Energy efficient membrane-based hybrid system for sustainable desalination

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Seawater desalination plants have been built in Australia in response to increasing pressure on water supplies. The sustainability of these plants is challenged by their significantly high energy cost and concentrated brine output. By exploiting the high residual hydraulic energy contained in the concentrated brine and using it in a membrane-based hybrid system with renewable osmotic energy, this project aims to provide solutions for overcoming these challenges. Renewable osmotic energy will be generated from the salinity differences between concentrate and fresh seawater (or other water sources) by pressure retarded osmosis. This will be enabled by the development of highly efficient composite membranes using an electrospinning technique.