Determination of the Criteria for Comparative Analysis of Desalination Plant

Abstract

The problem of fresh water lack can be solved my desalination of the seawater. Desalination of the seawater can be accomplished by several methods. Distillation of the seawater is one of the most promising among them. Comparative analysis of distillation desalination plant requires certain criteria. This criterion must take into account both energy consumption and seawater salinity. Relation of the minimal work required for seawater desalination to energy consumption was selected as such criterion. Four types of the distillation plants were considered: Multi-effect distillation plants (MED), multi-effect distillation plants with mechanical vapor compression (MVC) plants, MVC desalination plants have the best multi-effect distillation plant with thermal vapor compression (TVC) plants and Multistage flash distillation plants (MSF). MSF plants gave dependency that their efficiency rise along the gain ratio. That may be explained by the fact that its steam consumption does not depend on seawater consumption. TVC plants have slightly higher efficiency than MED plants. Thus, MVC plants can be recommended to use if there is no heat source, MSF plants - if there is heat source and plant must have a high gain ratio and TVC plant in the rest cases.