Freshwater Production by MSF Desalination Process: Coping with Variable Demand by Flexible Design and Operation

Abstract

Abstract In general, freshwater demand varies throughout the day resulting in dynamic operating conditions of processes (such as desalination) making freshwater. This work investigates how the design and operation of an MSF desalination process are to be adjusted in order to cope with a variable demand of freshwater throughout the day. To avoid dynamic changes in operating conditions of the process and restrict these changes only at discrete times, a storage tank is added at the end of MSF process. For different process configurations (design) in term of number of flash stages, the operation parameters such as make-up and brine recycle flow rates are optimized at discrete time intervals (based on the storage tank level which is monitored dynamically and maintained within a limit) while the total operating cost is minimised. It is observed that the storage tank adds significant flexibility to the operation and maintenance of the process while coping with the variable freshwater demand.