Multi-effect distillation

The energy, water and environment nexus is a crucial factor when considering the future development of desalination plants or industry in the water-stressed economies. New generation of desalination processes or plants has to meet the stringent environment discharge requirements and yet the industry

An absorption heat pump coupled to a multi-effect distillation unit is able to recover part of the thermal energy rejected in the distillation process, thus increasing its performance ratio. At the beginning of the nineties, a pilot plant installed at the Plataforma Solar de Almería (CIEMAT, Spain)

A new multi-effect plate evaporator, EasyMED, is presented. This patented process [1] is applicable for seawater desalination using simple and modular technology. Experimental results from the hydrodynamics and thermal performances obtained with a one-effect laboratory unit with 0.4 m3/d distilled w

A thermal seawater desalination plant which utilizes waste heat from flue gases upstream, flue gas desulphurization (FGD), is discussed. This type of “low-grade” heat is suitable for low-temperature desalination technologies such as multi-effect distillation (MED) technology. Two different alternati

In July, 1988, the first start-up of a solar multi-effect distillation system took place at the Plataforma Solar de Almería, a solar research centre located in southeastern Spain, near Almeria. The plant, known as “Sol-14”, is still in operation. The plant was built and connected to the previous exi

The Sol-14 plant is a solar multi-effect distillation system installed at the Plataforma Solar de Almería, a solar research centre located in southeastern Spain, near Almería. In July 1988 the first start-up of the plant took place, which was connected to the previous existing solar facilities. In t

improvements of thermal solar and seawater distillation technologies were considered in order to analyze the perspectives of the competitiveness of solar vs. conventional energy in seawater desalination. Indirect solar desalination has interesting potential for development. Nevertheless, intensive r

During the last decade, intensive research and development have been invested to improve further the advantages of the low-temperature process by increasing the unit’s capacities and decreasing the energy consumption. This paper presents the advantages of the low-temperature distillation process, de