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Title: Solar pond-driven distillation and power production system

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5560140

A solar pond-driven distillation and power production system is described. The storage layer of the solar pond serves as the holding tank for the concentrated brine effluent from the distillation process as well as the collector and storage medium for solar energy used to heat incoming salty river water. Steam from the distillation process expands through a turbine/generator combination to provide power for the water circulation and vacuum pumps of the system. Water from the surface mixed layer of the pond is used to condense the steam. The closely integrated distillation and power production system converts an incoming stream of brackish or saline water into an outlet stream of the required purity. Salt and power are also products of the system. A thermodyanamic analysis of the energy and mass balances of the system has been performed and a performance model of the system has been developed. This model was used to compute the requirements for desalting several saline tributaries of the Colorado River.

Research Organization:
Solar Energy Research Inst., Golden, CO (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-77CH00178
OSTI ID:
5560140
Report Number(s):
SERI/TR-631-1248; ON: DE82010998
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English