Desalination Using Low-Grade Heat Sources
Publication: Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 3
Abstract
This study evaluated the feasibility of utilizing low-grade heat sources such as solar energy or waste heat from industrial processes for desalination. The premise of the approach is that saline waters can be desalinated by evaporation and condensation of fresh water at near-ambient temperatures at low pressures. Low pressures can be achieved naturally in the head space of water columns of height equal to the local barometric head. By connecting the head space of such a saline water column to that of a distilled water column, and by maintaining the temperature of the former about above that of the latter, fresh water can be evaporated from the saline column and condensed in the distilled water column. In this study, it is proposed to use a sensible heat thermal energy storage (TES) system to heat the head space of the saline water column. The TES can be maintained at the desired temperature using solar energy and/or waste heat from thermal power plants, refrigeration plants, or air conditioning units. This paper presents the feasibility of the proposed approach, where the TES is maintained at the design temperature by a solar-powered absorption refrigeration system (ARS) augmented by an electric heater. Results of this feasibility study show that the heat rejected by an ARS of cooling capacity of (0.975 tons of refrigeration) along with an additional energy input of of desalinated water is adequate to produce desalinated water at an average rate of . The solar panel area required for this application was . An integrated process model and performance curves of the proposed approach are presented.
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Acknowledgments
Partial support for this project has been provided by the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI).
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 3 • September 2008
Pages: 95 - 101
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 20, 2006
Accepted: Oct 18, 2007
Published online: Sep 1, 2008
Published in print: Sep 2008
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