Pressure-retarded osmosis

[1] The technique can be used to generate power from the salinity gradient energy resulting from the difference in the salt concentration between sea and river water.

This method of generating power was invented by Prof. Sidney Loeb in 1973 at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheba, Israel.

He further wrote "To facilitate examination of the concept in some detail, the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation awarded a grant (No.

[4][6] For a seawater to fresh water PRO system, the ideal case corresponds to an optimal power pressure of 26 bars.

[10] PRO has the potential to extract osmotic power from waste streams, such as desalination plant brine discharge or treated wastewater effluent.

The world's first osmotic plant with capacity of 10 kW was opened by Statkraft, a state-owned hydropower company, on 24 November 2009 in Tofte, Norway.

[14] In January 2014, Statkraft terminated their pressure-retarded osmosis pilot project [15] due to economic feasibility concerns.

The ideal water potential between fresh water (right) and sea water (left) corresponds to a hydraulic head of 270 metres
A pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) diagram. The applied pressure must be below the osmotic pressure for the process to work. Pipe thicknesses qualitatively convey the relative volumetric flow rate. Image modified by author from [ 12 ]