DISTILLATION AND

FRESH WATER SYSTEMS

11.2.2 (2 HRS)
 CONTENTS

• Principle of operation of a low pressure Fresh

Water Generator
• Principle of Reverse Osmosis
• Hydrophore system for domestic water supply
• Drinking water system
 USES OF FRESH WATER ON THE SHIP

• A considerable amount of fresh water is

consumed in a ship.
• The crew consumes an average amount 100
litres/per day.
• In a steam ship the consumption for the boiler
can be as high as 30 tonne per day.
• Diesel engines require fresh water for engine
cooling.
• In modern ships fresh water is also used for
flushing toilets (sanitary water).
 USE OF FRESH WATER ON THE SHIP
• Steam Boilers
• Main Engine and Auxiliary Engine.
• Purification plants.
• Accommodation
• Galley.
• Laundry.
 SOURCES OF FRESH WATER ON SHIP

• Sufficient potable water may be taken on in port

to meet, crew and passenger requirement but
the quality of this water will be too poor for use in
boilers.
• It is common practice to take on only a minimal
supply of potable water and make up the rest by
converting sea water to fresh water.
• It is a statutory requirement to have distillation
plant on board for emergency requirement.
GENERATION OF FRESH WATER FROM SEA
WATER
• The conversion of sea water to fresh water can
be achieved by two methods:
1. Distillation.
2. Reverse osmosis
• The water generated on ship is purer and also
pathogen free as compared with shore water.
 DISTILLATION SYSTEMS

• Distillation is the production of pure water from

sea water by evaporating and re-condensing.
• The evaporation enables the reduction of the
32000 ppm of dissolved solids in sea water down
to about 10ppm in distilled water.
• The sea water is heated in an evaporator, and
the vapours are led to a condenser where they
are condensed.
• As the seawater boils and passes away as
vapour, the salt and other solids are left behind in
the evaporator.
 DISTILLATION SYSTEMS

• The salts which are left behind can form hard

scale deposits on the surface of the heating coils
of the evaporator, which have an insulating
effect.
• The concentrated sea water left after some water
is evaporated is very corrosive, and can corrode
the steel body of the evaporator.
• These bad effects can be avoided if the sea
water can be evaporated at a lower temperature.
 BOILNG POINT OF WATER
The boiling point depends on the pressure. The boiling points of water at
pressures ranging 0.5 - 1000 psia are indicated in the diagram below.
 LOW PRESSURE FRESH WATER
GENERATORS
• The fresh water generator comprises an evaporator and
a condenser.
• Both the evaporator and the condenser are heat
exchangers.
• In most systems they are shell and tube type.
• The generator is maintained at a low pressure, so that
the seawater boils at a temperature less than 50 degrees
centigrade.
• The advantage of low temperature boiling are:
1. Less scale deposit on the heater coils.
2. The main engine cooling water, which has a temperature of
about 85 degrees centigrade after it has cooled the engine, can
be used to heat the sea water to 50 degrees centigrade. In this
way the waste engine heat, which otherwise would have been
lost to sea, is utilised.
 LOW PRESSURE FRESH WATER
GENERATORS
• The system is shown in the figure.
• Low pressure is maintained in the generator by
the air ejector . The low pressure lowers the
boiling point of water.
• Air ejector is an eductor driven by sea water,
which is supplied by the ejector pump.
• Cooling water from the main engine outlet is
circulated through the evaporator outside the
tubes of the heat exchanger. This water is at
about 85 degrees centigrade.
FRESH WATER GENERATORS SYSTEM
 LOW PRESSURE FRESH WATER
GENERATORS
• Seawater is pumped continuously into the evaporator
(feed water), and flows inside the tubes of the heat
exchanger.
• The amount of sea water fed to the evaporator should be
three to five times the quantity of water that evaporates.
(Capacity of the generator)
• The hot coils cause some seawater to boil at about 45
degrees centigrade
• The remaining concentrated brine is removed by the
brine ejector and pumped overboard. Brine ejector is also
sea water driven by the ejector pump.
• In this way the salt density in the evaporator is kept under
control.
 LOW PRESSURE FRESH WATER
GENERATORS
• Vapour given off by boiling sea water is led to the
condenser.
• A separator plate prevents droplets of sea water from
getting carried along the vapours to the condenser.
• A condenser sea water pump supply cooling water to
the condenser. This sea water flows inside the
condenser tubes.
• The vapour , which is outside the condenser tubes, is
cooled by the sea water and it condenses.
• The condensed water is pumped by the distillate
extraction pump to the fresh-water tanks.
TUBE TYPE LOW PRESSURE FRESH
WATER GENERATOR
 LOW PRESSURE FRESH WATER
GENERATORS
• In the low pressure fresh water generator, the
boiling is done at a low temperature of 45 to 50
degrees centigrade.
• At this temperature the bacteria and other
pathogens are not killed by the boiling.
• In deep sea conditions, the sea water is
practically free of pathogens, but in coastal
areas, the water may contain harmful pathogens.
• Thus it is recommended that the water generator
be used only when the ship is 20 nautical miles
away from land.
 OSMOSIS AND REVERSE OSMOSIS
•The Phenomenon of osmosis (from the Greek for `push’) is
the tendency of a pure solvent to enter a solution separated
from it by a semi permeable membrane (a membrane
permeable to the solvent by not to the solute).

•The flow can be opposed by applying pressure to the

solution, and the osmotic pressure is the pressure that just
stops the flow.

•When the applied pressure exceeds the osmotic pressure,

the movement of solvent can be reversed, i.e., flow of
solvent from solution to pure solvent.

• This process is known as reverse osmosis (RO), and is

useful for generating pure water from saline water
OSMOSIS AND REVERSE OSMOSIS
 REVERSE OSMOSIS SYSTEM

• The system is shown in the figure.

• A high pressure pump supplies feed water at 60 to
70 bars to the semi-permeable membrane.
• To protect the membrane from abnormally high
pressures, a relief valve is fitted after the pump.
• Part of the feed water is converted to fresh water by
the membrane, and is stored in ship’s tanks.
• Remaining part of the feed is continuously
discharged to sea so that the concentration of sea
water at the membrane inlet does not go very high.
REVERSE OSMOSIS SYSTEM
 REVERSE OSMOSIS SYSTEM

• The semi-permeable membranes used in

modern plants are spiral wound in a cartridge
form.
• This design increases the surface area and
reduces the size.
• They are made of synthetic materials, e.g.
polysulfone.
• The construction is shown in the figure.
MEMBRANE CARTRIDGE
MEMBRANE CARTRIDGE
 DOMESTIC WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM
• Ships use the air pressurized tank (hydrophore)
system to supply domestic water.
• In this system, compressed air forms a cushion on
top of the water in a pressurized tank, and forces
the water to the highest supply point.
• The hydrophore is supplied with water from the
storage tank by a fresh water pump.
• The water pump is started and stopped by a
pressure switch to maintain the level and pressure
of the water in the pressurized tank.
 DOMESTIC WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM
• When water is used in the accommodation, the
pressure falls in the pressurized tank.
• When the pressure falls sufficiently, the pressure
switch switches on the fresh water pump.
• As the pump builds up pressure in the
hydrophore, the pump is stopped by the pressure
switch.
• Due to the cushioning effect of the air, the
pressure of the water in the pipe lines is
maintained, the pump does not run continuously.
DOMESTIC WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM
 DRINKING WATER TREATMENT

Before the water can be consumed by human

beings, it has to be treated.
The purpose of the treatment is to:
• Kill/disable all disease causing microbes.
• Improve the taste of the water and make it
colourless and odourless.
• Make the distilled water less acidic
• Add salts in the water which are essential for the
good health.
 DRINKING WATER TREATMENT
• The water is passed through a ‘neutralite’ unit
containing magnesium and calcium carbonate.
• Some carbon di-oxide is absorbed from the water
and the water is neutralized by these compounds
which removes acidity.
• Acidic water is bad for our digestive system.
• The addition of hardness salts also gives the water
a better taste.
Drinking water treatment
 DRINKING WATER TREATMENT
• For sterilizing the water, chlorine is added as
granules of calcium chloride dissolved in water, or
as liquid/tablets of sodium hypo-chlorite.
• Chlorine concentration of 0.2 ppm should be
maintained.
• This dosage prevents the re-growth of germs during
storage.
 DRINKING WATER TREATMENT

• As an alternative to chlorine, silver ion injection is

also allowed, by the ‘Electro-katadyn’ process.
• In this process a driven silver anode is used to
inject silver ions in water.
• The current is so maintained that the
concentration of silver ions in the storage tank is
maximum 0.08 ppm.
 DRINKING WATER TREATMENT
• The water is led to the domestic system through a
sand bed filter and an activated carbon bed filter.
• The activated carbon filter removes the chlorine
taste, and any colour and odour from the water.
• Additionally, ultra-violet filtration is provided at the
water fountains to disable any germs at the point of
utility.
• The neutraliser, sand bed filter and the carbon bed
filter can have their flow reversed for cleaning
purpose.