Experimental Studies on Solar Multi - Effect Desalination System
Abstract
A Multi – Effect Desalination system with a capacity of 10 m3 has been designed, erected and tested to convert seawater into potable water using solar energy. The steam is flashed initially from a flash chamber of the desalination plant, using hot water from a solar flat plate collector field and feed to a multi-stage evaporator. The average hot water outlet temperature from the collector field is in the range of 60oC - 65oC. In a multi-stage evaporator, seawater is sprayed parallelly to produce steam. The steam loses heat and forms condensate by absorbing the latent and sensible heats through the tube surface to sea water. The brine and condensate liquid is carried to the last stage of the multi-effect desalination (MED) system. It is observed that during peak production of potable water, maximum temperature difference between inlet and outlet of cooling water is 10oC in the condenser. Experimental studies on the solar MED system are made to understand the performance of the system using solar energy.