Description

The search alternatives for fossil energy is one of the major environmental challenges of today. Not all renewable and CO2 neutral options are environmentally 'clean': They can have significant impacts on the ecology, landscape and climate too. In this study you will investigate a possible win-win scenario, where saline coastal wetlands are combined with energy generation using the principle of osmotic gradients that are generated by evaporation of sea water. The shallow wetlands can provide other services, like salt production, habitats, and saline agriculture. Depending on the interest of the student, the emphasis can be on the technical, engineering or socio-economic aspects. This topic is also suitable for SE (preferably TE, but also SIS or SPG is possible).

Objectives and Methodology

The objective of this research is to study the feasibility of using (artificial) saline wetlands for osmotic power generation, thus combining the ecological function of wetlands with renewable energy generation.
The feasibility study will be carried out for Northern Africa, including the coast of Western Sahara territory, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya and Egypt. The method consists of (1) estimating the potential energy gain from an osmotic power plant using satellite based energy budget and evaporation estimates (2) specifying the design requirements of an osmotic power plant, and (3) carrying out a multi-criteria analysis of the study area.

Further reading

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc5bXa5PcWo