Energy and economic performance assessment of a solar-assisted regenerative vacuum membrane desalination system

[Display omitted] •The solar-assisted regenerative system has a gained output ratio of 2.51.•By increasing the membrane area to 0.5 m2, the solar fraction increases by 15.2 %.•Without brine recirculation, the levelized water cost increases by 117.4 %. Vacuum membrane water desalination is a promising technology for freshwater production with the advantages of low conduction heat loss and mass transfer resistance, compared to other membrane technologies. Such systems can be driven by solar thermal collectors for green water production, yet there is a lack of dynamic system simulations in the literature to comprehensively assess the energy and economic system performance and evaluate the impact of brine recirculation as a method of regeneration, especially under hot desert climates where solar resources are abundant, but freshwater resources are scarce (e.g., the northern coast of Egypt, considered as the case study here). In this study, a dynamic system simulation model is developed in TRNSYS, where a new “Type” is introduced for the vacuum membrane module. Initial sizing of the system with ∼20 % solar fraction resulted in annual average gained output ratio and specific thermal energy consumption of 2.51 and 133.5 kWh/m3, respectively, with levelized cost of water and payback period of 14.7 USD/m3 and 1.53 years, respectively. By increasing the solar collectors’ area from 8 to 16 m2, the levelized cost of water increased by 14.54 %. The storage volume was highly influential on the solar fraction, which increased by 101.39 % as the volume increased from 0.3 to 0.7 m3. Increasing the membrane area from 0.3 to 0.5 m2 increased the gained output ratio by 76.75 % while decreasing the levelized cost of water by 14.79 %. Internal heat regeneration through brine recirculation enhanced the system performance at lower recirculation ratios. Without recirculation, the levelized cost of water increased by 117.41 % and the system met the daily distillate water demand for only 90 days of the year.