Solar Seawater Desalination

How It Works

Parabolic Trough Collectors are con­centrating solar radiation to achieve 230° C steam temperat­ure.  A heat accumulator is charged to pro­vide steam 24 hours a day to the multi-effect seawater desalination sys­tem, which requires an uninter­rupted steam supply.  A backup provides minimum steam during bad weather periods.

Parabolic Trough Collectors are tracking the sun to achieve a highly concentrated solar radiation.  The Absorber Tube in the focus converts the radiation into heat.

The Heat Accumulator is a vessel, which is filled with pressurised water at the boiling point.  Steam is gen­er­ated when the system pressure is reduced.

The multi-effect desalination sys­tem is a highly efficient distiller, which recycles the heat internally to achieve a maximum performance.  The advantage of the multi-effect process is the flexible operation and the low minimum steam demand for operation during cloudy weather.

References

Operation experience: Parabolic Trough Col­lec­tors since 1980; heat ac­cu­mu­lator since 1920 and multi-effect distillation since 1970.

Thermal Seawater Desalination System

The operating and maintenance costs are very low as the sun provides energy free of charge.  The system will operate for many years due to the extended life expectancy of the components.

Technical Data

Ruths storage heat accumulator

Heat storage

multi-effect distiller with maximum GOR

Distiller

12,000 m³/day
per km²

Performance

fuel or gas

Backup

120 tons per day

CO2 savings


We are offering accurate planning and simulation of the yearly solar performance to re­duce the invest­ment in the solar seawater de­sal­in­a­tion sys­tem and to minimize the required backup.