Open AccessINNOVATIVE FRESH WATER PRODUCTION PROCESS FOR FOSSIL FUEL PLANTS
Author(s) -
James F. Klausner,
Renwei Mei,
Yang Li,
J. R. Knight
Publication year - 2003
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/825857
Subject(s) - condenser (optics) , desalination , environmental science , tower , cooling tower , diffusion , exergy , water vapor , multiple effect distillation , process engineering , low temperature thermal desalination , waste management , heat transfer , environmental engineering , nuclear engineering , inlet , engineering , mechanical engineering , chemistry , thermodynamics , light source , biochemistry , physics , civil engineering , organic chemistry , membrane , optics
This report describes the annual progress made in the development and analysis of a Diffusion Driven Desalination (DDD) system, which is powered by the waste heat from low pressure condensing steam in power plants. The desalination is driven by water vapor saturating dry air flowing through a diffusion tower. Liquid water is condensed out of the air/vapor mixture in a direct contact condenser. A thermodynamic analysis demonstrates that the DDD process can yield a fresh water production efficiency of 4.5% based on a feed water inlet temperature of only 50 C. An example is discussed in which the DDD process utilizes waste heat from a 100 MW steam power plant to produce 1.51 million gallons of fresh water per day. The main focus of the initial development of the desalination process has been on the diffusion tower. A detailed mathematical model for the diffusion tower has been described, and its numerical implementation has been used to characterize its performance and provide guidance for design. The analysis has been used to design a laboratory scale diffusion tower, which has been thoroughly instrumented to allow detailed measurements of heat and mass transfer coefficient, as well as fresh water production efficiency. The experimental facility has been described in detail