A photovoltaic-powered membrane filtration (PV-membrane) system desalinates brackish water to produce drinkable water using sunlight but is prone to shutdowns – due to solar irradiance fluctuations – that reduce permeate quality and daily yield. Shutdowns occur at certain PV power deviation thresholds ( D th ) that, when identified, can be controlled to operate the system autonomously within certain windows of shutdown resilience during transient operation. This study introduces the resilient operating window (ROW) to investigate PV-membrane system operation under four different configurations – via two membranes (BW30 & NF90) and two pumps (SQFlex 0.6-3 N/20 bar & -2 N/12 bar) – using real-world solar conditions. The BW30/3 N configuration, operated at ~11 bar transmembrane pressure ( TMP ), achieved ~67% shutdown resilience while the NF90/3 N configuration at ~9 bar TMP (constrained) achieved 100% resilience & daily production gains of 8 L and 19 L, respectively, compared to reference uncontrolled operation. The -2 N pump enabled 100% resilience for both membranes, with reduced daily yield for NF90. Results highlight how D th influences shutdowns in PV-membrane systems, and how these can be mitigated for enhanced resilient operation during transient conditions without additional energy buffering support, essential for more robust autonomous PV-membrane water desalination systems. • PV-membrane pump resilient to shutdowns at low TMP set-point/high PV power • PV power deviations thresholds investigated for pump resilience boundary • Defined resilient operating windows for PV-membrane under transient operation • Enhanced resilience with control increases daily production with no energy buffering • Real-world demonstration ⇒ optimal membrane configuration under transient operation
Ogunniyi et al. (Wed,) studied this question.