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Keywords = multi effect distillation (MED)

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28 pages, 3292 KiB  
Article
Optimization of the Quality of Reclaimed Water from Urban Wastewater Treatment in Arid Region: A Zero Liquid Discharge Pilot Study Using Membrane and Thermal Technologies
by Maria Avramidi, Constantinos Loizou, Maria Kyriazi, Dimitris Malamis, Katerina Kalli, Angelos Hadjicharalambous and Constantina Kollia
Membranes 2025, 15(7), 199; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes15070199 - 1 Jul 2025
Viewed by 780
Abstract
With water availability being one of the world’s major challenges, this study aims to propose a Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) system for treating saline effluents from an urban wastewater treatment plant (UWWTP), thereby supplementing into the existing water cycle. The system, which employs [...] Read more.
With water availability being one of the world’s major challenges, this study aims to propose a Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) system for treating saline effluents from an urban wastewater treatment plant (UWWTP), thereby supplementing into the existing water cycle. The system, which employs membrane (nanofiltration and reverse osmosis) and thermal technologies (multi-effect distillation evaporator and vacuum crystallizer), has been installed and operated in Cyprus at Larnaca’s WWTP, for the desalination of the tertiary treated water, producing high-quality reclaimed water. The nanofiltration (NF) unit at the plant operated with an inflow concentration ranging from 2500 to 3000 ppm. The performance of the installed NF90-4040 membranes was evaluated based on permeability and flux. Among two NF operation series, the second—operating at 75–85% recovery and 2500 mg/L TDS—showed improved membrane performance, with stable permeability (7.32 × 10−10 to 7.77 × 10−10 m·s−1·Pa−1) and flux (6.34 × 10−4 to 6.67 × 10−4 m/s). The optimal NF operating rate was 75% recovery, which achieved high divalent ion rejection (more than 99.5%). The reverse osmosis (RO) unit operated in a two-pass configuration, achieving water recoveries of 90–94% in the first pass and 76–84% in the second. This setup resulted in high rejection rates of approximately 99.99% for all major ions (Cl, Na+, Ca2+, and Mg2+), reducing the permeate total dissolved solids (TDS) to below 35 mg/L. The installed multi-effect distillation (MED) unit operated under vacuum and under various inflow and steady-state conditions, achieving over 60% water recovery and producing high-quality distillate water (TDS < 12 mg/L). The vacuum crystallizer (VC) further concentrated the MED concentrate stream (MEDC) and the NF concentrate stream (NFC) flows, resulting in distilled water and recovered salts. The MEDC process produced salts with a purity of up to 81% NaCl., while the NFC stream produced mixed salts containing approximately 46% calcium salts (mainly as sulfates and chlorides), 13% magnesium salts (mainly as sulfates and chlorides), and 38% sodium salts. Overall, the ZLD system consumed 12 kWh/m3, with thermal units accounting for around 86% of this usage. The RO unit proved to be the most energy-efficient component, contributing 71% of the total water recovery. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Applications of Membrane Distillation in Water Treatment and Reuse)
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37 pages, 11182 KiB  
Article
Conventional and Emerging Desalination Technologies: Review and Comparative Study from a Sustainability Perspective
by Jamel Orfi, Raed Sherif and Musaad AlFaleh
Water 2025, 17(2), 279; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17020279 - 20 Jan 2025
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 5204
Abstract
This work develops a comprehensive review of the main conventional and emerging desalination processes. It presents the state of knowledge of the most known and investigated techniques, highlights their advantages and drawbacks, and draws appropriate conclusions on their respective performances from various angles [...] Read more.
This work develops a comprehensive review of the main conventional and emerging desalination processes. It presents the state of knowledge of the most known and investigated techniques, highlights their advantages and drawbacks, and draws appropriate conclusions on their respective performances from various angles including their energy consumption and efficiency, environmental impacts, reliability, and flexibility in operations. This review reveals the recent large dominance and deployment of the reverse osmosis technology in the Gulf countries, mainly in Saudi Arabia; the importance of hybridization; and the slow penetration of promising processes including membrane distillation and forward osmosis into the industrial desalination market. In addition, this work aims to develop some comparison exercises between these processes using specific criteria. A cross approach allowing an easier comparison between various desalination processes could help identify the advantages and drawbacks of each technology and select the appropriate process. Therefore, various criteria allowing a clear picture to be drawn of the performance and capabilities of the main conventional and emerging desalination processes have been proposed in the frame of sustainable development. As an illustration of this general approach from sustainability prospects and considering specific weights for each proposed criterion for the case of Saudi Arabia, a comparison exercise reveals that the superiority of reverse osmosis (RO) is confirmed. Multiple effect distillation (MED) and membrane distillation (MD) processes are potentially competitive to RO while multi-stage flash (MSF) comes last due to several drawbacks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Topic Sustainable Technologies for Water Purification)
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33 pages, 9678 KiB  
Article
A Novel High Vacuum MSF/MED Hybrid Desalination System for Simultaneous Production of Water, Cooling and Electrical Power, Using Two Barometric Ejector Condensers
by Francisco J. Caballero-Talamantes, Nicolás Velázquez-Limón, Jesús Armando Aguilar-Jiménez, Cristian A. Casares-De la Torre, Ricardo López-Zavala, Juan Ríos-Arriola and Saúl Islas-Pereda
Processes 2024, 12(12), 2927; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12122927 - 20 Dec 2024
Viewed by 1524
Abstract
This work presents a novel trigeneration system for the simultaneous production of desalinated water, electrical energy, and cooling, addressing the challenges of water scarcity and climate change through an integrated and efficient approach. The proposed system combines an 8-stage Multi Stage Flash Distillation [...] Read more.
This work presents a novel trigeneration system for the simultaneous production of desalinated water, electrical energy, and cooling, addressing the challenges of water scarcity and climate change through an integrated and efficient approach. The proposed system combines an 8-stage Multi Stage Flash Distillation (MSF) process with a 6-effect Multiple Effect Distillation (MED) process, complemented by an expander-generator to optimize steam utilization. Cooling production is achieved through a dual ejectocondensation mechanism, which enhances energy recovery and expands operational flexibility. The system’s performance was analyzed using Aspen Plus simulations, demonstrating technical feasibility across a broad operating range: 28.3 to 0.8 kPa and 68 to 4 °C. In cogeneration mode, the system achieves a Performance Ratio (PR) of 12.06 and a Recovery Ratio (RR) of 54%, producing 67,219.2 L/day of desalinated water and reducing electrical consumption by 12.03%. In trigeneration mode, it achieves a PR of 17.81 and an RR of 80%, with a cooling capacity of 1225 kW, generating 99,273.6 L/day of desalinated water while reducing electrical consumption by 3.69%. These results underscore the system’s capability to significantly enhance the efficiency and capacity of thermal desalination technologies, offering a sustainable and high-performing solution for coastal communities worldwide. Full article
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29 pages, 9348 KiB  
Article
Sustainable and Self-Sufficient Fresh Water Through MED Desalination Powered by a CPV-T Solar Hybrid Collector: A Numerical and Experimental Study
by Armin Buchroithner, Andreas Heinz, Richard Felsberger, Hermann Schranzhofer, Richard Heimrath, Rupert Preßmair and Hannes Wegleiter
Processes 2024, 12(12), 2732; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12122732 - 2 Dec 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1421
Abstract
The effects of global warming are severely recognizable and, according to the OECD, 47% of the world’s population will soon live in regions with insufficient drinking water. Already, many countries depend on desalination for fresh water supply, but such facilities are often powered [...] Read more.
The effects of global warming are severely recognizable and, according to the OECD, 47% of the world’s population will soon live in regions with insufficient drinking water. Already, many countries depend on desalination for fresh water supply, but such facilities are often powered by fossil fuels. This paper presents an energy self-sufficient desalination system that runs entirely on solar power. Sunlight is harvested using parabolic trough collectors with an effective aperture area of 1.5 m × 0.98 m and a theoretical concentration ratio of 150 suns, in which a concentrator photovoltaic thermal (CPV-T) hybrid-absorber converts the radiation to electricity and heat. This co-generated energy runs a multi-effect distillation (MED) plant, whereby the waste heat of multi-junction concentrator solar cells is used in the desalination process. This concept also takes advantage of synergy effects of optical elements (i.e., mirrors), resulting in a cost reduction of solar co-generation compared to the state of the art, while at the same time increasing the overall efficiency to ~75% (consisting of an electrical efficiency of 26.8% with a concurrent thermal efficiency of 48.8%). Key components such as the parabolic trough hybrid absorber were built and characterized by real-world tests. Finally, results of system simulations, including fresh water output depending on different weather conditions, degree of autonomy, required energy storage for off-grid operation etc. are presented. Simulation results revealed that it is possible to desalinate around 2,000,000 L of seawater per year with a 260 m2 plant and 75 m3 of thermal storage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solar Technologies and Photovoltaic Systems)
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16 pages, 7801 KiB  
Article
Performance Analysis and Novel Cross-Flow Scheme of Low-Temperature Multi-Effect Distillation for Treating High-Mineralized Mine Water
by Yuanhui Tang, Yuanji Bai, Qiang Guo, Xiaolei He, Mingxuan Li, Chunhui Zhang, Lixin Yu, Yakai Lin and Xiaolin Wang
Water 2024, 16(22), 3254; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16223254 - 12 Nov 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1107
Abstract
Low-temperature multi-effect distillation (LT-MED) can be used to desalinate and demineralize highly mineralized mine water, facilitating the recycling and reuse of water resources. This study conducted a simulation of LT-MED technology for treating highly mineralized mine water using Aspen Plus and proposed a [...] Read more.
Low-temperature multi-effect distillation (LT-MED) can be used to desalinate and demineralize highly mineralized mine water, facilitating the recycling and reuse of water resources. This study conducted a simulation of LT-MED technology for treating highly mineralized mine water using Aspen Plus and proposed a novel cross-flow optimization scheme. Initially, the impact of operational parameters such as process configuration, number of evaporation effects, and steam input on the gained output ratio (GOR) and scaling risk of a conventional LT-MED system was analyzed. It was found that the number of effects and heating steam flow rate had the most significant influence on GOR, while different processes exhibited limitations regarding GOR and scaling trends. To address these issues, this paper introduced a cross-flow operation process that combined forward, backward, and parallel flow. The simulation results indicated that, under conditions of eight effects, a maximum evaporation temperature of 70 °C, a temperature difference between adjacent effects of 4 °C, and a feed temperature of 45 °C, the cross-flow process—where the feed was introduced from the sixth effect—achieved the highest GOR and significantly reduced scaling risks compared to parallel and backward flow configurations. Finally, to further utilize low-pressure exhaust steam from the final effect of the cross-flow LT-MED system, mechanical vapor compression (MVC) and thermal vapor compression (TVC) were integrated into the LT-MED process. The thermodynamic performance of the coupled system was analyzed, and the simulations demonstrated that the coupled system outperformed the standalone use of either TVC or MVC, with the LT-MED-MVC-TVC system showing superior performance overall. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Wastewater Treatment and Reuse)
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31 pages, 4116 KiB  
Review
Innovations in Solar-Powered Desalination: A Comprehensive Review of Sustainable Solutions for Water Scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region
by Mohammad Al-Addous, Mathhar Bdour, Shatha Rabaiah, Ali Boubakri, Norman Schweimanns, Nesrine Barbana and Johannes Wellmann
Water 2024, 16(13), 1877; https://doi.org/10.3390/w16131877 - 30 Jun 2024
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 11337
Abstract
Water scarcity poses significant challenges in arid regions like the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) due to constant population growth, considering the effects of climate change and water management aspects. The desalination technologies face problems like high energy consumption, high investment costs, [...] Read more.
Water scarcity poses significant challenges in arid regions like the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) due to constant population growth, considering the effects of climate change and water management aspects. The desalination technologies face problems like high energy consumption, high investment costs, and significant environmental impacts by brine discharge. This paper researches the relationships among water scarcity, energy-intensive desalination, and the development of renewable energy in MENA, with a particular focus on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. It examines innovations in solar-powered desalination, considering both solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal technologies, in combination with traditional thermal desalination methods such as multi-effect distillation (MED) and multi-stage flash (MSF). The environmental impacts associated with desalination by brine discharge are also discussed, analyzing innovative technological solutions and avoidance strategies. Utilizing bibliometrics, this report provides a comprehensive analysis of scientific literature for the assessment of the research landscape in order to recognize trends in desalination technologies in the MENA region, providing valuable insights into emerging technologies and research priorities. Despite challenges such as high initial investment costs, technical complexities, and limited funding for research and development, the convergence of water scarcity and renewable energy presents significant opportunities for integrated desalination systems in GCC countries. Summarizing, this paper emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary approaches and international collaboration by addressing the complex challenges of water scarcity and energy sustainability in the MENA region. By leveraging renewable energy sources and advancing desalination technologies, the region can achieve water security while mitigating environmental impacts and promoting economic development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Sustainability and High-Quality Economic Development)
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25 pages, 811 KiB  
Article
Contextual Hypergraph Networks for Enhanced Extractive Summarization: Introducing Multi-Element Contextual Hypergraph Extractive Summarizer (MCHES)
by Aytuğ Onan and Hesham Alhumyani
Appl. Sci. 2024, 14(11), 4671; https://doi.org/10.3390/app14114671 - 29 May 2024
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1625
Abstract
Extractive summarization, a pivotal task in natural language processing, aims to distill essential content from lengthy documents efficiently. Traditional methods often struggle with capturing the nuanced interdependencies between different document elements, which is crucial to producing coherent and contextually rich summaries. This paper [...] Read more.
Extractive summarization, a pivotal task in natural language processing, aims to distill essential content from lengthy documents efficiently. Traditional methods often struggle with capturing the nuanced interdependencies between different document elements, which is crucial to producing coherent and contextually rich summaries. This paper introduces Multi-Element Contextual Hypergraph Extractive Summarizer (MCHES), a novel framework designed to address these challenges through an advanced hypergraph-based approach. MCHES constructs a contextual hypergraph where sentences form nodes interconnected by multiple types of hyperedges, including semantic, narrative, and discourse hyperedges. This structure captures complex relationships and maintains narrative flow, enhancing semantic coherence across the summary. The framework incorporates a Contextual Homogenization Module (CHM), which harmonizes features from diverse hyperedges, and a Hypergraph Contextual Attention Module (HCA), which employs a dual-level attention mechanism to focus on the most salient information. The innovative Extractive Read-out Strategy selects the optimal set of sentences to compose the final summary, ensuring that the latter reflects the core themes and logical structure of the original text. Our extensive evaluations demonstrate significant improvements over existing methods. Specifically, MCHES achieves an average ROUGE-1 score of 44.756, a ROUGE-2 score of 24.963, and a ROUGE-L score of 42.477 on the CNN/DailyMail dataset, surpassing the best-performing baseline by 3.662%, 3.395%, and 2.166% respectively. Furthermore, MCHES achieves BERTScore values of 59.995 on CNN/DailyMail, 88.424 on XSum, and 89.285 on PubMed, indicating superior semantic alignment with human-generated summaries. Additionally, MCHES achieves MoverScore values of 87.432 on CNN/DailyMail, 60.549 on XSum, and 59.739 on PubMed, highlighting its effectiveness in maintaining content movement and ordering. These results confirm that the MCHES framework sets a new standard for extractive summarization by leveraging contextual hypergraphs for better narrative and thematic fidelity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Text Mining and Data Mining)
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45 pages, 12178 KiB  
Article
Integration of Renewable Energy Systems in Desalination
by Mudhar A. Al-Obaidi, Salih Alsadaie, Alanood Alsarayreh, Md. Tanvir Sowgath and Iqbal M. Mujtaba
Processes 2024, 12(4), 770; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12040770 - 11 Apr 2024
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 6443
Abstract
Desalination plants, which provide drinking water for residents, rely on electricity generated by fossil fuels. However, the excessive use of fossil fuels leads to their rapid depletion and has detrimental effects on the environment. Thus, the use of renewable energy resources in water [...] Read more.
Desalination plants, which provide drinking water for residents, rely on electricity generated by fossil fuels. However, the excessive use of fossil fuels leads to their rapid depletion and has detrimental effects on the environment. Thus, the use of renewable energy resources in water desalination has gained popularity. The current research investigates the integration of renewable energy systems with seawater and brackish water desalination technologies. In this regard, three primary renewable energy sources—wind, solar, and geothermal—are selected. Accordingly, a thorough investigation of the related research published and the trend of evolutions between 2013 and 2023 is carried out for Reverse Osmosis (RO), Multistage flash (MSF), and Multi-effect distillation (MED)-based water desalination facilities coupled with renewable energy sources. In our investigation, we particularly focus on performance indicators, energy efficiency, economic factors, and environmental effects. Also, the associated challenges of these hybrid systems, such as technological complexity, unpredictability, and intermittency, are addressed. Prospects for the future that address these issues and the prospects of using renewable energy in water desalination technologies are also covered. Full article
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23 pages, 3142 KiB  
Review
Review of Hybrid Membrane Distillation Systems
by Heng Zhang and Haizhen Xian
Membranes 2024, 14(1), 25; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes14010025 - 18 Jan 2024
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4852
Abstract
Membrane distillation (MD) is an attractive separation process that can work with heat sources with low temperature differences and is less sensitive to concentration polarization and membrane fouling than other pressure-driven membrane separation processes, thus allowing it to use low-grade thermal energy, which [...] Read more.
Membrane distillation (MD) is an attractive separation process that can work with heat sources with low temperature differences and is less sensitive to concentration polarization and membrane fouling than other pressure-driven membrane separation processes, thus allowing it to use low-grade thermal energy, which is helpful to decrease the consumption of energy, treat concentrated solutions, and improve water recovery rate. This paper provides a review of the integration of MD with waste heat and renewable energy, such as solar radiation, salt-gradient solar ponds, and geothermal energy, for desalination. In addition, MD hybrids with pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO), multi-effect distillation (MED), reverse osmosis (RO), crystallization, forward osmosis (FO), and bioreactors to dispose of concentrated solutions are also comprehensively summarized. A critical analysis of the hybrid MD systems will be helpful for the research and development of MD technology and will promote its application. Eventually, a possible research direction for MD is suggested. Full article
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15 pages, 1484 KiB  
Article
Adding Value to Reclaimed Water from Wastewater Treatment Plants: The Environmental Feasibility of a Minimal Liquid Discharge System for the Case Study of Larnaca
by Maria Avramidi, Christina Spyropoulou, Constantinos Loizou, Maria Kyriazi, Jelica Novakovic, Konstantinos Moustakas, Dimitris Malamis and Maria Loizidou
Sustainability 2023, 15(19), 14305; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151914305 - 27 Sep 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2318
Abstract
The escalating water demand in Cyprus has necessitated the exploration of alternative water resources. The available water, which relies on rainfall and dam storage supplemented by methods such as desalination and aquifer enrichment, is inadequate to meet the current water demand. As a [...] Read more.
The escalating water demand in Cyprus has necessitated the exploration of alternative water resources. The available water, which relies on rainfall and dam storage supplemented by methods such as desalination and aquifer enrichment, is inadequate to meet the current water demand. As a solution, Cyprus is utilizing reclaimed water for irrigation, in full compliance with both local and EU regulations. To address sustainable water management in Cyprus, a minimal liquid discharge (MLD) system is assessed for its environmental feasibility. A system incorporating reverse osmosis (RO), a multi-effect distillation (MED) evaporator, and a vacuum crystallizer (VC) is proposed for treating reclaimed water from the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Larnaca. The proposed system aims to control the salinity (2500 mg/L) that limits the use of recovered water to the irrigation of non-sensitive types of crops, while recovering salt (sodium chloride). A life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted, comparing the proposed MLD system with a reference system based on RO technology, where water is recovered, and brine is rejected back into the sea. The environmental feasibility was assessed via comparing 16 different environmental impact categories. Based on the analysis, the reference study provided a positive numeric value for most of the impact categories that were examined. Thus, it was concluded that the reference study has an overall negative impact on the environment, whereas the proposed MLD system demonstrated an overall positive impact, mainly due to low ecotoxicity. Full article
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5 pages, 1767 KiB  
Proceeding Paper
Reduction in Specific Energy Consumption in Desalination through Hybrid Desalination Techniques
by Faisal Iqbal and Muhammad Asif
Eng. Proc. 2023, 45(1), 2; https://doi.org/10.3390/engproc2023045002 - 7 Sep 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1491
Abstract
Freshwater scarcity is a growing concern worldwide due to increasing demand and climate change. A promising method that could provide fresh water is seawater desalination. Presently, both thermal- and membrane-based desalination technologies consume a high amount of specific energy (measured in kWh/m3 [...] Read more.
Freshwater scarcity is a growing concern worldwide due to increasing demand and climate change. A promising method that could provide fresh water is seawater desalination. Presently, both thermal- and membrane-based desalination technologies consume a high amount of specific energy (measured in kWh/m3), which limits the use of seawater for drinking purposes. The development of hybrid desalination technologies has the potential to significantly reduce the energy consumption and cost of desalination, making it a more viable solution to address freshwater scarcity. By integrating the advantages of several desalination techniques and eliminating their drawbacks, hybridization can improve system performance. In the current study, a hybrid desalination system was developed by integrating the vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) output into the multi-effect distillation (MED) input. The results indicated a drop in specific thermal energy consumption (STEC) at various feed flow rates and a decrease in STEC in hybrid mode compared to stand-alone VMD. Full article
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20 pages, 1866 KiB  
Article
Energy and Exergy Analyses of a PWR-Type Nuclear Power Plant Coupled with an ME-TVC-MED Desalination System
by Zakaria Triki, Rabah Menasri, Mohamed Najib Bouaziz, Hichem Tahraoui, Mohammed Kebir, Abdeltif Amrane, Jie Zhang and Lotfi Mouni
Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 8358; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15108358 - 21 May 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2742
Abstract
Electricity–water cogeneration power plants are an important tool for advancing sustainable water treatment technologies because they provide a cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution for meeting the energy and water needs of communities. By integrating power and water production, these technologies can reduce carbon [...] Read more.
Electricity–water cogeneration power plants are an important tool for advancing sustainable water treatment technologies because they provide a cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution for meeting the energy and water needs of communities. By integrating power and water production, these technologies can reduce carbon emissions and help mitigate the impact of climate change. This work deals with the energy and exergy analysis of a cogeneration plant for electrical power generation and water desalination using real operational data. The power side is a pressurized water reactor (PWR) nuclear power plant (NPP), while the desalination side is a multi-effect distillation (MED) system with a thermo-vapor compressor (TVC) plant coupled with a conventional multi-effect plant (ME-TVC-MED). A mathematical model was implemented in MATLAB software and validated through a comparison with previously published research. The exergy analysis was carried out based on the second law of thermodynamics to evaluate the irreversibility of the plant and the subsystems. In this study, the components of the sub-systems were analyzed separately to identify and quantify the component that has a high loss of energy and exergy. According to the energy and exergy analyses, the highest source of irreversibility occurs in the reactor core with 50% of the total exergy destruction. However, turbines, steam generators, and condensers also contribute to energy loss. Further, the thermodynamic efficiency of the cogeneration plant was obtained as 35.38%, which is more effective than other systems. In the ME-TVC-MED desalination unit, the main sources of energy losses are located in the evaporators and the thermo-compressor (about 50% and 36%, respectively). Moreover, the exergetic efficiency of the ME-TVC-MED unit was found to be low at 6.43%, indicating a high degree of technical inefficiency in the desalination process. Therefore, many opportunities exist to improve the performance of the cogeneration system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Advanced Water Treatment Technologies)
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20 pages, 3214 KiB  
Article
Cogeneration of Fresh Water and Electricity with High-Temperature Power Cycles: Comparative Assessment of Multi-Effect Distillation and Reverse Osmosis
by Patricia Palenzuela, Diego-César Alarcón-Padilla, Bartolomé Ortega-Delgado and Guillermo Zaragoza
Processes 2023, 11(4), 1181; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr11041181 - 11 Apr 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2581
Abstract
The pressing problems of water scarcity in many parts of the planet make water desalination one of the technological solutions for guaranteeing the fresh water supply. However, desalination processes require high energy consumption, mainly provided by fossil fuels. The integration of renewable energy [...] Read more.
The pressing problems of water scarcity in many parts of the planet make water desalination one of the technological solutions for guaranteeing the fresh water supply. However, desalination processes require high energy consumption, mainly provided by fossil fuels. The integration of renewable energy sources into desalination processes is a promising option for decarbonizing the desalination sector. As most water-scarce regions with access to seawater frequently have high solar irradiation levels, it seems appropriate to exploit the sun to power the desalination process. This work presents the assessment of two integrated solar power and desalination systems regarding efficiency and water production. Two desalination processes (multi-effect distillation and reverse osmosis) are studied for potential coupling with the combined cycle of a central receiver solar plant to produce electricity and freshwater. In the case of the multi-effect distillation plant, it is integrated by replacing the Rankine cycle condenser of the combined cycle. In the case of the reverse osmosis plant, it is powered by the electricity generated from the combined cycle. For this comparison, the 21st of March has been considered as the design point and Almería (in the Southeast of Spain) as the plant location. The results show that the thermal cogeneration option renders a worse outcome (thermal efficiency of 50.2% for LT-MED case) than the decoupled generation of electricity and water (thermal efficiency of 53.3% for RO case), producing 18% less fresh water than the RO configuration (3831 m3/d vs. 4640 m3/d), due to the 6% penalty in the efficiency of the Rankine power cycle in the MED configuration as a result of increasing the condensation temperature from 42.6 °C to 70 °C. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Latest Innovations in Seawater Desalination Processes)
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15 pages, 1642 KiB  
Article
Analysis of Desalination Performance with a Thermal Vapor Compression System
by Zineb Fergani, Zakaria Triki, Rabah Menasri, Hichem Tahraoui, Mohammed Kebir, Abdeltif Amrane, Nassim Moula, Jie Zhang and Lotfi Mouni
Water 2023, 15(6), 1225; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15061225 - 21 Mar 2023
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4704
Abstract
Multi-effect distillation with thermal vapor compression (MED-TVC) is a highly energy-efficient desalination technology that can provide a reliable and sustainable source of high-quality water, particularly in areas with limited energy infrastructure and water resources. In this study, a numerical model based on exergoeconomic [...] Read more.
Multi-effect distillation with thermal vapor compression (MED-TVC) is a highly energy-efficient desalination technology that can provide a reliable and sustainable source of high-quality water, particularly in areas with limited energy infrastructure and water resources. In this study, a numerical model based on exergoeconomic approach is developed to analyze the economic performance of a MED-TVC system for seawater desalination. A parallel/cross feed configuration is considered because of its high energy efficiency. In addition, a parametric study is performed to evaluate the effects of some operational parameters on the total water price, such as the top brine temperature, seawater temperature, motive steam flow rate, and number of effects. The obtained results indicate that the total water price is in the range of 1.73 USD/m3 for a distilled water production of 55.20 kg/s. Furthermore, the exergy destructions in the effects account for 45.8% of the total exergy destruction. The MED effects are also identified to be the most relevant component from an exergoeconomic viewpoint. Careful attention should be paid to these components. Of the total cost associated with the effects, 75.1% is due to its high thermodynamic inefficiency. Finally, the parametric study indicates that adjusting the top brine temperature, the cooling seawater temperature, the motive steam flow rate, and the number of effects has a significant impact on the TWP, which varies between 1.42 USD/m3 and 2.85 USD/m3. Full article
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22 pages, 1633 KiB  
Article
A Sustainable Polygeneration System for a Residential Building
by Javier Uche, Ignacio Zabalza, Luis G. Gesteira, Amaya Martínez-Gracia and Sergio Usón
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(24), 12992; https://doi.org/10.3390/app122412992 - 18 Dec 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2456
Abstract
In line with the decarbonization of the domestic sector to meet the 2050 climate neutrality targets, this paper describes the energy, economic, and environmental analysis of a set of different novel configurations of polygeneration installations to provide electricity, air conditioning, domestic hot water, [...] Read more.
In line with the decarbonization of the domestic sector to meet the 2050 climate neutrality targets, this paper describes the energy, economic, and environmental analysis of a set of different novel configurations of polygeneration installations to provide electricity, air conditioning, domestic hot water, and desalinated water for a building of 80 dwellings. All arrangements were designed to cover 100% of the five demands required in the building with renewable energy only, from photovoltaic (PV) and photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) panels and biomass backup boilers (BB). Electricity can be sold to or purchased from the grid without electrical storage with batteries. Additional electricity generation with thermoelectric generators (TEG) coupled to the PVTs, and the BB was explicitly analyzed. The choice of electrically or thermally activated technologies (heat pump, HP/single-effect absorption chiller, SEAC for cooling and multi-effect distillation, MED/reverse osmosis, RO for desalination) created four configurations from the basic structure based on solar and biomass sources. Thus, the paper has studied four designs in detail and applied them to three case studies corresponding to different locations in Spain. They were modeled with TRNSYS and included specific models for desalination technologies. Both structures provide important energy and CO2 savings concerning the conventional supply of the building demands. The novel life-cycle analysis approach further increases the lifetime CO2 savings for all configurations as well. The electric option (the combination of HP and RO for cooling and desalting) was, by far, the most attractive solution in terms of liability and lower investment required in the three case studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polygeneration, Energy Efficiency, and Sustainability)
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