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Title: Thermal analysis of an innovative heat pump operated desalination plant

Abstract

Sea and brackish water desalination can contribute to solve the problem of fresh water shortage in many and regions of the world. Nowadays most of the installed desalination plants employ distillation processes, like Multistage Flash (MSF), Multi effect Distillation (MED) and Vapor Compression (VC). VC process is called Mechanical Vapor Compression (MVC) when it employs a mechanical compressor, while it is called Thermal Compression when it employs a steam-ejector compressor. In this paper a new distillation plant for the treatment of sea water for drinking water purposes is presented. The most innovative feature of this system is the use of a heat pump as part of the desalting unit. The use of the heat pump in the proposed system enables desalting water evaporation and steam condensation at the same temperature, unlike conventional VC desalting systems where a steam compression stage is necessary. A thermal analysis of the heat pump-operated desalination (HPD) plant and a comparison between the HPD and a conventional MVC plant is presented, in order to determine the main advantages and disadvantages of the new system.

Authors:
 [1]
  1. National Research Council of Italy, Rome (Italy)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
170390
Report Number(s):
CONF-950729-
TRN: IM9605%%409
Resource Type:
Conference
Resource Relation:
Conference: 30. intersociety energy conversion engineering conference, Orlando, FL (United States), 30 Jul - 5 Aug 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Proceedings of the 30. intersociety energy conversion engineering conference. Volume 3; Goswami, D.Y. [ed.] [Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)]; Kannberg, L.D.; Somasundaram, S. [eds.] [Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)]; Mancini, T.R. [ed.] [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)]; PB: 493 p.
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION; DESALINATION PLANTS; HEAT PUMPS; THERMAL ANALYSIS; PERFORMANCE; SEAWATER; COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS; VAPOR COMPRESSION REFRIGERATION CYCLE; COEFFICIENT OF PERFORMANCE

Citation Formats

Site, V D. Thermal analysis of an innovative heat pump operated desalination plant. United States: N. p., 1995. Web.
Site, V D. Thermal analysis of an innovative heat pump operated desalination plant. United States.
Site, V D. 1995. "Thermal analysis of an innovative heat pump operated desalination plant". United States.
@article{osti_170390,
title = {Thermal analysis of an innovative heat pump operated desalination plant},
author = {Site, V D},
abstractNote = {Sea and brackish water desalination can contribute to solve the problem of fresh water shortage in many and regions of the world. Nowadays most of the installed desalination plants employ distillation processes, like Multistage Flash (MSF), Multi effect Distillation (MED) and Vapor Compression (VC). VC process is called Mechanical Vapor Compression (MVC) when it employs a mechanical compressor, while it is called Thermal Compression when it employs a steam-ejector compressor. In this paper a new distillation plant for the treatment of sea water for drinking water purposes is presented. The most innovative feature of this system is the use of a heat pump as part of the desalting unit. The use of the heat pump in the proposed system enables desalting water evaporation and steam condensation at the same temperature, unlike conventional VC desalting systems where a steam compression stage is necessary. A thermal analysis of the heat pump-operated desalination (HPD) plant and a comparison between the HPD and a conventional MVC plant is presented, in order to determine the main advantages and disadvantages of the new system.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/170390}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Sun Dec 31 00:00:00 EST 1995},
month = {Sun Dec 31 00:00:00 EST 1995}
}

Conference:
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