Full Solar Desalination Small Plant

The paper presents research to design and develop an efficient stand-alone modular desalination system able to provide sufficient non potable water to satisfy the needs of an average family of four living in Mediterranean arid regions. The arid conditions are not only due to the climatic conditions but are caused by the high water usage. The approach is to use conventional flash evaporation techniques coupled with renewable energy technologies in order to provide the thermal and electrical energies. The flash distillation process involves boiling saltwater and condensing the vapour to produce distilled water. Using spray nozzles and one flash evaporator improves the heat exchange properties of saltwater with internal air for the evaporation of saltwater. The spray-type desalination and vacuum chamber is designed in order to satisfy the full summer non-potable water needs. The performances of the energy supply plant have been investigated by the dynamic simulation code TRNSYS.