Abstract
The fresh water needs of mankind in regions under severe stress due to scarcity of water and energy can be satisfied if saline water which is available is converted to potable water by solar desalination. Beside salinity, scaling formation is one of the major problems that slow down heat transfer and cause system failures. Prevention and minimizing scale formation is highly important in the thermal solar desalination. So, the present study aims to studying individually the chemical characteristics affecting groundwater quality in inland and coastal regions of El Gebail and El Qaa plain areas southwest Sinai to evaluate and map them as feed water for thermal desalination plants. In addition, preparation of scale prediction modeling to estimate deposits on heat exchanger surfaces in distillation units has also been covered. Twenty-four water samples were collected from the study area and chemically analyzed. Water samples in El Qaa plain are of good water quality and can be used for different purposes. Water samples in El Gebail have excess salts for major wells and cannot be used without desalination. Saturation indices for different minerals are carefully studied. The scale prediction based on PHREEQC modeling was employed. In addition, laboratory experimental for evaluation scale precipitation after different recovery percentages of pure water from saline water was used. Results indicate that about 31 % of water samples in El Gebail region are faint coating, 38 % are mild scale forming, and 31 % are mild corrosion. Also, using PHREEQC for simulated evaporation with continuous water feeding of water sample can be used as a technique to quantitatively estimate the impending scale formation in solar desalination systems, which is very important to discover the best location for carrying out solar desalination. Also, the best operating procedure conditions and the best system designs were identified.
Highlights
Desert communities, of coastal regions and isolated inland in South Sinai, suffer from scarcity of water and energy
Groundwater salinity distribution Total dissolved solids (TDS) comprise inorganic salts that are dissolved in water
According to the total dissolved solids (TDS) of the investigated groundwater samples, the groundwater salinity shows that the TDS values of El Qaa plain groundwater vary from 394 ppm to 4907 ppm reflecting fresh to brackish category, while El Gebail groundwater has brackish water to highly saline as it varies from 2578 ppm to 13864 ppm
Summary
Of coastal regions and isolated inland in South Sinai, suffer from scarcity of water and energy. These communities struggle to balance declining water supplies for each person and the demands of a rapidly rising population, where the assessment of fresh water demand capacity in South Sinai in 2020 is 600000(m3/d) (El-Sadek 2010; Elewa and Qaddah 2011). South Sinai regions generally have a great solar energy utilization potential, where the monthly mean of the daily clearness index [(KTd) m] value is larger than 0.65 in summers. This implies that 65 % of the extraterrestrial irradiation reaches the ground. The key point is that efficient and environment friendly solar energy coupled with desalination
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