The effective exhaust heat recuperation and combining the ASTERIx-CAESar power plant with a desalination unit is a clear added value of the project.
During the day, the desalination plant (based on RO – Reverse osmosis – technology), will be powered preferably by PV. After sunset, a dedicated multi-stage pressure exchanger (a gas/liquid pressure exchanger – GL-PX) that uses the energy stored in the compressed air vessel, will power the RO desalination unit.
The project will develop the optimum design of the GL-PX and will evaluate the combination of GL-PX+RO for small- and large-scale future commercial usage, demonstrating it at TRL 6-7 at PSA together with the solar powered CAES plant.
In addition, the theoretical evaluation of the potential of thermal desalination (such us multi-effect distillation) to reduce the brine rejection from the RO system (Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) processes) will be carried out.
