Application of the multi-effect process at high temperature for large seawater desalination plants

A large sea water desalination plant, using the multi-effect process at high temperature has been described and a comparison is given with the other distillation processes.The multi-effect plant is easily adaptable in a wide range of operating conditions. It has a low total energy consumption (8.75 KWh per m3 produced (expressed as electrical energy). A high GOR is obtained (12.4). Compared with a MSF of the same production capacity, the investment costs are smaller. This leads to a substantial decrease in cost of the produced water. The technology of horizontal sprayed tubes is a proven one and has been executed more than a hundred times on small and medium units.