Small scale wind turbine technology for sustainable water desalination

Supervisors: Professor Lin Ma and Professor Mohamed Pourkashanian.

Water shortage is a significant issue restricting the social and economic developments of many parts of the rural coastal areas in the world. This project investigates a novel wind-powered water desalination technology for sustainable fresh water production. The project will focus on developing new vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) technologies to improve turbine efficiency and the integration into the water production system.

Turbine aerodynamics design, simulation and wind tunnel tests will be conducted as part of the research. It is expected that the output from the research will significantly improve the VAWT technology and its application in coastal as well as urban areas.

For further information contact Professor Derek B Ingham (d.ingham@sheffield.ac.uk).