger that connects the outlet and the sea water inlet.

18. POWER GENERATION POTENTIAL
• The global potential is estimated to be 1,600-1,700 TWh –
equivalent to 50% of EU’s total annual power generation
today.
• In Norway alone, it would be able to generate 12 TWh per
year –equivalent to around 10% of our total power
consumption.
• Osmotic power can become an important contributor to the
generation of clean, renewable energy.

19. ADVANTAGES OF OSMOTIC POWER
• It is renewable.
• There‘s no risk of running out of salt because of osmotic
power produced.
• There is no carbon dioxide or no greenhouse gases emission.
• It is very ‘clean’ process.
• If there‘s a salt gradient then power will be.
• It produces electricity reliably.
• High efficiency.

20. LIMITATIONS
• High installation and maintenance cost.
• Hard to find location.
• The average salinity inside the basin decreases, also affecting
the ecosystem.
• The membrane should be replace every 5-6 years.

21. REFERANCES
i. Stein Erik Skilhagen (2009), “Osmotic power – a new,
renewable energy source”.
ii. Karen Gerstandt et al (2007), “Membrane processes in
energy supply for an osmotic power plant”, ScienceDirect
Desalination 224 (2008) 64-70.
iii. Fernanda Helfer et al (2013), “Osmotic power with
Pressure Retarded Osmosis: Theory, performance and
trends – A review”, ScienceDirect-Journal of Membrane
Science 453 (2014) 337-358