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<p>Freshwater scarcity and energy sustainability are major challenges, particularly in arid, coastal, and remote regions, where seawater and brackish water desalination is increasingly required. However, conventional desalination technologies remain limited by high energy demand, operational cost, intermittency, fouling, and reduced suitability for decentralized applications. This review critically evaluates recent developments in solar-driven desalination systems with emphasis on photovoltaic–thermal (PVT) integration and artificial intelligence (AI)-based performance enhancement. A structured literature review was conducted to examine PVT-assisted desalination technologies, including reverse osmosis, membrane distillation, humidification–dehumidification, solar stills, and hybrid configurations. Key performance indicators, including freshwater production, electrical and thermal efficiencies, solar irradiance, energy consumption, cost, and AI model performance, were compared. The reviewed studies show that PVT systems can achieve combined efficiencies of approximately 60–80%, while solar still productivity improvements of up to 318% and membrane distillation outdoor fluxes of about 8–16&#xa0;kg m<sup>−2</sup>·h have been reported. Modern seawater reverse osmosis systems commonly report specific energy consumption of about 3–4 kWh m<sup>−3</sup>, while AI/ML has been reported to improve freshwater productivity by approximately 10% under optimized PV-/PVT-assisted desalination conditions. Unlike previous reviews that mainly examine solar desalination, PVT systems, or AI-based optimization separately, this review integrates these three areas within a single PVT–desalination–AI framework. However, important gaps remain in long-term outdoor validation, standardized KPI reporting, system scalability, fouling control, storage integration, and techno-economic assessment. This review synthesizes the PVT–desalination–AI nexus, identifies realistic performance trends, and highlights future research directions for intelligent and sustainable solar desalination systems.</p>

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Integrated solar desalination technologies for energy-efficient water treatment: a comprehensive review

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月9日

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  • Nassr Nasser Ali Al Qassabi,
  • Firas Basim Ismail,
  • Tan Ee Sann,
  • Hussein A. Kazem

摘要

Freshwater scarcity and energy sustainability are major challenges, particularly in arid, coastal, and remote regions, where seawater and brackish water desalination is increasingly required. However, conventional desalination technologies remain limited by high energy demand, operational cost, intermittency, fouling, and reduced suitability for decentralized applications. This review critically evaluates recent developments in solar-driven desalination systems with emphasis on photovoltaic–thermal (PVT) integration and artificial intelligence (AI)-based performance enhancement. A structured literature review was conducted to examine PVT-assisted desalination technologies, including reverse osmosis, membrane distillation, humidification–dehumidification, solar stills, and hybrid configurations. Key performance indicators, including freshwater production, electrical and thermal efficiencies, solar irradiance, energy consumption, cost, and AI model performance, were compared. The reviewed studies show that PVT systems can achieve combined efficiencies of approximately 60–80%, while solar still productivity improvements of up to 318% and membrane distillation outdoor fluxes of about 8–16 kg m−2·h have been reported. Modern seawater reverse osmosis systems commonly report specific energy consumption of about 3–4 kWh m−3, while AI/ML has been reported to improve freshwater productivity by approximately 10% under optimized PV-/PVT-assisted desalination conditions. Unlike previous reviews that mainly examine solar desalination, PVT systems, or AI-based optimization separately, this review integrates these three areas within a single PVT–desalination–AI framework. However, important gaps remain in long-term outdoor validation, standardized KPI reporting, system scalability, fouling control, storage integration, and techno-economic assessment. This review synthesizes the PVT–desalination–AI nexus, identifies realistic performance trends, and highlights future research directions for intelligent and sustainable solar desalination systems.