
Sustainable Energy from Salinity Gradients
- 1st Edition - February 25, 2016
- Imprint: Woodhead Publishing
- Editors: Andrea Cipollina, Giorgio Micale
- Language: English
- Hardback ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 0 8 - 1 0 0 3 1 2 - 1
- eBook ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 0 8 - 1 0 0 3 2 3 - 7
Salinity gradient energy, also known as blue energy and osmotic energy, is the energy obtainable from the difference in salt concentration between two feed solutions, typically se… Read more

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Request a sales quoteSalinity gradient energy, also known as blue energy and osmotic energy, is the energy obtainable from the difference in salt concentration between two feed solutions, typically sea water and river water. It is a large-scale renewable resource that can be harvested and converted to electricity. Efficient extraction of this energy is not straightforward, however. Sustainable Energy from Salinity Gradients provides a comprehensive review of resources, technologies and applications in this area of fast-growing interest.
Key technologies covered include pressure retarded osmosis, reverse electrodialysis and accumulator mixing. Environmental and economic aspects are also considered, together with the possible synergies between desalination and salinity gradient energy technologies.
Sustainable Energy from Salinity Gradients is an essential text for R&D professionals in the energy & water industry interested in salinity gradient power and researchers in academia from post-graduate level upwards.
For more than ten years the Editors have been sharing substantial research activities in the fields of renewable energy and desalination, successfully participating to a number of European Union research projects and contributing to the relevant scientific literature with more than 100 papers and 2 books on Desalination technologies and their coupling with Renewable Energy. They are intensely working in the field of Salinity Gradient Power, carrying out research with specific focus o.n open-loop and closed-loop reverse electrodialysis and pressure retarded osmosis.
- Covers applications of pressure retarded osmosis, reverse electrodialysis, and capacitive mixing for salinity gradient power in one convenient volume
- Presents the environmental aspects and economics of salinity gradient energy
- Explores possible synergies between desalination and salinity gradient energy
R&D professionals in the energy industry working on salinity gradient power as well as researchers in academia from post-graduate level upwards
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Woodhead Publishing Series in Energy
- 1: Salinity gradient energy
- Abstract
- 1.1 Some history on salinity gradient energy technologies
- 1.2 Theoretical analysis of world potentials for SGE technologies
- 1.3 Classification of SGP technologies
- 1.4 Outline of chapters
- 2: Pressure retarded osmosis: Fundamentals
- Abstract
- Acknowledgements
- 2.1 About the osmotic energy
- 2.2 Pressure retarded osmosis process
- 2.3 Membranes for PRO
- 2.4 Fouling in the PRO process and antifouling PRO membranes
- 2.5 R&D perspectives
- 3: Pressure retarded osmosis: Applications
- Abstract
- 3.1 Introduction
- 3.2 Typical layout of PRO plants
- 3.3 Feed possibilities of PRO units
- 3.4 Core aspects in PRO systems
- 3.5 Practical experiences in PRO piloting
- 3.6 Perspectives for R&D and industrial development
- 4: Reverse electrodialysis: Fundamentals
- Abstract
- 4.1 Introduction
- 4.2 Membranes for RED
- 4.3 The RED process
- 4.4 Stack benchmark methods and parameters
- 4.5 R&D perspectives
- 5: Reverse electrodialysis: Applications
- Abstract
- 5.1 Introduction
- 5.2 Feed possibilities in RED units
- 5.3 Typical layout of RED plants
- 5.4 Fluid dynamics aspects in RED systems
- 5.5 Pilot units
- 5.6 Perspectives for R&D and industrial development
- 6: Capacitive mixing and mixing entropy battery
- Abstract
- 6.1 Introduction
- 6.2 Fundamentals of the process
- 6.3 Theoretical modelling
- 6.4 Overview and state of the art of AccMix technologies
- 6.5 Summary of the main achievements
- 6.6 Comparison with other techniques
- 6.7 Future developments
- 7: Salinity gradient engines
- Abstract
- Acknowledgements
- 7.1 Waste heat sources and energy recovery options
- 7.2 Conversion of low-temperature heat into electricity by salinity gradient engines
- 7.3 State of the art of SGP engines
- 7.4 Exergetic analysis
- 7.5 R&D perspectives and economics
- 8: Special applications of reverse electrodialysis
- Abstract
- 8.1 Introduction
- 8.2 Conventional redox processes for reverse electrodialysis
- 8.3 RED technology for electrochemical decontamination of polluted streams
- 8.4 Microbial reverse electrodialysis
- 9: Salinity gradient power and desalination
- Abstract
- 9.1 Introduction
- 9.2 Salinity gradient power – desalination hybrid schemes
- 9.3 Osmotic dilution – desalination hybrid schemes
- 9.4 Efficiency analysis of SGP/OD–RO hybrid schemes
- 9.5 Outlook for full-scale application
- 9.6 Conclusions
- 10: Environmental aspects and economics of salinity gradient power (SGP) processes
- Abstract
- 10.1 Potential environmental impacts of salinity gradient power installations
- 10.2 Factors affecting the economic performance and competitiveness of SGP systems
- 10.3 Assessment of the overall resource potential
- 10.4 Regulation and policy issues
- 10.5 Conclusions
- Index
- Edition: 1
- Published: February 25, 2016
- Imprint: Woodhead Publishing
- No. of pages: 362
- Language: English
- Hardback ISBN: 9780081003121
- eBook ISBN: 9780081003237
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Andrea Cipollina
Andrea Cipollina is Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, Gestionale, Informatica, Meccanica, Università degli Studi di Palermo, a Member of the Italian Order of Chartered Engineers and a Member of the Italian Association of Chemical Engineering.
For more than ten years, Andrea Cipollina and Giorgio Micale have been sharing substantial research activities in the fields of renewable energy and desalination, successfully participating to a number of European Union research projects and contributing to the relevant scientific literature with more than 100 papers and 2 books on Desalination technologies and their coupling with Renewable Energy. They are intensely working in the field of Salinity Gradient Power, carrying out research with specific focus on open-loop and closed-loop reverse electrodialysis and pressure retarded osmosis.
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