Hebei Provincial Key Laboratory of Heavy Machinery Fluid Power Transmission and Control, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, PR China.
Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China; College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China; Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance (C-EENRG), University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3QZ, United Kingdom.
Sci Total Environ. 2023 Jan 20;857(Pt 3):159402. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159402. Epub 2022 Oct 12.
To widely promote freshwater production through seawater desalination, renewable energy is expected to replace traditional fossil energy to drive seawater desalination. Based on the input list of components and materials, this study attempts to quantify greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of photovoltaic-driven seawater desalination projects through replacing traditional thermal power plants and evaluate GHG emission reduction potentials by comparing the thermal- and photovoltaic-driven seawater desalination projects. The GHG emission of photovoltaic-driven seawater desalination project could be reduced by 94.97 % compared with the thermal-driven seawater desalination project, and the GHG emission per unit water production is reduced by 9.8 kg CO-eq/ton, which could greatly reduce GHG emissions in the whole life cycle. In addition, it is estimated that the large-scale implementation of photovoltaic power stations in LT-MED seawater desalination project can reduce GHG emissions from 1.61E+05 to 3.86E+06 t CO-eq per year. Through the payback period assessment, the combination of photovoltaic power stations and thermal power plants to drive the seawater desalination project can offset the GHG emission of 7.94E+03 t CO-eq, and the payback period of photovoltaic-driven seawater desalination project is estimated to be 0.33 years. Using renewable energy instead of traditional thermal energy can reduce the fossil fuel combustion and GHG emissions during the water desalination process, which provides essential references for the low-carbon transition and energy saving in seawater desalination projects in China's coastal areas.
为了广泛推广海水淡化的淡水生产，可再生能源有望取代传统的化石能源来驱动海水淡化。本研究基于组件和材料的输入清单，试图通过替代传统的火力发电厂来量化光伏驱动海水淡化项目的温室气体（GHG）排放，并通过比较热力和光伏驱动海水淡化项目来评估 GHG 减排潜力。与热力驱动的海水淡化项目相比，光伏驱动的海水淡化项目的 GHG 排放量可减少 94.97%，单位水产量的 GHG 排放量减少 9.8 公斤 CO-eq/吨，可大大减少整个生命周期的 GHG 排放。此外，估计在 LT-MED 海水淡化项目中大规模实施光伏电站可以将 GHG 排放量从每年 1.61E+05 减少到 3.86E+06 吨 CO-eq。通过回收期评估，光伏电站与火力发电厂联合驱动海水淡化项目可以抵消 7.94E+03 吨 CO-eq 的 GHG 排放，光伏驱动海水淡化项目的回收期估计为 0.33 年。使用可再生能源替代传统热能可以减少海水淡化过程中的化石燃料燃烧和 GHG 排放，为中国沿海地区海水淡化项目的低碳转型和节能提供了重要参考。
