Solar seawater desalination technology

Author: Zheng Hongfei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: The operating principles of traditional industrial seawater desalination technologies can be broadly divided into two categories: 1. Phase change processes, including multi-stage flash distillation, multi-effect boiling, and steam compression processes; 2. Dialysis processes, mainly including reverse osmosis membrane methods and electrodialysis methods. The significant advantage of phase change processes is the ability to reuse the latent heat of evaporation and condensation, allowing it to preheat seawater entering the device while condensing part of the steam into freshwater products. Due to the currently high cost of solar power generation, using solar power to provide energy for dialysis processes in seawater desalination is not economically viable. Therefore, the integration of solar energy with traditional industrial seawater desalination technologies remains primarily focused on phase change processes. Below is an introduction to a set of solar seawater desalination systems that fully combine solar technology with traditional seawater desalination technologies. Based on a thorough understanding of the advantages of falling-film evaporation and falling-film condensation heat transfer, a set of solar seawater desalination systems with multi-effect recuperation and internal self-balancing capabilities is innovatively designed. To quickly understand the performance of this system, a steady-state simulation study was conducted using an electric heating system to replace the solar heating system. This book systematically introduces various seawater desalination technologies primarily powered by solar thermal energy. It classifies and summarizes various novel solar seawater desalination technologies, focusing on the fundamental knowledge of heat and mass transfer and solar receivers in solar seawater desalination technologies. It emphasizes traditional and active solar stills, introducing their principles and performance. It also discusses solar seawater desalination systems combined with conventional seawater desalination technologies, solar air-water harvesting devices, and absorption and adsorption-based solar seawater desalination systems, analyzing and calculating their energy utilization efficiency and performance coefficients, and introducing their operating principles and future development directions. This book can serve as a textbook for undergraduate and graduate students and can be referenced by researchers and engineering technicians in fields such as solar thermal utilization, seawater desalination, energy engineering, and water treatment.