Experimental research of the operation of self-sufficient desalination setup of vapor-air type

Abstract

The growing global shortage of freshwater resources can be partially offset by the desalination of mineralized ocean and marine waters. The most common methods of desalination today are distillation, based on phase transformations of water, and reverse-osmosis, which consists in passing sea water through semipermeable membranes. The distillation method of desalination is characterized by significant thermal energy needs. In the process of desalination by the reverse-osmotic method, there is a need for the periodic replacement of expensive membranes, the creation of high pressure, which leads to significant energy consumption. In this regard, the actual problem is the study of vapor-air desalination method, based on the law of equilibrium state of vapor-gas-liquid mixtures. The efficiency of devices based on the vapor-air method is a significant increase in productivity due to the additional generation of steam, which reduces the energy costs for heating water in the installation. The purpose of this work is to determine the main factors affecting the performance of the vapor-air type installations. As a result of an experimental study of the operation of aself-sufficient steam-type desalination setup, it was found out that the initial water and air temperatures in the bubbling zone have a key impact on the performance. The high energy efficiency of devices implementing this method, with the quality of the condensate that complies with regulatory requirements, makes the vapor-air desalination method very future-oriented.