The mining industry is a great consumer of water for hydrometallurgical processes. Despite the efforts in minimizing the use of fresh water through reuse, recycling and process intensification, water demand for mining is expected to rise a 40% from 2013 to 2020. For seawater to be an alternative to groundwater, it must be pumped up to the mine (thousands of meters uphill) and desalinated. These processes require intensive energy and investment in desalination and piping/pumping facilities. A conventional solution for this process would be desalination by reverse osmosis at sea level, powered by electricity from the grid, and further pumping of the desalinated water uphill. This paper compares the feasibility of two solar technologies versus the “conventional” option. LCOW (Levelized Cost of Water) was used as a comparative indicator among the studied solutions, with values for a lifetime of 10, 15, 20 and 25 years, calculated using a real discount rate equal to 12%. The LCOW is lower in all cases for the RO + grid solution. The cost of desalination, ignoring the contribution of pumping, is similar for the three technologies from twenty years of operation. The use of solar energy to desalinate sea water for consumption in the mines of the Atacama region is technically feasible. However, due to the extra costs from pumping whole seawater, and not just the desalinated water, solar solutions are less competitive than the conventional process.
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31 May 2016
SOLARPACES 2015: International Conference on Concentrating Solar Power and Chemical Energy Systems
13–16 October 2015
Cape Town, South Africa
Research Article|
May 31 2016
Synergies of solar energy use in the desalination of seawater: A case study in northern Chile
Jorge F. Servert;
Jorge F. Servert
a)
1Industrial Engineering Ph.D.,
CEO Solar Technology Advisors
STA. Pza. Manolete 2, 11C, 28020–Madrid (Spain
)
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Eduardo Cerrajero;
Eduardo Cerrajero
b)
2Chem. Engineer, Senior researcher
Solar Technology Advisors
STA. Pza. Manolete 2, 11C, 28020–Madrid (Spain
)
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Edward L. Fuentealba
Edward L. Fuentealba
c)
3Electric Engineering Ph. D., Director of Energy Development Center CDEA at
University of Antofagasta
(Chile
)
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a)
Corresponding author: jservert@sta-solar.com
AIP Conf. Proc. 1734, 140002 (2016)
Citation
Jorge F. Servert, Eduardo Cerrajero, Edward L. Fuentealba; Synergies of solar energy use in the desalination of seawater: A case study in northern Chile. AIP Conf. Proc. 31 May 2016; 1734 (1): 140002. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4949232
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