Solar and Wind-powered Hybrid Reverse Osmosis Desalination System

Gebze Institute of Technology has been granted with non-refundable financial support with the project entitled as "Solar and Wind-powered Hybrid Reverse Osmosis Desalination System" by East Marmara Development Agency ( MARKA) which provided funding to nonprofit organizations in 2011 within the Financial Assistance Program for Research, Development and Innovation (R & D-KAGM the year 2011). The project was successfully completed by Prof. Dr. Ali ATA, who is a faculty member at the Materials Science and Engineering Department, and his team at the end of a period of eight months.

The System Will Generate Their Own Energy

This project which is funded by East Marmara Development Agency (MARKA) will produce its own energy as the system desalinates the sea water into potable water. The most important problem with this method is working with high pressure pumps which increase the consumption of electricity. Therefore, the energy needed to operate the system will be produced by solar panels and wind turbines working as an off-grid system to decrease the cost of electricity. Moreover, the excess energy produced by solar panels and wind turbines will be stored in gel batteries and this energy can be used whenever the system couldn't produce enough energy to operate the system simultaneously with solar panels and wind turbines.

The project was established as a pilot plant within GIT Cultural Center. 100 meter PVC pipeline was laid down to the sea and a submersible pump was placed into the stainless steel cage in sea.

Reverse osmosis system, built with steel construction as a special platform with sound-proof building material can operate with 1.5 ton / day capacity and converts sea water into potable water. The system will continue sustain its energy as an off-grid operation.