Thermal Desalination

Part 03
Dr Taj Alasfia M Barakat
Multi-effect Distillation/Evaporation

Review of Water Resources and Desalination Technologies by James E. Miller,

Sandia National Laboratories, 2003
 Multi-effect Distillation
• Different flow direction of heating steam and
evaporating brine
– Forward
– Backward
– Parallel
– Parallel cross-flow
• Selection among these relies on variation in the salt
solubility as a function of top brine temperature and
the maximum brine concentration (scale formation).
• At higher temperatures or higher brine concentrations,
scale formation takes place inside and outside the tube
surfaces.
 Mass Balance
• Total Mass Balance parallel flow, on effect i

• Total Mass Balance parallel cross-flow, on

effect i
 Energy Balance
• Energy Balance parallel flow, on effect i

• Energy Balance parallel cross-flow, on effect i

• Brine Flashing di and distillate flashing box d’i

 Energy Balance
• the first term, Di-1λi-1
– The heat added to the effect by condensing the vapour generated in the
previous effect. This only applies to effects 2 to n, since heating steam from
an external source is used to drive the system and heat the first effect.
• The second term, d’i-1λi-1
– Applies only to effects 3 to n, corresponds to the heat added to the effect by
condensing the vapour generated in the distillate flashing box associated with
the previous effect.
• The third term, FCP(Ti-Tf)
– The amount of heat gained by the feed stream, where its temperature
is increased inside the effect from the seawater temperature to the brine
boiling temperature.
• The last term, Diλi
– The amount of heat needed to generate the vapour inside the effect.
• Note that the specific heat at constant pressure depends on the brine
salinity and temperature, while the latent heat depends on the vapour
temperature.
 Multi-stage Flash

Review of Water Resources and Desalination Technologies by James E. Miller,

Sandia National Laboratories, 2003
 Multi-stage Flash - Stage

Conventional Thermal Processes by Hisham Ettouney in Andrea Cipollina et al.,

Seawater Desalination, Green Energy and Technology, 2009
 Multi-stage Flash
• Once through system
• Brine recirculation system
 MSF Principles
• The separation is achieved by evaporating
some of the feed in each stage by flashing
– The hot feed seawater entering each stage
encounters a lower pressure than its own vapour
pressure;
• afforded by the drops in pressure of the brine flowing
through the brine orifices.
– It then flashes off producing vapour on one side
and so cooling the brine flowing on the other side.
MSF Model Equations
MSF Model Equations – cont.
 MSF – Once Through Process

Fundamentals of Salt Water Desalination by Hisham T. El-Dessouky and

Hisham M. Ettouney, Elsevier Science B.V., 2002
MSF – Brine Recirculation Process

Fundamentals of Salt Water Desalination by Hisham T. El-Dessouky and

Hisham M. Ettouney, Elsevier Science B.V., 2002
 Reference
• Conventional Thermal Processes by Hisham
Ettouney in Andrea Cipollina, Giorgio Micalle
and Lucio Rizzuti (Editors), Seawater
Desalination, Green Energy and Technology,
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009
• Fundamentals of Salt Water Desalination by
Hisham T. El-Dessouky and Hisham M.
Ettouney, Elsevier Science B.V., 2002