Desalination by the improved vacuum freezing high pressure ice melting process

Abstract

The VFPIM process has the following advantages: It does not require a compressor nor an absorbing solution for low pressure water vapor, nor a refrigeration loop (heat pump) to reuse the heat released in the condensation or desublimation of the low pressure water vapor in supplying the latent heat of melting ice. The process uses commercially available components and can thus be operated reliably. Some of the key unit operations are similar to those in existing vacuum freezing processes, but those unique to this process are: desublimation of low pressure vapor, pumping of an ice water slush containing a high ice content, melting of ice inside a heat conductive conduit and exchange ice formation operations. An extended surface freezer was found to have several advantages over the conventional spray freezer.