Coupling sustainable energy with membrane distillation processes for seawater desalination

Desalination technologies nowadays is a very interesting and emerging alternative to conventional water sources; their high energy consumption, however, generates some problems in adopting them, especially in remote areas where electric grid is not available and fuel transportation is not always sustainable. In this paper a short overview of possible couplings between the membrane distillation technology for desalination and the use of sustainable thermal energy sources is presented. Two case studies of ongoing research projects at Università di Palermo are also presented.