Desa lina t ion a nd Wa t er Trea t ment

w w w.d eswater.com

33 (2011) 300308
Septem ber

1944-3994 / 1944-3986 2011 Desalination Pu blications. All righ ts reserved .

d oi: 10.5004/d w t.2011.2653

Stu d y of steam p aram eters on the perform ance

of a TVC-MED d esalination p lant
Shengqiang Shen*, Shihe Zhou, Yong Yang, Lu openg Yang, Xiaohu a Liu
Key Laboratory of Liaoning Province for Desalination, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Dalian University of Technology,
Dalian 116024, China
Tel. +86 (411) 84708464; Fax +86 (411) 84707963; email: zzbshen@dlut; email: zzbshen@dlut.edu.cn, zhoushihe2006@163.com
Received 30 N ovember 2010; Accepted in revised form 11 May 2011

a bst r ac t
For a d ual-p urp ose power p lant with low temperature multi-e ect distillation (LT-MED) d esalination plant, the heating steam is normally extracted from steam tu rbine with p ressu re mu ch higher
than need ed . In ord er to u se the steam energy more e ciently, the thermal vapor compressor (TVC)
is normally ad opted to form the vap or recircu lation u tilization. A mathematical m od el for a mu ltie ect d esalination with thermal vapor comp ression (MED-TVC) d esalination p lant was d eveloped
and the m od el valid ity was examined by com paring w ith a commercial MED-TVC p lant which
showed good results in this pap er. It also presents the performance calculation of the MED-TVC
d esalination system with di erent steam p ressures and temperatures. With higher steam pressu re,
the gained ou tpu t ratio (GOR) of the d esalination p lant cou ld get higher values. The recirculation
p osition of vapor in a m ulti-e ect distillation system has a great e ect on the GOR as well.
Keywords: Desalination; Mu lti-e ect d istillation; Thermal vap or compressor; Gained ou tp ut ratio

1. In trod u ction
During the last few years, rap id d evelop m ents have
occurred in the MED d esalination system becau se new
d esigns w ith operation at a low er top brine tem p erature
(TBT) and the u ses of cheaper m aterial and TVC solved
the scaling problem and red u ced the expend iture cost.
It has a lower need for heating steam and electricity in
com parison w ith the other d esalination system su ch as
m u lti-stage ash (MSF) and reverse osm osis (RO) [1].
Many researches have been carried out for the related topics. Darw ish and El-Dessouky [2] com pared the econom y
of the MED, MSF, and MEDTVC system, and the results
show the lowest u nit p rod u ct cost for MEDTVC, fol-

low ed by MEE and MSF su ccessively. El-Dessou ky and

E ou ney et al stu d ied the single e ect therm al vap or
com pression, single e ect vapor com pression system s,
MED com bined w ith heat p um p s, and m echanical vap or com pression, [36]. Results of these stud ies show a
large enhancem ent in the perform ance of MED system s
com bined w ith vap or com pression in com p arison w ith
stand -alone MED and the ad vantage of MED-TVC for
high-cap acity d esalination system s.
H am ed perform ed the stu d y of the e ect of d i erent
p rocess variables on the p erform ance of the MED system
as nu m ber of e ects, TBT, inlet seawater and the am ou nt
of prod u ct. The d epend ence of the water produ ction cost
on the perform ance of the plant was also stud ied [7]. The
resu lts show that the perform ance ratio is highly d epen-

* Correspond ing au thor.

Presented at the 3rd International Desalination Workshop (IDW 2010), November 36, 2010, Jeju, Korea
Organized by Center for Seawater Desalination Plant and European Desalination Society

S. Shen et al. / Desalination and Water Treatment 33 (2011) 300308

d ent on the nu m ber of e ect, and both the inlet seawater

tem p eratu re and TBT are slightly a ected on the p lant
p erform ance ratio. Am eri et al. [8] presented a concep tu al d esign for a fou r-e ect MED system w ith TVC. The
resu lts show that w hen the heating steam tem perature
is assu m ed to be constant, TBT has a m inor e ect on the
performance ratio (PR), while heat transfer surface signi cantly d ecreases w ith increasing TBT. Am eri [9] stu d ied
e ect of inlet steam pressu re on PR, the requ ired heat
transfer surface area of the plant and the cooling seawater
m ass ow rate for a MED-TVC d esalination system w ith
a p rod u ction rate of 2000 m 3/d . The resu lts show that an
in crease in boiler p ressu re increases the p erform ance
ratio, d ecreases the cooling seaw ater m ass ow rate,
and brings abou t the increase at 1% in total heat transfer
area. The selection of the best valu e for boiler pressu re
requires econom ical op tim ization includ ing the e ect of
p ressu re on the boiler s capital and op eration costs. Kam ali et al. [10,11] d eveloped a m athematical sim u lation
m odel for MED-TVC system s and analyzed the e ect of
the num ber of evap orators, heating steam tem perature
of the rst e ect evap orator, and concentration ratio on
the GOR resp ectively. Am er [12] d evelop ed a stead y
state m ath em atical m od el of the MED-TVC d esalination system , and solved an optim ization problem of the
m athem atical m od el u sing a MATLAB algorithm . The
op tim u m op erating and d esign cond itions of the system
are the maxim u m gain ratio varied between 8.5 and 18.5
for 4 and 12 e ects w ith the optimal top brine tem perature
ranging betw een 55.8 and 67.5C.
The MED d esalination p lant is normally built w ith a
p ower p lant to form a d ual-p u rpose power p lant for its
econom y and therm al e ciency. In this case, the heating

Fig. 1. Schematics of the MED-TVC system.

301

steam for a MED d esalination p lant is extracted from

steam turbine norm ally w ith mu ch higher p ressu re and
tem p eratu re than the d esalination plant need ed . For the
enhancem ent of the energy u tilization e ciency, a TVC
could be used to make the vapor recycle as the p ressu re
red u cer. Since the perform ance of a TVC is controlled
by the p ressu res of entrained vapor and m otive steam ,
the therm od ynam ic state of the heating steam and the
p osition of TVC in a MED d esalination p lant w ill a ect
its perform ance signi cantly and w ill d ecid e the GOR
of a MED-TVC d esalination p lant. Therefore the heating
steam parameters and the TVC suction position in a MED
system are concerned by both acad em ic researchers and
engineers. This pap er presents the e ect of heating steam
p ressu re and tem p eratu re on the perform ance of a MEDTVC d esalination plant. In ad d ition, the inu ence by the
variou s recircu lation position of vapor on the GOR is also
analyzed . The p arallel feed MED m od el by El-Dessou ky
and E ou ney [13] and the TVC m od el by Shen [14,15]
p rovid e the basis for the d evelopm ent of the MED-TVC
sim ulation.
2. Process d escrip tion
A schem atic of the MED-TVC d esalination system is
show n in Fig. 1. It includ es mainly evaporators, a TVC and
an end cond enser. Other auxiliary equ ip m ents inclu d e
d istillate ashing boxes, brine ashing boxes, a venting
system , sea water feed ing, and brine and d istillate exp elling facilities.
For a low tem peratu re MED d esalination plant, the
heating steam should be satu rated and the tem peratu re
should not be higher than 70C. As the external heat, the

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S. Shen et al. / Desalination and Water Treatment 33 (2011) 300308

steam extracted m ay be from a turbine or other steam

su pp lier, so it is norm ally m u ch higher than need ed . The
high pressure steam w ill be taken as the m otive steam
of the TVC. Th e m ixtu re of m otive steam an d vap or
su cked by the TVC from k-e ect evaporator is taken as
the heating steam of the rst e ect evaporator of the MED
d esalination p lant. This entrainm ent process of the TVC
red uces the need for external steam by reu sing vapor as
the heating steam . Therefore it red u ces the consu m p tion
of input energy. The entrainm ent ratio of a TVC is de ned
as the m ass ow ratio of the entrained vap or to the m otive steam . The higher the entrainm ent ratio, the lower
the consum p tion of external steam for a certain am ou nt
of heating steam . The pressu re of the mixed steam at the
d ischarge connection is set to that correspond ing to the
saturation tem p erature of steam for the rst e ect evap orator, w hich is higher than the su ction vapor pressure
and lower than m otive steam pressure. The d ischarge
steam , w hich is sup erheated , passes throu gh the d esuperheater and leaves as saturated steam by mixing w ith
the satu rated water. Though the process in a TVC is not
high e cient, the therm al com p ressor increases the GOR
of the d esalination plant and redu ces the steam consum ption signi cantly.

3. M ath em atical m od elin g

A m athem atical m od el of the MED-TVC d esalination
system as show n in Fig. 1 is presented in this section. To
simplify the analysis, it is assumed that the system is operated at stead y-state conditions. Features of the d eveloped
m athem atical m od els are as follow s:
Therm od ynam ic losses are consid ered in the m od el,
w hich inclu d e the boiling p oint elevation w ith the
tem peratu re and salinity, non-equilibrium allowance
insid e evaporators and ashing boxes, tem p eratu re
d ep ression corresp ond ing to the p ressu re d rop from
evaporation to cond ensation.
As the stand ard p ractice in d esign of d esalination
p lant, constant and equ al heat transfer areas in all
e ect evap orators before TVC suction point (vapor
recircu lation position) and evap orators behind TVC
su ction point respectively are consid ered .
Physical properties of water and vap or are taken as
a fu nction of tem p eratu re and p ressu re, and variable
physical properties of seawater and brine w ith tem peratu re and salinity are consid ered .
Based on the assum ptions above, the m ass and energy
conservation equ ation s for each e ect evap orator are
d eveloped , sim ilar to those presented by El-Dessou ky et
al. [13] for parallel/cross ow system . The calcu lations
of som e p aram eters are presented in this pap er, w hich
d eserve to p ay special a ention for a MED system w ith
the TVC.

The heating steam ow rate of the rst e ect evaporator is as follow s:

M1 = M m + M s + M w

(1)

w here M is the m ass ow rate. The subscripts m, s and w

are the m otive steam , the suction vap or and satu ration
water sprayed in the d esu perheaters. The valu e of M w
d ep end s on the su p erheating d egree and ow rate of
the d ischarge steam and the m otive steam of the TVC.
The heating steam ow rate of the rst e ect evaporator behind the vap or recircu lation p osition is
M k+1 = M e ,k + M b, k + M d ,k M s

(2)

The su bscrip ts k, e, b, d, s are resp ectively th e e ect

nu m ber of the evap orators at the vap or recircu lation
position, vap or generated on the surface of horizontal
tu be bu nd les, vap or from brine ashing in nu m ber k
evap orator and from nu m ber k d istillate ashing box,
and vapor su cked by the TVC.
The inlet seawater m ass ow rate of the cond enser
is as follow s:
M con = M f + M r

(3)

w here the su bscripts con, f and r are the inlet seawater of

the cond enser, the feed seawater into the evaporators and
the rejected seawater w hich takes som e heat away from
the cond enser. As for a system w ith constant prod u ction
capacity and concentration ratio, M con is an ind icator for
reecting the therm al loss of the cond enser becau se the
feed seawater rem ains the sam e.
Som e evalu ation param eters for a MED d esalination
plant are as follow s. The gained and ou tp u t ratio is
GOR =

MD
M m + M NCG

(4)

w here M N CG and M D are resp ectively the m ass ow rates

of the steam extracting the non-cond ensable gases and
the total d istillate. The sp eci c energy consu m ption is
en =

M m ( hm h0 )

(5)

MD

w here hm and h0 are sp eci c enthalp y of the m otive steam

and the cond ensate in the environm ental cond ition. The
d e nition of speci c exergy consu m ption is
ex =

Ex ,m
MD

( hm h0 ) T0 ( s s0 )

Mm

MD

(6)

w here Ex,m and s are exergy and entrop y of the m otive

steam . s0 is entropy of the ou tlet cond ensate as saturated
liqu id at th e am bien t tem p eratu re. Th e sp eci c heat
transfer area as the equip m ent cost criteria is
n

ASHTA =

A
=
MD

+ Ac

i =1

MD

(7)

S. Shen et al. / Desalination and Water Treatment 33 (2011) 300308

303

Fig. 2. Schematics of the thermal com pressor.

w here A is the total heat transfer area, inclu d ing the heat

4. Solu tion p roced u re

transfer areas of evaporators Ai and the heat transfer

i =1
area of cond enser Ac.
The d iagram of the TVC ad op ted in this system is
show n in Fig. 2. The m athem atical mod el for its p erform an ce calcu lation w as d evelop ed in th e p reviou s
p ublication [14,15].
The d e nition of entrainm ent ratio :
=

Ms
Mm

(8)

The calcu lation form u la of entrainment ratio is

K1
=

a m*
ad *

K3 d 3

K4 d 3 K2

as *
ad *

(9)
s2

w here Ki (i = 1 4) is velocity coe cient, a is critical velocity, * is critical value, is sup er cial isentrop ic velocity.
The su bscrip ts d and s m ean the d ischarge steam and
su ction vap or resp ectively. Besid es, the subscrip ts 2 and
3 are the section positions in Fig. 2.

A com puter p rogram is d eveloped based on the m athem atical mod el using Visual Basic 6.0, w hose ow chart
is show n in Fig. 3.
Th e valid ation of th e sim u lation resu lts w as accom plished by com paring w ith the MED p lant built in
H u anghua, China. Its d istillate prod uction is 10,000 t/d
w ith 4 e ect evaporators. The resu lts of the com parison
are listed in Table 1.
At the sam e given p aram eters, the relative errors of
p aram eters in clu d in g d istillate p rod u ction, GOR an d
heat transfer area of evap orator are 0.02%, 1.08% and
5.06% resp ectively. Th e resu lts of th e m ath em atical
m od el sim u lations sh ow a good agreem en t w ith th e
actu al p lant. Thu s it can be veri ed that the calcu lation
m ethod is accu rate and reliable for engineering practice.
A 10-e ect d esalination system w ith 10,000 m 3/d prod u ction is taken as the exam ple to stud y e ects of steam
param eters and recircu lation p osition (pressu re) of vapor
on the system p erform ance. The requ ired inp ut variables
are su m m arized in Table 2.

Table 1
Mathem atical mod el sim u lations against the commercial p lant
Parameters

Actual

Mod el

Error (%)

Nu mber of evap orator e ect

Seawater temp erature, C
Seawater salinity, ppm
Feed water temp eratu re, C
Heating steam temp eratu re, C
The last e ect temp erature Tn, C
Distillate prod u ction, t/d
GOR
Heat transfer area of evaporator, m 2

4
25
36,000
52.6(1th)/48(2th4th)
65
51.8
10,000
8.33
10,188

4
25
36,000
52.6(1th)/48(2th4th)
65
51.8
9998.4
8.42
9672

0.02
1.08
5.06

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S. Shen et al. / Desalination and Water Treatment 33 (2011) 300308

Fig. 3. A schematic of programm ing ow chart.

S. Shen et al. / Desalination and Water Treatment 33 (2011) 300308

Table 2
The requ ired inpu t param eters for the program
Parameters

Valu e

Prod u ction capacity, m 3/d

Nu mber of evap orator e ect
Seawater temp erature, C
Seawater salinity(Xf), p pm
Feed water temp eratu re, C
Concentration ratio
Heating steam temp eratu re, C
Motive steam pressure, MPa
Motive steam temperatu re, C
Recircu lation position of vap or
Heat transfer tu bes length, m
Tu be outer rad iu s, m
Rad iation loss, %
Tn in the last e ect, C

10000
10
20
32,000
38
2.0
68
0.31.0
133300
610
8.0
0.025
2.0
43

5. Resu lts an d d iscu ssion

The e ects of m otive steam p ressure on the perform ance of MED-TVC system are show n in Figs. 47. The
recircu lation p osition of vapor is set behind the 6th e ect
evaporator. The motive steam tem perature is corresp ond ing to the saturation p ressu re.
In Fig. 4, the entrainm ent ratio of TVC and the GOR
of the d esalination plant increase w ith the enhancem ent
of m otive steam p ressu re. The m otive steam w ith higher
p ressu re w ill have higher working ability to enhance the
vapor recycling am ount. With m ore recircu lation vap or
am ou nt, the therm al loss in the end cond enser w ill be
red uced and less m otive steam is need ed . This m akes
the GOR of the d esalination p lant increased . With higher
m otive steam p ressu re, althou gh the amou nt of requ ired

Fig. 4. E ect of motive steam p ressu re on entrainment ratio

and the GOR.

305

extern al steam is d ecreased , the heatin g steam M1 to

the rst e ect evaporator increases. This means that the
evaporators before the recirculation position w ill be larger
and the evap orators behind the recircu lation p osition
w ill be sm aller.
The e ects of m otive steam pressure on speci c exergy
consum ption and speci c energy consum ption are shown
in Fig. 5. As is show n that, with higher m otive steam p ressure, the speci c energy consu m p tion becom es lower,
w hile speci c exergy consum ption increases. The speci c
enthalp y of m otive steam increases w ith the rising pressu re correspond ingly. The increasing rate of the sp eci c
enthalp y is less than the d ecreasing rate of the am ou nt
of requ ired m otive steam , so that the sp eci c energy
consum ption d ecreases. The speci c energy consu mption
and the speci c exergy consu m p tion reect the energy
consu m p tion characteristics of the MED-TVC system
from quantity and qu ality aspects respectively. For a d ual
p urp ose power p lant, the exergy consum ption of a MED
d esalination plant cou ld p robably be taken as a be er
energy consu m ption ind ex since the exergy consum p tion
is positive to the power generation.
The increasing of the entrainm ent ratio increases the
am ou nt of steam su cked out from the 6th e ect evap orator and d ecreases the ow rate of steam to the cond enser,
w hich cu ts d ow n the cond enser inlet seawater m ass ow
rate as it is show n in Fig. 6.The e ect of m otive steam
p ressu re on sp eci c heat transfer area is show n in Fig. 7.
It d em onstrates a sm all red uction of speci c heat transfer
area by 2% ap p roxim ately w ith the increase of m otive
steam p ressu re from 0.3 MPa to 1.0 MPa. With m otive
steam p ressu re rising, the raised entrainm ent ratio of
TVC cau ses the cutd ow n of the generated vap or in the
last e ect evap orator, w hich resu lts in the d ecreasing of
the heat transfer area of the cond enser. As m entioned
before, the area of evaporators before the vapor recircula-

Fig. 5. E ects of m otive steam p ressu re on sp eci c exergy

consu mption and sp eci c energy consum ption.

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S. Shen et al. / Desalination and Water Treatment 33 (2011) 300308

Fig. 6. E ects of motive steam p ressure on cond enser inlet

seawater mass ow rate.

tion p osition is larger and the area of evaporators behind

the vapor recirculation p osition is smaller. As a result, the
sp eci c heat transfer area d ecreases.
Obviously, the advantages of increasing m otive steam
pressure inclu de the increase of the GOR, the red uction of
sp eci c energy consum p tion and cooling seawater m ass
ow rate and sp eci c heat transfer area. On the other
hand , its d isad vantage is the increase in sp eci c exergy
consump tion, w hich also a ects the p ower prod uction for
a d u al-pu rp ose p ower p lant. Therefore, fu rther analysis
and evalu ation for the p aram eter is necessary.
The op tim al range of TVC com p ression ratio is betw een 1.81 and 3.68 for 412 e ects of the MED-TVC
system [12]. Referring to the literatu re, the ap p licable
range of su ction steam p ressu r e is betw een 0.00806
and 0.0158 MPa w hen the m otive steam p ressu re is set
at 1.0 MPa in this p ap er. Therefore, th e recircu lation
positions of vap or are behind the 10th6th e ect, corre-

Fig. 8. E ects of su ction steam temperature on motive steam

mass ow rate and entrainment ratio .

Fig. 7. Effects of m otive steam p ressu re and su ction steam

temp erature on sp ecific heat transfer area.

sp ond ing to the suction steam tem p eratu re ts of 43, 45.5,

48, 50.5 and 53C resp ectively. The inu ences of vap or
recircu lation position on the p erform ance of the MEDTVC d esalination system are d em onstrated in Figs. 711.
The p aram eters of m otive steam are 1.0 MPa and 300C
in Figs. 8, 9 and 11. The m otive steam p ressu re of Fig. 10
is 1.0 MPa.
As show n in Fig. 8, w ith su ction steam tem perature
increasing, the entrainm ent ratio gets higher valu es and
the m otive steam m ass ow rate d ecreases. It is show n in
Fig. 9 that both speci c energy consu m ption and sp eci c
exergy consu m ption becom e low er w ith su ction steam
pressu re increasing. Based on Eqs. (5) and (6), it is caused
by the d ecreasing m otive steam m ass ow rate at the
sam e m otive steam p ressu re and p rod u ction cap acity.

Fig. 9. E ects of su ction steam temp eratu re on speci c exergy

consum ption and speci c energy consump tion.

S. Shen et al. / Desalination and Water Treatment 33 (2011) 300308

307

Fig. 10. E ects of su ction steam temp erature and d egree of

su perheat of motive steam on the GOR.

Fig. 11. E ect of su ction steam temp eratu re of the cond enser
inlet seawater mass ow rate.

The e ect of suction steam tem p erature on sp eci c heat

transfer area is also show n in Fig. 7. The d ecrem ent of
speci c heat transfer area is d ue to the raised entrainm ent
ratio as the suction steam p ressu re is higher, sim ilar to
that of the m otive steam p ressu re increasing. Actu ally, it
red uces the am ou nt of vapor entering the cond enser so
that the heat transfer area of the cond enser also decreases.
The change tren d s of th e GOR w ith su p erheatin g
d egrees of motive steam and su ction steam tem peratu re
are d em onstrated in Fig. 10. The GOR becom es higher
w hen the sup erheating d egree of m otive steam is raised .
The value of the GOR arises w ith the increases in suction steam tem p eratu re, but the grow ing rate d ecreases
grad u ally. It is cau sed by two reasons: (1) The increasing
entrainm ent ratio w ith su ction steam tem p eratu re resu lts in higher reu se of the prod uced vap or, w hich w ill
cause a higher GOR. (2) The evap orators ahead of the
recirculation position have m ore contribu tion to d istillate
p rodu ction than the ones behind it du e to the existence of
the su ction vap or. The fu rther forward the recirculation
p osition, the less the nu m ber of evap orators ahead of the
recirculation position, w hich m ay m ake the grow ing rate
of the GOR d ecrease.
The e ect of su ction steam tem peratu re on the cond enser inlet seawater mass ow rate is show n in Fig. 11.
The increasing entrainm ent ratio w ith the grow th of suction steam tem p erature increases the vapor recircu lation
am ou nt and d ecreases the cooling load of the cond enser.
Accord ing to Eq. (3), the therm al loss in the cond enser
is d ecreasing as a resu lt. Du e to the given prod u ction
cap acity and concentration ratio, th e d em an d for the
feed seawater of the d esalination system is 231.5 kg/s.
The valu es in Figs. 6 and 11 are calculated accord ing
to the therm al balance of the cond enser. Therefore, the
point w ith lower values than the dem and in Figs. 6 and 11
should be revised to 231.5 kg/s in the practical operation.

With a TVC in the MED d esalination p lant, m ost, or even

the total, of the cooling water of cond enser w ill be used
as the feed ing water. The therm al loss by cooling water
is less than the sim ple MED system .
It is observed that the GOR gets higher and the speci c
heat transfer area and the cooling water of cond enser are
cu t d ow n as the suction steam p ressu re rises. Therefore,
the optimal suction steam tem perature is 53C behind the
6th , in the ap plicable range of the TVC and the m aximum
gained outpu t ratio is 14.1 corresp ond ingly for a given
system as Table 2.
6. Con clu sion s
A m athem atical m od el of the MED-TVC d esalination
system was d evelop ed in this paper and its valid ity is
exam ined by com paring w ith a com m ercial MED d esalination system w hich show ed good coherence. From the
calculation, the follow ing are conclu d ed for the 10-e ect
MED-TVC desalination system as Table 2:
1. The enhancem ent of the m otive p ressu re w ill increase
the GOR, d ecrease the cond enser inlet seawater m ass
ow rate, the sp eci c energy consum p tion and the
speci c heat transfer area, w hich cou ld red uce the
exp en d itu re cost. The increasin g of su p erh eatin g
d egrees of m otive steam can also bene t for the GOR.
2. The m otive steam w ith high pressure and high tem p eratu re w ill raise the speci c exergy consu m p tion.
For a d ual p urp ose plant, the optim al m otive steam
p ressu re and tem perature need s to balance the electricity generation and the p erform ance of TVC-MED
system . Th erefore, an econ om ical analysis for the
w hole system is necessary in fu rther analysis.
3. An increase in suction steam tem peratu re cuts d ow n
the speci c energy consu m ption, the speci c exergy
consum p tion, the cooling load of the cond enser and

308

S. Shen et al. / Desalination and Water Treatment 33 (2011) 300308

the sp eci c heat transfer area. The valu e of the GOR

arises w ith the increases in su ction steam tem peratu re. The op tim al su ction steam temperatu re is 53C,
behind the 6th, in the ap plicable range of the TVC
and the m axim u m gained ou tp u t ratio is 14.1 for the
given system .

Referen ces

Sym b ols
A
a
Ex
h
Ki
M
s
T

Technology Schem es (N o. 2008220040, N o. 20082173),

the Found ation of Key Laboratory of Liaoning Province
for Desalination, Shanghai Science and Technology innovation Schem e (No. 09DZ1200502) and the China PostDoctoral Science Fou nd ation (20110490139.

[1]

H eat transfer area, m 2

Critical velocity, m/s
Exergy, kJ
Sp eci c enthalpy, kJ/kg
Velocity coe cient (i = 1 4)
Mass ow rate, kg/s
Sp eci c entropy, kJ/(kgC)
Tem peratu re, C

[2]

[3]

[4]

Greek
[5]

en
ex

Entrainm ent ratio

Sp eci c energy consu m ption, kJ/kg
Sp eci c exergy consu m p tion, kJ/kg
Su p er cial isentrop ic velocity, m/s

[6]

[7]

Subscripts
[8]

b
c
d
dis
e

m
s
w
0
*

Vapor from brine ashing in evaporators

Cond enser
Vapor from d istillate ashing box
Discharge steam
Vapor generated on the su rface of horizontal
tu be bu nd les
N u m ber of the e ect in the recircu lation p osition of vap or
Motive steam
Su ction steam
Water sp rayed in the su perheater
The environm ental cond ition
Critical valu e

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]
[13]

Ack n ow led gem en t

[14]

This research is sup ported by the Fund am ental Research Fund s for the Central Universities (DUT10ZD109
& DUT10RC(3)104), the Liaoning Province Science and

[15]

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