THE CHALLENGE FOR CHANGE 2010

THE GLOBAL CLEANTECH OPEN IDEA COMPETITION

Category : Renewable Energy

MEMTOR : Dr. Hussain Shareef
TEAM LEADER : Tan Yong Tat
TEAM MEMBERS : Tee Ivy
Lee Bing Huang
Jessie Ken Tzu Hsien
Elaine Wong I-Vin
Chong Kim Soon
Tan Jong Pin
UNIVERSITY : UNIVERSITI KEBANGSAAN MALAYSIA
(UKM)
General Concept

The proposed idea is to use pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) as an alternative

method for power generation. Compared to current power generation system, PRO has an
overall lower negative impact on the environment. PRO is primarily based on the concept
of osmosis where the concentrations of two different liquids are control with the help of
semi-permeable membrane. Concentration gradient between two liquids can create
osmotic pressure in the more concentrated solution (such as salt concentration). The
pressure created can then be used to turn the turbine to generate electricity. PRO is
flexible technology that can be used anywhere by using alternative liquids of varied
concentration besides water, however water still the most abundant and less expensive
liquids to be used in PRO. Currently, PRO is still a very new in renewable power
generation technology and is expected to have a great future although not many
researches have been carried out. It has an advantage whereby PRO can be used
throughout the day and in any place as long as there is water supply. It is noteworthy that
PRO generates clean power with no harmful emission. Abundant of water resource
makes PRO to have better reliability and lower cost.
Problems Faced By Current Power Generation Plants

Power plants may be powered by fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum or
renewable sources such as solar or hydroelectric. However current power plants have
some drawbacks in their operations.

Fossil fuel power plants burn fossil fuels to generate electricity. Although this
method is efficient, burning of fossil fuel emits smoke with harmful contents such as
greenhouse gases, acidic and various chemical vapors. Moreover, worldwide supply of
fossil fuels is already running out. With PRO, it is possible to reduce emission of
environmentally harmful byproducts and excessive exploitation of natural resources.

As studies have shown, hydroelectric and tidal power plants may change the
natural geological properties such as waterways and seabed due to the fact that these
plants requires a long way to be clear out forests and valleys to create a large water
reservoir to operate. This is detrimental to natural ecosystems as well as livelihood of
those living within the affected areas as the vast amount of redirected water may cause
instability of earth crust due to resonance and changes of paths of migratory birds and
fishes.

Building a membrane power plant also decreases dependency on mainland’s

power gridline. Gridline is the main culprit in power loss in power delivery system.
With an independent power plant for the island/ coastal area, there is less demand for
power substations. Power substation building involves forest clearing into hostile terrain
as well as requiring skilled worker to be stationed there in the middle of nowhere for
regulation of substation.

Power plants generally cause thermal pollution – especially in heating of water.

Using pressure retarded osmosis system, however, only results in an increase of 0.5°C in
the liquid byproduct (saline liquid). This increase in temperature has been found to have
no impact on marine life, thus decreasing the harmful impacts on surrounding ecosystem
by this power plant.
 Although wind, solar and biomass power plants may be relatively environmental
friendly but they are very much dependable on their input sources for operation, hence
they lack flexibility to be implemented in places lacking of essential resources. For
situations mentioned above, PRO has an advantage to have high tolerance towards
environmental variance.
Positive Effect of PRO on the Environment

PRO does not release any greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide ( ) as the
waste product. PRO requires only two liquids that fulfill the concentration gradient.
Hence, among the most common liquids that can be used PRO is the fresh water and salt
water which is ample and have comparatively lower preparation cost. Furthermore, the
solutions can be reused as long as the concentration level maintain at the required level.

Most of the power generations usually emit excessive amount of heat and bring
negative side effects. Solar power gives out a lot of heat as side products while
hydroelectric plant causes deforestation. Like hydroelectric power plants, PRO use liquid
to drive the turbine, it produces less heat. These liquids act as heat absorbent and help to
reduce the global warming effect. Although this might seems to be insignificant
compared to the rate of increase of temperature yearly; however it can be a significant
contribution in reducing greenhouse effect if PRO is being applied in large scale.
Market Availability for PRO system

Our main market to focus on is telecommunication companies. This is due to the

fact that their base stations are concentrated in isolated areas. The flexibility of the PRO
system enables it to be built in any isolated, deserted area which require long, costly
electric transmission grid to reach upon. This system is identical to other alternative
energies such as solar energy, wind energy, micro hydro energy and etc. in terms of
generating power independently. However, as we could expect that some of these isolated
areas are located deep within the forest, with minimal amount of available sunlight and
wind. This kind of environment will restrict the usage of solar energy and wind energy as
the resources are hardly reachable at those areas. In this case, our PRO system is said to
be very much more reliable due to power generation is enabled just by obtaining ample
supply of diluted and concentrated liquids. Power generation works as long as
concentration gradient exists between both the liquids.

To cope with rapidly growing demand for telecommunication services,

telecommunication system service providers have to build more base transceiver stations
all over service providers’ territories. Most of these base transceiver stations are built in
deserted areas so that they can facilitate wireless communication between user equipment
(UE) and a network within a range of area. These base transceiver stations require a lot of
power around the clock to provide reliable cell phone reception to the local area. Some of
the companies are now choosing the alternative energy such as solar cells to be installed
on the base stations. However, the solar cells are dependent on the amount and period of
sunlight exposure. In such, there is still a need for a power storage equipment to be
installed together with the solar cell to store the energy for nighttime usage. Our osmotic
power system can be applied on these base transceiver stations to act as a secondary or
alternative power supply to enable the base transceiver station. This issue is supported by
several factors. One of the factors is that our system can supply electricity all the time as
long as there is an existence of concentration gradient between both solutions. It does not
rely on any environmental factor such as sunlight and wind. There is insignificant amount
of heat generation during the process of electricity production.
Uniqueness of PRO system

PRO is a new method to generate electricity. The PRO uses the basic concept of
osmosis. Nowadays, many environmental friendly power generation systems are used to
supply electricity to domestic and industrial areas. Currently, solar energy and wind
energy systems are the most widely used renewable energy systems. Compared to other
renewable systems, the PRO is considered as a new technology that has not been
developed and implemented globally. As there is plenty of advantages of the PRO system,
more exploration and development of this system is expected in the near future.

The PRO system has this selling point whereby it uses renewable resource and
has minimal impact to the environmental. Furthermore, the advantage of PRO is that
PRO can supply power continuously for 24 hours a day unlike solar energy and wind
power. The solar cells are unable to generate power during night time and the wind power
is unable to generate power without wind. This clearly shows that PRO has a better
advantage comparatively.

The second advantage of the PRO is its efficiency in power generation. Power
output can be easily control compared with other renewable power generation. In PRO,
the higher the concentration gradient, the higher the pressure exerted. Hence, more power
is generated and power efficiency is increased. This means that it is possible to control
power effectively and efficiently with salinity of both liquids as the controlling parameter.
This controlling parameter can be controlled manually or automatically without a high
cost. For the wind power and solar cell, the efficiency of the power generated cannot be
controlled easily. If there is a need to increase the efficiency, large investment is needed.

In addition, another advantage of PRO is its flexibility. PRO system can be

constructed in any places that has water supply. This is because PRO system only
requires liquids with difference in concentration. Unlike wind power and solar cell, PRO
is reliable in a sense that it only depends on water supply that can be easily obtained.
Also, PRO’s advantage over other power generation is the place of construction.
Compared to solar panel and wind power, PRO does not need to occupy a big area. For
solar cell and wind power, a big area is needed to generate power due to the vitality of
environment factor. A large compound is used so that there’s no obstruction for the wind
to blow or sunlight to reach the solar cells. For PRO, only liquids are required.