AN OVERVIEW OF OSMOTIC POWER GENERATION AND ITS SCOPE IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

The need of introducing innovative power generation methods is increasing rapidly worldwide. The conventional fuel driven methods not only require heavy financial investments, they have also been held responsible for many natural calamities faced by the human population. While the research on better utilizing the renewable resources such as wind, tidal and wave energy etc is underway, the Osmotic Power has been commercially introduced as a new fuel-free energy resource. The energy in the osmotic power is derived from the difference in salt concentration between the fresh water and the salt water. In this paper, we take an in-depth look into the technical details of the osmotic power generation. We identify some of the geographical locations alongside the country’s coast that can be ideal for setting up an osmotic power station. We also evaluate the osmotic potential in the sea water on the coast of Karachi with the help of laboratory tests and mathematical estimation. According to our estimation, the osmotic potential in Karachi’s sea water is comparable to that available in the first commercial osmotic power plant.