Analysis of water production costs of a nuclear desalination plant with a nuclear heating reactor coupled with MED processes

A nuclear heating reactor (NHR) was designed with the required inherent safety and simplified design features. Power capacity of the NHR-200 (200 MW(th), with steam production of 380 t/h) is compatible with reasonably sized desalination plants. Thermal-hydraulic parameters of the produced steam (2.4 bar and 124°C) are suitable for coupling with distillation processes. Economic competitiveness of the NHR desalination plant is the key point to which the public and decision-makers are paying good deal of attention. Coupling of the NHR with selected MED processes and design parameters of an integrated desalination plant are described. Results of analyses of water production costs are presented as well. Based on the economic evaluation, the average energy cost of the nuclear plant may reach 5.44 $/t of steam, and the provided water production cost may reach 0.72 $/m³ and 0.76 $/m³ for coupling with HT–VTE–MED and LT–HTE–MED processes, respectively.     

An approach to improve the economy of desalination plants with a nuclear heating reactor by coupling with hybrid technologies

In order to investigate the possible approach to increase thermal efficiency of desalination plants, decrease water production costs and further optimize the coupling design of a nuclear heating reactor (NHR) with the desalination process, the coupling schemes of NHR reactors with hybrid desalination technologies were investigated. The cogeneration operation mode was adopted in this investigation. Two coupling schemes were selected for the cogeneration mode: NHR + low-temperature MED+RO and NHR + low-temperature MED+MED/VC. Technical specifications and economic aspects of the investigation are briefly presented in this paper.     

高温多效蒸馏及在核能海水淡化方面的应用

作为安全和清洁的能源,核能大规模应用于海水淡化可以从能源和水安全两个方面有效缓解我国当前面临的严峻形势。清华大学目前正在研究与低温核供热堆耦合的多效蒸发海水淡化技术。作为选择方案之一,高温多效蒸馏海水淡化所需蒸汽参数恰好与核供热堆提供的蒸汽参数一致。因而清华大学在高温多效蒸馏海水淡化研究领域开展了实验和理论研究工作。本文介绍了高温多效蒸馏海水淡化技术的特点,发展情况及目前清华大学开展的有关实验研究的进展。     

Thermal hydraulic performance of a seawater desalination system coupled with a nuclear heating reactor

A physical and mathematical model for the multi-effect distillation process with vertical tube evaporators (VTE—MED) coupled with a nuclear heating reactor (NHR) was described. Results of analysis on thermal hydraulic performances of the NHR—VTE—MED system are provided. Two types of temperature difference distribution schemes (equal temperature difference and in-section equal heat transfer area) were adopted for the thermal hydraulic performance analysis. Heat transfer coefficient, heat transfer area, and production of potable water in every effect were analyzed. The analysis shows that the GOR in the NHR—VTE—MED system for the two types of temperature difference distribution schemes studied can reach 20.     

LTE desalination utilizing waste heat from a nuclear research reactor

Nuclear reactors produce significant amounts of low-quality waste heat which can be utilized for producing high-quality water from seawater by coupling a low-temperature evaporation (LTE) desalination unit. Salient features of the desalination plant, the nuclear research reactor and the waste heat utilization from the reactor are discussed. The scheme of integrating desalination plants with the nuclear research reactors is also presented. This LTE desalination plant utilizing waste heat from a nuclear research reactor will be the first of its kind while demonstrating the safety and economics of nuclear desalination technology as a viable alternative to producing demineralised water from seawater.     

核供热堆—多效蒸发海水淡化流程

核供热反应堆技术的发展给海水淡化提供了经济、安全的新热源；核能供热和海水淡化联合系统为解决北方沿海城市供暖与供水提供了很好的途径，带吸收式热的多效蒸发淡化工艺是值得探讨的海水处理工艺流程。     

Economic evaluation of seawater desalination for a nuclear heating reactor with multi-effect distillation

Seawater desalination for low temperature nuclear heat reactor (NHR) has been studied for many years in China and other countries in the world, such as Morocco, and five countries in North Africa. Now, the feasibility studies of nuclear desalination demonstration plants are being performed using NHR with 200 MW thermal coupling to a multi-effect distillation (MED) plant, with a production of 160,000 m³/d (NHR-200) in Yintai City, Shandong province and Tianjin City on the coastal area in eastern China. This paper presents the economic assessment of the NHR-200 in Tianjin City, and reviews the economics of the different power sizes of NHR coupling to the MED, e.g. NHR-10, NHR-200, double NHR-200 in North Africa, the Middle East, the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf. It is very suitable to satisfy the site of no great electric grid, drought and scarce of freshwater for the characteristics of NHR with safe, clean and low total investment.     

Potential of heat pipe technology in nuclear seawater desalination

Heat pipe technology may play a decisive role in improving the overall economics, and public perception on nuclear desalination, specifically on seawater desalination. When coupled to the Low-Temperature Multi-Effect Distillation process, heat pipes could effectively harness most of the waste heat generated in various types of nuclear power reactors. Indeed, the potential application of heat pipes could be seen as a viable option to nuclear seawater desalination where the efficiency to harness waste heat might not only be enhanced to produce larger quantities of potable water, but also to reduce the environmental impact of nuclear desalination process. Furthermore, the use of heat pipe-based heat recovery systems in desalination plant may improve the overall thermodynamics of the desalination process, as well as help to ensure that the product water is free from any contamination which occur under normal process, thus preventing operational failure occurrences as this would add an extra loop preventing direct contact between radiation and the produced water. In this paper, a new concept for nuclear desalination system based on heat pipe technology is introduced and the anticipated reduction in the tritium level resulting from the use of heat pipe systems is discussed.     

Preliminary experimental study of a small reverse osmosiswind-powered desalination plant

The paper describes the work carried out in the development of a small wind-powered desalination plant. Analternative control system was studied to serve as a direct interphase between a reverse osmosis desalination plant and a small wind energy conversion system. The main purpose was to reduce or eliminate the need for an energy storage system (usually, a battery bank). In order to achieve this objective, an experimental prototype of a desalination plant and a wind generator simulator were developed. The systems were evaluated under laboratory-controlled conditions and subjected to field trials. The experimental plant desalinates highly saline seawater (35,000 mg/L) at a rate of approximately 0.4 m³/d. This amount of potable water is sufficient to supply the basic water demands in a small community in an isolated location. The paper also describes the identification of technical problems associated with operating a desalination plant with an intermittent source of energy (wind).     

Seawater integrated desalination plant without brine discharge and powered by renewable energy systems

Environmental effects are one of the main concerns of massive desalination facilities. To reach the objective of no brine discharge the salt from seawater must be completely separated and obtained as a secondary and valuable product. If no CO₂ emission increase is desired, the power source must be a combination of renewable energy systems (RES). This paper presents an analysis of an integrated desalination scheme consisting of two sequential systems: a multi-effect distillation (MED) plant and a mechanical vapour compression (MVC) system based on evaporator equipment. The energy is obtained by several wind turbines (WT) and a thermal solar collector (TSC) field. Separation of salt and water is achieved in a coupled multi-effect distillation-mechanical vapour compression (MED+MVC) two step process. The MED stage is driven by thermal solar collectors, whereas the energy consuming mechanical compression of the vapour (MVC) is fuelled by wind-powered turbines. Interestingly, the final products of this process are dry salt and fresh water. Such a system has been designed and dimensioned for a throughput of 100 m³/h of desalted water A preliminary study of the investment, amortization and exploitation costs of a combined MED+MVC+WT+TSC installation with these dimensions has been done. The price of desalted water, after considering the profits due to the sale of salt and electricity has been estimated at 0.59 ?/m³. If the initial investment has a 35% subsidy, a final price of 0.41 ?/m³ could be ensured, which is near the price associated to conventional energy sources. An outline of the solar collector system and the technical requirements of the wind turbines in needed to meet the energy demand of the MED+MVC system are also included.     

竖管多效蒸发海水淡化系统的启动特性

建立大型竖管多效蒸发海水淡化系统的动态启动控制模型,通过数值分析研究,对系统的启动过程和启动特性进行理论探索.分析了初始原料海水流量以及最高饱和温度等运行参数的选择对系统启动过程的影响.研究了启动阶段,原料海水流量与系统的造水比以及启动时间之间的耦合影响;计算结果为原料海水流量的优化提供了依据.研究还表明,在启动之初,系统即可稳定地承担作为热源的低温核供热堆的额定产热量,显示该系统和核供热堆具有良好的耦合特性.建立的启动模型在经过实验验证加以完善之后,可以作为分析系统动态运行特性的理论基础.     

海水淡化的现状与未来

本文介绍了近来主要海水淡化方法－ＳＷＲＯ、ＭＳＦ、ＭＥＤ的某些新进展。海水淡化市场的激烈竞争和海水淡化技术进步,尤其是ＳＷＲＯ的进展,使淡化的能耗下降了近一半,产水的出厂价也几乎下降了一半。     

Distillation vs. membrane filtration: overview of process evolutions in seawater desalination

The worldwide need for fresh water requires more and more plants for the treatment of non-conventional water sources. During the last decades, seawater has become an important source of fresh water in many arid regions. The traditional desalination processes [reverse osmosis (RO), multi stage flash (MSF), multi effect distillation (MED), electrodialysis (ED)] have evoluated to reliable and established processes; current research focuses on process improvements in view of a lower cost and a more environmentally friendly operation. This paper provides an overview of recent process improvements in seawater desalination using RO, MSF, MED and ED. Important topics that are discussed include the use of alternative energy sources (wind energy, solar energy, nuclear energy) for RO or distillation processes, and the impact of the different desalination process on the environment; the implementation of hybrid processes in seawater desalination; pretreatment of desalination plants by pressure driven membrane processes (microfiltration, ultrafiltration and nanofiltration) compared to chemical pretreatment; new materials to prevent corrosion in distillation processes; and the prevention of fouling in reverse osmosis units. These improvements contribute to the cost effectiveness of the desalination process, and ensure a sustainable production of drinking water on long terms in regions with limited reserves of fresh water.     

LCA tool for the environmental evaluation of potable water production

Environmental impact assessment will soon become a compulsory phase in future potable water production projects, especially when alternative treatment processes such as desalination are considered. An impact assessment tool is therefore developed for the environmental evaluation of potable water production. The evaluation method used is the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. The quick and easy assessment of energetic and environmental performances contributes to determine the weak points of potable water production processes or the best suited treatment in a specific context. Studies of some potable water supply scenarios (groundwater treatment, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, seawater reverse osmosis and thermal distillation associated to water transfer) are presented in order to illustrate the environmental information drawn from this tool. The main source of impacts is shown to be electricity production for plant operation. Improvement levers are presented for impact reduction and for the objective comparison between alternative and conventional water treatment processes.     

Ocean thermal energy and desalination

In 1881, the French physicist d'Arsonval was the first to suggest the harnessing of the temperature difference between the warm surface layers and cold deep layers of tropical oceans. Since then, several attempts have been made to convert this undepletable supply of thermal potential energy into mechanical energy and, later, into electricity. In recent years, various countries including France have launched thermal energy conversion (OTEC) programmes. Tropical regions with useful temperature differences often lack both conventional energy resources and potable water. In such regions, OTEC plants could be used with advantage for the simultaneous production of power and desalinated seawater.An original seawater distillation scheme using surface water and the cold reject stream from an OTEC cycle is discussed. Power not required for distillation may be exported outside the plant. The combined distillation and OTEC scheme is compared with conventional desalination plant producing both potable water and electricity. The OTEC scheme appears highly flexible and shows considerable economic promise.     

Hybrid systems in seawater desalination—practical design aspects, present status and development perspectives

Ever since seawater desalination has been applied on an industrial scale, and particular in the countries of the Arabian Gulf, the application of desalination processes in dual-purpose facilities—water and power—as a hybrid configuration has been discussed in many feasibility investigations and also planning concepts. It is above all the combination of reverse osmosis with thermal processes that has found increasing interest with the aim of ensuring, as economically as possible, uniform water supplies under the specific, greatly varying load conditions in the Gulf countries. Such design concepts for hybrid configurations encompass straightforward structures with a low degree of coupling between membrane and thermal desalination processes, but range up to very complex configurations with strong interconnections on both the water side and thermally, as well as with several desalination processes connected in series or in parallel. Classical hybrid concepts in which the permeate from an RO desalination component is mixed with distillate from thermal desalination have already been implemented in Saudi Arabian dual-purpose plants, like Jeddah and Yanbu-Medina. Although hybrid systems of greater complexity have been addressed in many design studies and publications, up to now none has been brought to fruition. Coming into consideration asthe design basis for determining the capacity shares of the various desalination processes operated in a hybrid configuration are: arrangement of thermal cycle of the power plant component; water/power ratio of the dual-purpose seawater desalination and power plant; provision of undiminished water production of the desalination plant as electricity generation varies; provision of a specified drinking water quality with regard to composition and salt content; combination of all these aspects. Also gaining in importance are concerns of environmental pollution and sustainable development when selecting seawater desalination and power plant configurations, as well as their optimization when considering desalination and electricity generation as a whole. In the practical design of hybrid membrane and thermal systems, aspects come to light, though, that restrict linking of the two systems and joint utilization of facilities, as conceived in studies and conceptual design investigations. This applies both for common utilization of intakes and the use of heated up cooling water from thermal processes as a feed stream for the RO part of the desalination process. Additionally, requirements of drinking water composition, particularly chloride content, TDS and compliance with a specific residual content of boron, influence specifically the design of the membrane process part and its share in the total desalination capacity. Such practical aspects have greatly influenced the design and configuration of the Fujairah hybrid plant for which, from a total desalination capacity of 100 MIGD (454,600 m³/d), the share of 37.5 MIGD (170,500 m³/d) makes its seawater RO plant the biggest currently being constructed anywhere in the world. From the findings of the engineering of this plant and the idea that, by increasing interconnection between the two processes on the water side, it is possible to advance a hybrid configuration of this type with regard to cost optimization in the membrane installation, but also by joint utilization of the intake equipment, perspectives result for applied research efforts over the near and long terms, for example: long-term behavior of membranes at elevated temperatures; tendency for biofouling in membrane process with common utilization of cooling water and brine; influences of such interconnections on the overall availability of the facility. But also for the operation and maintenance organization of such large facilities, consequences can be foreseen for the future development of hybrid plants, particularly for operation management and organisation of the interplay of the different power plant and desalination systems, monitoring of SWRO membrane replacement and cleaning, as well as controlling water quality.     

New seawater composite membranes with large surface areas

Hydranautics has launched the new seawater composite SWC3+ and SWC4+ high surface area membranes for desalination duties. With 37 m² (400 ft² of membrane surface area per element, the new SWC membranes are engineered for making potable water in tough demanding environments.Visit www.filtsep.com for the latest filtration industry news     

Energy advantages of reverse osmosis in seawater desalination

The very rapid increase in energy costs during the past three years is causing a change in the preferred process technology for seawater desalination. The phase changes, evaporation, and condensation, required in the distillation processes make them more energy intensive than the ambient temperature liquid separation that occurs in the reverse osmosis (RO) process. This paper describes the RO process and how to calculate its energy consultation.The RO process requires only 5–7 KWh/m³ of product water compared to 15–16 KWh/m³ required by the most efficient distillation process. The productivity of a large dual purpose electricity/RO water plant is compared to the productivity of a commercially purchased state-of-the-art dual purpose electric/distillation water plant that is currently under construction. The RO potable water productivity is about 2X the distillate flow at the same fuel rate