€ { ¢ ve ow oon ea ee 7 _ | TECHNOLOGY AND PLANT SYSTEMS COURSE DESALINATION UNITS HANJUNGCONTENTS 1. Introduction 1.1 General 1.2 What Is Desalination 1.3 Definition of Terms 1.4 Desalination Process 1.5° Distillation Process 2. Design 2.1. Conceptual Design 2.2 Distillation System / Equipment Design Figures 1 - Typical Flow Diagram (schematic) 2 - MSF Evaporator Flash Chamber - Typical Vapor Flow 3 - Process Flow Diagram (Mass & Heat Balance) 4 - Site Plot 5 - Desalination Units General Arrangement1. Introduction 1.1 General @ These Training Sessions will provide an overview and an in-depth discussion of all aspects involved with the area of Desalination. ; © = This will not make all participants in the training sessions instant desalination experts, but it is attempting to generate a good understanding of all issues involved in designing, building, operating, and maintaining a desalting plant. 1.2 What Is Desalination ? © Desalination is not a new invention or a recent development, but has been used over the ages. @ When salty water or seawater is boiled in a kettle, the resulting steam when condensed on a cool ‘surface is distilled or fresh water and the salt remains in the boiling liquid. @ Desalination is the removal of dissolved solutes or salts from a solvent or a solution. Reversely, you create a saity solution by dissolving a salt in pure water. @ In addition to or instead you can have suspended solids in a solution or an excess of a given salt which cannot be dissolved anymore. @ These suspended solids would stay in the water, also as it is boiled, @ They can be removed by filtration as long as the filter size or mesh is smaller than the particle sizes.C ¢ @ Such a filter cannot remove any dissolved salts and the act of filtration is not desalination. @ About fourififth of the world is covered by oceans and provides an almost infinite source of water which can be converted into potable water by desalination. However the recovery of drinking water from seawater has a cost associated with it and has to compete with natural water resources. Fresh water is found in lakes, rivers and underground water layers that only have to be pumped into a distribution network orto an individual user: Some of the underground water layers have become too salty by dissolving some of the minerals as it drains through the soil and cannot be used directly for consumption. @ This is called brackish water which can be converted to drinking water by desalination. @ As its concentration is always lower than that of seawater, it requires less energy to produce freshwater. @ This also permits the recovery of a larger percentage of water from the feed source. @ As freshwater is removed from the salty water, the remaining water called brine will have a higher concentration of salts or your could say it becomes saltier. The resulting brine has to be disposed either by re-injecting it into the ground or by evaporation in so-called solar ponds, @ Seawater typically contains between 3.5 % and 4.5 % total dissolved solids (TDS). @ Various desalting processes recover between 35 % up to 67 % freshwater.€ € The remaining brine with a concentration of 5.4 % to 13.6 % is discharged back into the ocean where it is mixed with the original seawater with a negligible change. Also the brine discharge temperature for some desalting processes is higher than the seawater. @ The resulting temperature of the brine mixed with a much larger body of seawater again is negligible. @ This is important in that the brine discharge does not endanger any marine life. Some attention has to be paid that the outfall flow is directed away by prevailing winds and currents from the intake system. The seawater desalination plant shail be built near the shore line to facilitate the discharge of brine directly back into the ocean without incurring large pumping costs. @ Desalination plants are often located near power plants producing electricity. @ They are directly coupled to these power plants as so-called power and water plants, especially for large scale desalination. This is true for arid regions where there are insufficient natural water resources and where seawater and/or brackish water desalination is the main method of providing drinking water. Other applications for desalination is related to industrial process waters where companies treat their waste waters and recycle the recovered fresh water into their processes to the point of zero discharge.( 1 1.3 Definition of Terms Brackish water Brine Brine heater Concentration Decarbonation Dearation Desalination Distillation Evaporation Evaporator Feed Ground water containing more than 500 mg/liter of satts but less slats than in seawater. Concentrated seawater. A shell & tube condenser in which the preheated feed is heated to its top temperature by supplied steam. The quantity of salts dissolved in a solution measured as mg/liter. The removal of Carbondioxyd from a feed solution after the addition of acid. The removal of Oxygen from a feed solution. The removal of dissolved salts from a solution. Boiling a solution to generate and condense salt free steam. Removing steam from a solution. A housing through which a hot salt solution flows under boiling condition. The portion of the preheated cooling water which is fed to the heat recovery evaporator.‘Heat input Heat recovery Heat rejection Performance ratio PPB / ppb PPM / ppm Recovery Seawater TDS TSS Yield € € a An energy source required to heat a solution to its boiling point such as steam from a boiler or exhaust steam from a steam turbine power generator. ‘ A part of the evaporator where the condensing steam is used to preheat the cooler solution for improved economy. A part of the evaporator where the heat input into the system is rejected or given off to the cooling water to maintain the system in a thermal balance. A measure for the plant efficiency in regard to steam input versus distillate produced as kg of steam per kg of Distilled water or also as kJ of heat per kg of distilled water. Parts per billion Parts per million Percentage of distillate produced from a feed solution Ocean water Total dissolved solids Total suspended solids See Recovery@ A desalination process needs energy. This can be in the form of thermal energy. @ The oldest form of thermal desalination in modern times are the ship board single stage submerged tube type evaporators to provide drinking water and boiler make-up water during a long journey. As a ship has sufficient excess heat energy available, efficiency was of little concern. The formation of scale on the submerged tubes was mechanically removed at frequent intervals. The efficiency or performance ratio was about 0.9 kg of water for each kg of steam supplied. @ The thermal or also called distillation system uses heat in the form of steam generated in a boiler or exhaust steam provided from a power plant. @ The most successful process is the Multi-Stage-Flash (MSF) which has been built in ever larger plant and unit sizes up to 200 MGD in a single plant. @ Early problems in material selection and operating procedures have been overcome and steady improvements have been made so that this process has become a reliable source of potable water. @ Also plant efficiencies have been improved to obtain a performance ratio of as high as 10 kg water / 1 kg steam.1.5 Distillation Process @ The modern Multi-Stage-Flash (MSF) process was developed in the 1950's. @ The MSF principle is that water boils at different temperatures at different pressures, or reversely, if the pressure is suddenly reduced, the hot water will suddenly flash or evaporate. @ This can be a very violent action depending on the pressure or temperature difference also known as flashdown. This process is also known as distillation. © ‘he steam condenses on tubes through which cooler seawater is pumped, and the distillate is collected in product trays mounted below the tubes. @ The tubes are installed above the boiling seawater which reduces the amount of scale in the tubes, compared to submerged tubes. @ This process is repeated in many stages and the circulated cold seawater is progressively heated in each stage. @ It only needs a small amount of heat to be added in a brine heater to bring the seawater to its maximum or top temperature. © No further energy needs to be added as the distillation process proceeds in every stage whose pressure is automatically controlled by the tube temperature.© Cc € A MSF plant consists of a Heat Recovery Section (where the hot seawater flashes in consecutive stages and gives off the heat of condensation to preheat the feed), and a Heat Reject Section (where an equivalent amount of heat provided by the steam in the brine heater is given off to cooling water, to keep the plant in a thermal balance). The first stages of the heat recovery section are near or above atmospheric pressure. The other stages are in a progressively higher vacuum to maintain flashing of the hot seawater to a low enough temperature, where brine can be discharged back to the ocean. The accumulating distillate flows from stage to stage, flashes and recondenses and gives off heat to the cooling brine. The flow of brine and distillate from stage to state is self regulated by using properly sized orifices or weirs. No external adjustment is required during operation. @ AMSF plant requires a minimum of chemicals to be added. @ As the process takes place in a vacuum, heat transfer of the condenser tube bundles are “e sensitive to air and non condensable gases. A quantity of air is naturally dissolved in seawater, which would be released during the flash process. This dissolved air is removed in a vacuum deaerator to very low levels in the parts per billion (ppb) range. Seawater is pumped to the top of a packed column where it trickles through the packing with a counter-current flow of stripping steam which removes the air from the thin film of water on the packing.c € C The deaerator is maintained at a high vacuum using a steam ejector system. Another source of air is the in-leakage of atmospheric air into the evaporator. A further source of a non condensable gas is CO2 released from the cooling seawater or brine at high temperature flashing, due to a thermal breakdown of bicarbonates dissolved in seawater. Both gases have to be effectively vented from the tube bundles in all stages and removed from the system. If these gases were allowed to accumulate, it could stop the flashing process completely as the tubes would be surrounded by these gases and prevent any condensation. The non-condensable gases can be vented into the next stage called series venting, and are removed from the evaporator at some stages called parallel venting, by the vacuum system. Seawater contains dissolved components which can cause scaling of the heat transfer surfaces especially at high temperatures and high brine concentrations. These components are : - Calcium salts : calcium carbonate, calcium bicarbonate, calcium sulfate, - Magnesium salts : magnesium hydroxide Scale additives are dosed into the cooling brine, preventing the precipitation and deposits of these scale forming materials on the tubes. There are different additives used depending on the maximum brine temperature selected. The dose rate varies for seawater at different locations and ranges typically from 3 ppm to 7 ppm. These additives do not prevent precipitation of Calciumsulfate.Cc € € This is prevented by selecting the top brine temperature of maximum 112 °C, at a maximum brine concentration of about 65,000 ppm. © All distillation processes can be used in a single purpose plant with steam supplied by boilers. If the desalination plant is connected to a power plant it is called a combined process, since electricity and water are produced. Steam can be supplied from a back-pressure steam turbine or a heat recovery boiler using hot exhaust gases from a Gas Turbine. The desalination plant replaces the steam turbine condenser during the operation of both plants, but a turbine condenser still has to be supplied in case the desalination plant is shutdown. A combined plant can share a common seawater intake system and achieve a good overall system efficiency.€ MSF Desalination Main Features (TYPICAL) f Multi Stage Flash Description (Brine Recycle) Largest Plant (per unity 36,620 maday = 12.5 MIGD/ unit Unit number installed many Feed water = source TDS limit (TDS) - feed treatment + Seawater < 50,000 ppm anti-scalent / anti-foam ~_chemical (ppm) + 2~3/01 Product water - TDS (ppm) - 1~26 ~ recovery percent Not required ‘Type of Energy - High pressure steam - Low pressure steam - Reduced steam required for ejector steam Main steam (2.5 ~ 4 bara, saturated temp.) = Electricity (kWh / m3) - 40~55 Performance - Max Operating Temp. - 90~ 112°C “= Performance ration (kg of dist/kg of steam) | - 8~10 Relative O&M Characteristics - Operational attention = close, continuous - Maintenance attention - low + Potential for scale - medium ~ Potential for corrosion -_low = high quality product Relative advantages ~ long history of operating + _easy operation Relative disadvantages ae > _high quality materials Principal Applications large capacity low pressure steam is available = dual purpose with power2. Design 2.4 Conceptual Design «=: EVAPORATOR I. Computer Input - Desalination Units capacity / Distillate production - Performance ratio - Maximum brine temperature - Tube materials / Tube velocities - Fouling factors / Heat transfer coefficients - Maximum brine concentration - Evaporator configuration : cross tubes, etc. - Cost optimization (number of stages) Example: increased number of stages x reduced number of heat transfer required, but * increase in evaporators size * higher pumping costs OPTIMUM : Al Taweelah A2 design : * cross tubes * 19 stagesI. Computer Output - Key data for the design of A. evaporator B. brine heater C. deaerator - A. Evaporator (Heat Recovery section and Heat Rejection section) A‘. Tube size A2. Tube length A3. ‘Number of tubes ~ Tube pitch selection - Calculation of tube bundle diameter - Add the distillate tray height - Add the brine level height - Add the steam disengagement space RESULT:: * EVAPORATOR HEIGHT * EVAPORATOR WIDTH Demister area for every stage Determine demister width - Determine the tube bundle width