Abstract

There are many ways to improve efficiency and reduce fresh water cost in desalination plants, like the integration of two or more desalination systems into a hybrid mechanical/thermal lay-out. Most common results that could be achieved by hybrid systems are savings in pretreatments, overall cost reduction and significant primary energy savings, especially when cogeneration unit are concerned. In this paper a small size (2000 m 3/day) thermal desalination system (MEE) is coupled with a single-stage seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) system; the system is fed by a natural gas (NG) reciprocate engine, where heat is recovered both from exhaust gases and from the cooling jacket water circuit. Technical and energetic aspects of the examined hybrid lay-out are described in detail, and complemented with a brief cost analysis in order to assess the economic viability of the proposed solution. In the examined case, cogeneration coupled with hybrid desalination systems reveals economically convenient with respect to the production of the same fresh water flow rate by very efficient RO systems. The minimization of the unit cost of desalted water was the goal of the performed optimization; the sensitivity of fresh water unit cost to variations in the flow rate of permeate exiting the RO section is also investigated to determine the optimal design.

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.