Experimental investigation of desalination pipeline system and vapor transportation by temperature difference under sub-atmospheric pressure

Abstract

This paper presents a desalination pipeline system for seawater desalination and transportation under sub-atmospheric pressure. After de-aeration and evaporation, the seawater turns into vapor, which then moves through the transportation pipe to the destination, located at a higher altitude than the place of evaporation. Upon reaching the desired location, the vapor condenses and is directed to the consumer without the need for additional energy. The system utilizes two types of pipes with different diameters and lengths to evaluate the proposed system and conduct tests. The study examines factors affecting the evaporation and transportation rates, such as the diameter and length of the transportation pipe, temperature of the seawater, and pressure of the system. The results highlight that the diameter of the pipe is the most significant parameter influencing the transportation rate. System pressure and seawater temperature are two parameters that should be determined in the system and have a significant influence on productivity. The focus is on increasing the transportation rate of this system by minimizing the pressure drop, which is evaluated by effective parameters. Furthermore, an overall performance analysis was conducted for the system. The maximum productivity of the proposed system and the estimated cost of the 0.5-inch transfer pipe are 0.67 kg/h and 0.0513 USD/kg, respectively, which includes water transfer in addition to desalination. Additionally, these values are 28.54 kg/h and 0.0013 USD/kg for the 4-inch diameter transfer pipe. To complete the comprehensive study of the proposed plant, the maximum GOR for the two pipe types was 2.24 and 7.1, respectively.