a b s t r a c tIn this work, the effect of increasing the top brine temperature (TBT) in a multi-effect distillation (MED) process and its influence on the main design and operational parameters, as gain output ratio (GOR) and specific heat transfer area is investigated. To that end, a detailed and advanced steady-state mathematical model for MED process with forward feed arrangement is developed and validated against data found in the literature. First, a comprehensive sensitivity analysis including key design parameters is carried out. The model is then used to simulate three different heating steam temperatures of 70°C, 100°C and 120°C with a variable number of effects between 9 and 34 and mean temperature difference between effects within 2°C-4°C. Results showed that, given a mean temperature difference between effects, the simultaneous increase in the number of effects and heating steam temperature leads to a significant improvement of the GOR, and a reduction of the specific heat transfer area. Particularly, for a mean difference of temperature between effects of 2.5°C, if the heating steam temperature is increased from 70°C to 120°C, the GOR is improved about 70%, the specific heat transfer area is reduced a 11% and the specific thermal energy consumption a 45%. This analysis provides meaningful results for the preliminary design of MED plants with high-temperature operation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.