Free Energy Production from Salinity Gradient Power (SGP)-Investigative Results in Two Different Estuaries

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the energy potential due to salinity gradient of the two selected river estuaries, i.e., Sebou-estuary (Morocco) and Muthupet-estuary (India) for first time using Reverse Electro-Dialysis (RED) process to estimate the available energy, based on thermodynamic equations. The results showed that the energy potential for both estuaries varies from 12.25 MW to 430.44 MW for a river discharge ranges from 21.93 m³s\(^{-1}\) to 85.67 m³s\(^{-1}\) in River-Estuarine system (i.e., Sebou estuary); and from 0 MW to 175. 15 MW for a river discharge ranges from 0 m³s\(^{-1}\) to 47.63 m³s\(^{-1}\) in Mouth-Lagoon system (i.e., Muthupet-estuary). In addition, the energy potential at Mouth-Estuarine system (i.e., Sebou-estuary) and Mouth-Lagoon system (i.e., Muthupet estuary) for both estuaries is negligible \(<8\) MW.