Modeling the cogeneration of power and water with

CSP and low temperature desalination

New approach of CSP+D application with innovative low temperature desalination

Johannes Wellmann1
Karl Neuhäuser1
Frank Behrendt1
Mark Lehmann2

1) Technische Universität Berlin

Campus El Gouna
Department for Energy Engineering
Mohamed Ibrahim Kamel St.
Next to El Gouna Hospital
El Gouna, Red Sea, Egypt

2) Watersolutions AG
Steinachermattweg 3
5033 Buchs
Switzerland

Abstract

This paper presents the model of the cogeneration process of a simplified concentrated solar
power (CSP) plant with an innovative low temperature desalination. The low-temperature
desalination (LTD) was developed by “Watersolutions AG” (Swiss) and was first tested in a
full scale plant in El Gouna, Egypt, using heat in the cooling cycle from diesel generators at
70-85°C. Through analyzing the measurement data of this demonstration plant, it was
possible to derive the thermal and electrical behavior of this plant. This allowed the
development of a simulation where the low-temperature desalination system was connected
to the steam condenser of a CSP power plant. The solar collector field was designed to
generate 10,2 MWth solar heat and the steam turbine to generate 2,4 MWel electricity. The
waste heat for steam condensation of 7,7 MWth at 86°C was modeled to drive the
desalination process which results in a fresh water output of 25-28 m³/h. Further research
will focus on diurnal variations over one day and the optimization of thermal and electric
power consumption for the LTD system. The simulation was performed using the software
tool “Ebsilon Professional” V10.0.
Executive Summary

The increasing demand of fossil fuels for power generation and seawater desalination is one
of the greatest challenges of the MENA and other regions with arid environmental conditions.
It requires new concepts for sustainable energy generation and water desalination to enable
future development of welfare and economy. There are high interdependencies between
both needs, which understanding could lead to new efficient technical solutions in
combinations with renewable energy sources. Previously published studies conclude the
combined heat and power application for solar thermal power pants with distillation systems
[1-4, 6], but due to requirement of high temperature steam and low efficiency of thermal
heat transfer of conventional thermal desalination systems like multi-effect distillation (MED),
the combination severly affects the electric power output of the CSP plant. The proposed
system shows the option of the usage of latent energy in the condensation of the steam
cycle as only heat source for desalination. A combined power and fresh water generation is
presented in this paper - without using extraction steam for the thermal desalination systems
like stated in [2, 4, 6]. However, the development of the LTD model was performed in closed
cooperation with Watersolutions AG according to the measurement results of the
demonstration plant [8].

A simplified process scheme with the solar libraries of Ebsilon Professional V10.0 [9] is used
to simulate a direct steam CSP system with 10,2 MWth solar power generation. Ebslion allows
the simulation of commercial available concentrating solar thermal collectors with detailed
data on geometry and performance. The calculation is performed using the NOVATEC linear
fresnel collector [9] with direct steam generation up to 491°C by given sun parameters of El
Gouna, Egypt. The steam turbine is selected as two stage system from Siemens (SST-110)
with a high- and low-pressure part [10] expanding the generated steam from 100 bars to 0,6
bars while reducing the temperature from 490°C to 86°C. The steam mass flow is set to 12
t/h which results in an electrical power generation of approx. 2,4 MWel. The condensing
temperature and pressure is determined by the mass flow and heat transfer to the
desalination system. Using the stated system, the turbine outlet pressure and its steam
temperature calculates to 0,6 bars and 86°C, respectively. A lower turbine outlet pressure
allows higher electric power generation by complete condensation of the steam. To improve
the heat extraction for the LTD system, an additional sub cooler is modeled, which cools the
CSP feed water down to 69°C. This transfers approx. 7,7 MWth heat to the LTD system. The
table 1 provides an overview of the process parameters.

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 Effective heat from the solar field 10,2 MW th
Live steam mass flow 12 t/h
Max. Temperature 490,6 °C
Max. Pressure 100 bar
Condensing pressure 0,6 bar
Condensing temperature 85,9 °C
Steam content at turbine outlet 0,971 -
Temperature after condensing and subcooling 68,7 °C
Condensing heat 7,7 MW th
Electrical output 2,4 MW el

Table 1: CSP process parameters

The low-temperature distillation process is similar to conventional systems like multi stage
flush (MSF) regarding the process flow, but it uses the temperature and pressure dynamics
of a MED system. Each stage consists of two connected reactors with an evaporation and
condensation side. The LTD uses a special spray system to increase the surface of the water
inside the respective reactor which causes an efficient and strongly increased specific heat
transfer between steam and distillate especially on the condensation side. Several stages
lead to an increase in energetic efficiency, but in this model only four stages are modeled. In
the evaporation and condensation reactors two major mass flows circulate as transportation
and heat exchanger media. Those flows require electrical power for pumping and sums up to
approx. 500 t/h for each reactor side. Experiments on the demonstration plant have shown
that a minimum heat gradient of 4 K between evaporator and condenser would be sufficient
to run the system but it was designed to run at 20K with two stages at full load. The cooling
temperature is set to 40°C. So the heat gradient in this simulation calculates to 43K.
Modeling the LTD system, the Ebsilon scripting interface is used to respect the
thermodynamic behavior of salt and fresh water as well as the required electric power for
pumping (see table 2).

Number of stages 4 -
Electrical power consumption 36,1 kW
Specific electrical power consumption 1,34 kWh/m³
Distillate mass flow 26,21 m³/h
Circulating evaporator mass flow 500 m³/h
Circulating condenser mass flow 525,8 m³/h
Max. temperature 81,57 °C
Cooling temperature 40 °C
Salt content 30 g/l

Table 2: LTD process parameters

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The coupling of CSP and LTD systems has shown possible fresh water outputs of 26,2 m³/h
at specific electric power of 1,4 kWh/m³ using salt water with 30.000 ppm TDS, while
generating 2,4 MWel power in the CSP system. Generally, a higher condensation temperature
leads to more fresh water production but lowering the power generation in the CSP system.
Decreasing the salt content will increase the efficiency of the distillation system due to
improved evaporation behavior of low-salinity salt water. Furthermore, it is vital for the CSP
system to respect the required heat transfer in order to ensure the complete condensation of
the steam after the turbine and steady power generation. This is done by an appropriate
mass flow through the LTD evaporator but it increases the electric power consumption for
pumping the saltwater.

The future research will focus on the optimization of the structure and the general concept
as well as the LTD system in particular. However, balancing between sufficient heat transfer
without lowering the power generation is one of the main challenges of this concept. The
comparison with MED and MED-TVC systems like stated in [2] could show the advantages of
this system due to no use of low-pressure motive steam for thermal vapor compression.
Another challenge lays on the reduction of the specific electric power consumption of the
LTD system. The water production can be further increased using additional heat exchangers
for preheating and suitable dry cooling systems. To investigate the advantages of this
concept, an economic analysis as well as an exergy analysis is planned in near future.

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Literature

[1] AQUA CSP Study, Concentrating Solar Power for Seawater Desalination, German
Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Technical Thermodynamics, Section Systems
Analysis and Technology Assessment, Dr. Franz Trieb, Stuttgart, November 2007
[2] MENA Regional Water Outlook, Part II Desalination Using Renewable Energy, Final
Report, Fichtner, Stuttgart, March 2011
[3] Review of feasible solar energy applications to water processes, J. Blanco, S. Malato, P.
Fernandez-Ibanez, D. Alarcon, W. Gernjak, M.I. Maldonado, Centro de Investigaciones
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[7] Integrated power, water and salt generation: a discussion paper, Mushtaque Ahmed,
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[8] Low temperature distillation system by Watersolutions AG, General plant and process
description, Mark Lehmann, Buchs, Switzerland, 2012
[9] EBSILON® Professional Documentation, Version 10.0, Build: 10.0.0.16731, February
2012
[10] SIEMENS, Budget offer for two-stage steam turbine SST-110, May 2012

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