Table Of ContentLow Grade Heat Driven
Multi-Effect Distillation
and Desalination
Bijan Rahimi
School of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology,
Tehran, Iran
Hui Tong Chua
School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering,
The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
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Reason says: The six directions are the boundary and there is no way out.
Love says: There is a way and I have many times traveled it.
Rumi, Persian poet and Sufi mystic, 13th century
Biography
Dr. Bijan Rahimi is a visiting assistant professor at the
School of Mechanical Engineering of Sharif University of
Technology (SUT). He is also a research leader of a novel
desalination pilot plant project at the Institute of Water and
Energy of SUT.
He recently received Iran’s National Elites Foundation Award
for his work on low grade heat-driven desalination and its
application in Iran. He is also collaborating with the Water
Research Institute of Iran’s Ministry of Energy on the
formulation of the first desalination research and technology
roadmap for Iran.
He received his PhD in desalination from the School of Mechanical and Chemical
Engineering of the University of Western Australia in 2016. He also collaborated with a
major alumina refinery in Western Australia on the use of process waste heat to
reconcentrate spent process liquor.
Besides academic experience, he has approximately 6years of working experience in the
field of waste heat management, renewable energy, measurement instrumentation, and
control valves in the Iranian industries (oil and gas, chemical and petrochemical, steel, and
paper sectors).
Bijan is a reviewer of the Desalination journal. He is a member of the Desalination
Research Group at the Sharif University of Technology.
His ResearcherID (Web of Science) is D-6157-2013 and ORCID ID is 0000-0002-5788-8018.
For more information about his publications you can follow him here:
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bijan_Rahimi.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bijan-rahimi-020a4a3b; https://ir.linkedin.com/
in/bijan-rahimi-020a4a3b.
xi
Biography
Professor Dr. Hui Tong Chua is a professor of Mechanical
and Chemical Engineering and the Chemical Engineering
Program Chair at the University of Western Australia (UWA).
His research interest covers heat and mass transfer,
thermodynamics, process engineering, and waste heat
utilization. Seven of his international peer-reviewed journal
articles are among the top 1% in the engineering field in
terms of citation.
His research team invented the boosted and flash-boosted
multi-effect distillation desalination processes in order to
effectively couple with low grade waste heat. His team has
also successfully demonstrated their principal ideas through a pilot plant. Through his
ongoing collaboration with a major alumina refinery in Western Australia, his team has
demonstrated the potential of the technologies toward significantly improving the energy
and cost efficiencies of mineral refineries. His long-term vision is to realize this
demonstrated potential.
Hui Tong is also a China Shanxi Province Hundred Man Distinguished Professor at the
Taiyuan University of Technology, Shanxi Province, China.
Hui Tong holds a PhD, an M. Eng., and a B. Eng. (1st Class Hons.) in mechanical
engineering from the National University of Singapore.
Prior to joining UWA, Hui Tong was an assistant professor at the Faculty of Engineering
of the National University of Singapore.
Hui Tong’s ResearcherID (Web of Science) is B-1317-2008.
For more information you can follow him here:
http://www.web.uwa.edu.au/people/huitong.chua.
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hui_Chua.
xii
Preface
This bookis theresultof 8years ofwork, whichstarted ata timewhen the Western
Australian GeothermalCenterofExcellence(WAGCoE)wasfirstestablished and Hui Tong
wasitsAboveground Engineering program leader.
Hehas had along historyofworkingonthe utilizationof wasteheatonheat-driven chillers,
so thatwhen hefirstencountered geothermal energyhequicklyrealizedthat intermsofits
thermodynamic nature,itwasa type ofwasteheat.Assoonasthegeothermal fluidis
extractedfrom underground,wehopeto utilizeittosuch anextent thatideallyits
temperature approaches the ambient surrounding’stemperaturebeforeitiseventually
reinjectedunderground.
HuiTong and Prof. Klaus Regenauer-Lieb, currentlythe headof theSchoolofPetroleum at
the University ofNew South Wales,butthen director ofWAGCoE, worked very closelyon
the conceptof geothermal desalination, given thatWestern Australiaiswatershortand
enjoys anabundance ofunderground aquifers.
Aided bythe detailedcatalogdata ofAlfaLaval’sfreshwatergenerators,HuiTong cameup
with the ideaofboostedmulti-effectdistillation (B-MED);this was subsequently
consolidated byKlaus and Dr. XiaolinWang,currentlya seniorlecturer attheUniversity of
Tasmania.Hui Tong isgratified thatthe University ofWestern Australia has astrong patent
positiononthistechnologyandholdsa USPatentonthistechnology,principally throughthe
fantasticsupportand councilbyNeilPrentice,TomSchnepple,andTymen Brom.Tymen is
the Commercializationmanager ofthe National Centerof ExcellenceforDesalination
Australia(NCEDA).
Funded byNCEDA and South32, Hui Tong’s team,notablyDr. AlexanderChrist,
successfullydevelopeda 1.5m3/daypilot plant todemonstratetheprincipalidea ofthe
B-MEDprocess. Dr. BijanRahimi, currentlyavisiting assistant professor atthe Sharif
University ofTechnology(SUT),joined the team inFebruary2012,andtogether withHui
Tong and Alex developed the flash-boostedmulti-effect distillation (FB-MED)process.
HuiTong’s team worked very closelywith Steve Rosenbergof ProChemistryConsulting,and
Eric Boomand SilvioNicoli ofSouth32for many years withthe commongoalofapplying
the distillation technologiestoassistwith the operationofaluminarefineries.Itwas Silvio
whorealized thatthe FB-MED process could make a significantdifference tothe energy
efficiency ofalumina refineriesandmineral refineriesingeneral.
xiii
Preface
HuiTong alsowants tospeciallyacknowledge theyears ofsupport offered byPaul Tuckwell
of AlfaLaval.Significantly Paulhas made available the pictureof anAlfa Lavalhot
wateredriven multi-effectdistillationdesalination plant asthe coverimageof thisbook.
HuiTong and Bijanwould like toacknowledge allthosenamedfor theirfriendship and
support,withoutwhichthis bookwillcertainlybe impossible.ObviouslyHui TongandBijan
take fullresponsibilityforany mistakes and omissionsinthis book.
Bijanis currently spearheadingtheprototypingofthe FB-MED process atSUT. Hewantsto
thankProf.Ali. A.Alamolhoda, Prof. MajidAbbaspour,and Prof. HamidMehdigholi for
assisting him in makingtheprototypingeffortpossible.
MostimportantlyHui Tongwants toexpress his gratitude and respectto Prof.JeffreyM.
Gordonforalltheyearsof guidance, supervision, mentorship,and constant encouragement.
Jeffisafatherly figure toHuiTong.
BijanRahimi([email protected])
SharifUniversityof Technology
Hui Tong Chua([email protected])
TheUniversity ofWestern Australia
xiv
CHAPTER 1
Introduction to Desalination
1.1 Introduction
Nearly 71% of the surface of the earth (510(cid:1)106km2) is covered by the oceans and the
remaining 29% is covered by land [1]. There is certainly bountiful water available on
earth, but only 3% is drinkable and 97% is saltwater [2]. Nearly 70% of this available
freshwater is frozen in glaciers, while the remaining 30% is in underground hard-to-reach
aquifers, of which approximately 0.25% flows into rivers and lakes for direct use [3].
Therefore, traditional sources of available freshwater such as underground aquifers and
surface water constitute a limited quantity worldwide. Furthermore, depletion of these
sources is increasing at an alarming rate [4].
Water scarcity is the mismatch of demand and availability of freshwater in a particular
location. It has become a worldwide issue with the pollution of existing water supplies,
increasing population and industry activity, uneven freshwater to population distributions,
and changing rainfall patterns. This implies that many regions containing populated
centers are becoming less capable of meeting the water supply requirements of the
residing populations [3,5e7]. Water-stressed countries currently encompass one-third of
the world’s population and it is predicted to reach two-thirds by 2025 [8]. Aside from
residential and industrial water shortage, agriculture is also being affected directly by
water shortage. Farmers increasingly have to compete for water with urban residents and
industries, thereby placing global food security at risk [9].
Methods of attenuating such water supply issues include wastewater treatment and reuse,
desalination, as well as water conservation schemes. Some 80 countries face severe water
shortage [10], while some countries such as Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi
Arabia currently depend almost entirely on desalination for their supply of water [4].
As a result of these situations, seawater desalination has become an essential option to
augment freshwater resources, especially in developing countries and many arid zones. As
an example, in 2010 the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (in the Middle East
region) produce around 39% of the world’s desalinated water production [11,12].
The desalination process is being increasingly adopted over traditional water supply
methods because the cost per unit volume of water produced has come down for
desalination while it has risen for traditional methods [4,7,13]. In 2011, approximately 150
LowGradeHeatDrivenMulti-EffectDistillationandDesalination.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-805124-5.00001-2
Copyright©2017ElsevierInc.Allrightsreserved. 1
2 Chapter 1
countries worldwide used around 15,988 desalination plants (these include online, under
construction, and contracted) to produce desalinated water [14]. The total global capacity
of all online plants was 70.8Mm3/day in 2011 [15]. This is a 10% increase compared to
capacity in 2010. Also, 632 new plants were added from mid-2011 to August of 2012,
thereby increasing the installed capacity to 74.8Mm3/day [15]. As of June 30, 2015 the
total number of desalination plants worldwide reached 18,426 with a total production rate
exceeding 86.8Mm3/day, which satisfied the need of around 300million people around the
world [16]. These data indicate the potential of the desalination market in both aspects of
freshwater production rate and energy consumption.
1.2 A Brief History of Desalination
The word origin and history of desalination dates back to 1943, and as a verb, “desalt”
was recorded in 1909 [17]. The concept of desalination is much older, however, with
references to it being found in ancient writings [18]. Historically, salt has been held as a
precious commodity. The first goal of desalination was not related to producing
freshwater, but rather to extract and use the salt from salty water by means of natural
evaporation [2].
It is difficult to pinpoint the first instance when humans desalinated salty water for
freshwater, but Aristotle (384e322 BC) was one of the earliest recorded scientists who
explained the desalination process. His understanding was based on his observations that
when saltwater turns into vapor, the condensed vapor does not contain any salt [19]. At
that time, the needs for producing freshwater for sailors was critical for long distance
voyages. Ancient drawings depict sailors boiling seawater and suspending a large sponge
from the mouth of a brass vessel to absorb what is evaporated [3]. Therefore, it is
reasonable that the interest in desalination dates back as far as the 4th century BC.
Advancedtechnologiesthatmimicnaturalprocessessuchasevaporation-condensationor
osmosistoobtainfreshwaterfromseawater,havebeendevelopedonlyinthemodern
decades.Basicdesalinationprocesseswereusedonnavalshipsfromthe17thto19th
centuries.Forexample,in1790,theUSSecretaryofState,ThomasJefferson,receivedan
offertosellthegovernmentaseawaterdesalinationscheme[2].Thefirstdesalinationunits
wereeventuallybuiltforshipsthatwereusedtoprovidefreshboilerwater,therebyremoving
theneedtotravelwithcargoloadsofwater[18].Yearslater,aBritishpatentwasgrantedin
1852[20],andthenin1872thefirstsolarstillwasdesignedbyaSwedishengineer,Carlos
Wilson,andconstructedinChile[21].In1912,a75m3/daydesalinationplantwasinstalled
inEgypt[22].TheislandofCuracaointheNetherlandsAntilleswasthefirstlocationto
makeamajorcommitmenttodesalinationin1928,followedbyamajorseawaterdesalination
Introduction to Desalination 3
plantbuiltinSaudiArabiain1938[2,23].Duringthatperiod(1929e37),thetotaldesalinated
watercapacityescalatedduetotheemergenceoftheoilindustry[22].
In the 1940s, during World War II, research on desalination was conducted to find the
proper ways to meet military requirements for freshwater in regions where soldiers were
facing drinking water shortage [2]. For example, Telkes [24] developed a plastic still
inflated with air for desalination, which was used by the US Air Force and US Navy
during World War II. After World War II, the United States and other countries continued
their work on desalination. The US Congress passed the Saline Water Conversion Act (PL
82-448) in 1952, which created and funded the Office of Saline Water within the
Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation [2].
In the 1960s, desalination science entered into a new and modern era; it was a special time
for commercialization because of the dramatic growth of population and water shortages
experienced worldwide. New methods of desalination were considered based on fossil
resources, because many oil-rich countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
region had been faced with water shortages and therefore preferred to dedicate part of
their natural energy resources (oil and gas) to their local water desalination production
instead of exportation [11]. Recently, desalinated water has become a commodity for many
countries and desalination plants are not limited to the MENA region alone [25].
The first generation of desalination plants was commissioned in Shuwaikh, Kuwait and in
Guernsey, Channel Island in 1960 [22]. By the late 1960s, desalination plants that could
produce up to 8000m3/day were beginning to be installed invarious parts of the world
and were mostly based on thermal process, which was expensive as it required a lot of
energy [26]. Nevertheless, they were good enough for the Middle Eastern oil-rich
countries. Since the 1970s, membrane processes have been used extensively and
commercialized for large-scale production [22,26]. Finally, in the 1980s, desalination
became a fully commercial enterprise and this continues today [26]. According to the
International Desalination Association report [15], around 18,000 desalination plants are in
operation worldwide with an approximate capacity of 90Mm3/day of freshwater. The main
worldwide use of desalinated water is for municipal and industrial purposes.
1.3 Desalination Technologies
In general all applicable desalination processes can be divided into two main categories
based on the phase change of saline feed water.
• Desalination with phase change: This category includes all heat-driven processes
where freshwater is produced by evaporation and condensation phenomena.
