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http://dx.doi.org/10.7464/ksct.2014.20.1.013

Economic Analysis of Geothermal Energy and VMD Desalination Hybrid Process  

Park, Kiho (Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Korea University)
Kim, Jin Hyun (GREEN SCHOOL, Korea University)
Kim, Hyuk Soo (GREEN SCHOOL, Korea University)
Lee, Kwan-Young (GREEN SCHOOL, Korea University)
Yang, Dae Ryook (Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Korea University)
Kim, Kyung Nam (GREEN SCHOOL, Korea University)
Publication Information
Clean Technology / v.20, no.1, 2014 , pp. 13-21 More about this Journal
Abstract
Because of the water scarcity caused by the increase of salinity in the underground water, seawater desalination stands out as one of the most promising solution. As there are so much energy costs in operating desalination plants, new hybrid process which is more effective should be researched. A geothermal VMD (vacuum membrane distillation) hybrid process is a competitive alternative for seawater desalination. Because geothermal energy has significant characteristics of high capacity factor to operate the power plant at full capacity for 24 hour per day, it can be a priority heat source of VMD superior to any other renewable energies such as solar and wind power. In this study, we design a geothermal VMD hybrid process, analyze it economically and finally compare the result with a case of conventional VMD process. Geothermal VMD hybrid process generates $23,822,409 of NPV (net present value) more than the conventional VMD process in case of 5% discount rate. The break-even point between these processes is 5.36 year. Sensitivity analysis indicates that steam cost is the most decisive influence variable to the economic outcome.
Keywords
Geothermal energy; VMD; Desalination; Economic analysis;
Citations & Related Records
Times Cited By KSCI : 1  (Citation Analysis)
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