Cloud and IoT based smart architecture for desalination water treatment

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Water Resource Management
• Chemical Engineering

Background:

• Growing global water demand and environmental degradation necessitate advanced desalination technologies.
• Traditional water treatment methods are resource-intensive and struggle to meet current needs.
• The Internet of Things (IoT) offers potential for optimizing complex processes like water treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present an implementable water treatment model for optimizing desalination operations.
• To propose a smart environment for controlling water treatment plants efficiently.
• To integrate modern technologies with traditional methods for effective seawater desalination.

Main Methods:

• Development of a dual membrane desalination framework powered by solar energy.
• Integration of smart technologies: IoT, sensors, cloud portal, and network communication.
• Utilizing ancient water purification techniques alongside new-age technologies.

Main Results:

• The system successfully produced 0.47 m3/l of freshwater from saline water (10 g/l concentration).
• Energy consumption for production was measured at 8.31 KWh/m3.
• The prototype implementation demonstrated a cost-effective desalination process.

Conclusions:

• The proposed smart framework effectively optimizes seawater desalination using integrated technologies.
• Solar-powered desalination combined with IoT offers a sustainable and economical solution for freshwater production.
• This approach addresses the increasing need for efficient water resource management and purification.