International Journal of Research in Advanced Technology

Vol. 1, Issue 10, DECEMBER 2016

DESALINATION THROUGH DIESEL ENGINE

EXHAUST WASTE HEAT
Mrs.K.S.Maheswari 1, Mr.R.SAMUEL HANSEN 2, Mr.S.Ananth.3
Associate Professor/Mechanical Engineering, Francis Xavier Engineering College, Tirunelveli, India1
Assistant Professor/Mechanical Engineering, Francis Xavier Engineering College, Tirunelveli, India2
Assistant Professor/Mechanical Engineering, Francis Xavier Engineering College, Tirunelveli, India3

Abstract The aim of this work is to utilize the heat energy wasted in exhaust gas of an IC engine of low
capacity for distillation desalination using a submerged horizontal tube straight pass evaporator and a condensing
unit, without aid of any external energy use for pumping system. In this work a Horizontal tube Straight pass
evaporator designed fabricated and experiments were conducted. The performance of the SHTE analyzed under
various load condition. The work proven that 1.8 liter/hr of saline water can be desalinated from the 5 HP Engine
Exhaust gas, without affecting the performance of the engine. By utilizing the heat energy in addition to increase
in overall efficiency the thermal Pollution is also reduced considerably.
Keywords Waste heat recovery, SHT evaporator, Heat transfer, Diesel engine exhaust, Desalination.

I.

INTRODUCTION

The modern world relies very much on Diesel Engines in

so many ways like power generation, transportation, water
pumping.
Especially for transportation and power
generation it plays a vital role. In the developing countries
the main source of power generation based on Diesel
Engines and Coal based power plants. Even though the
cost of producing electricity using Diesel engine is higher
than any other sources, for hospitals, hotels and in small
scale industries where the power requirement is 500 kva to
1120 kva, the diesel engines are mainly used due to easy
starting and reliability. It is used as an emergency source
of power. While considering the transportation, from
Light Motor Vehicles to heavy trucks, to diesel engine
plays a main role.
The unutilized heat energy dumped to the
atmosphere by the engines are high, the heat from the
engine dumped to the atmosphere by 3 ways one from the
exhaust gases from the engine, the second heat liberated in
cooling towers / radiators, and the third radiation. Thus
the thermal pollution caused by the IC engines creates
climatic changes and reduces the fresh water availability.
Water resources are necessary for the economic growth of
a country. Without water sources there is no industrial
development. The need for fresh water increased in this
year because of rapid industrial growth and population
explosion. Due to manmade pollution the rivers as well as
ground water gets polluted, which results in reduction of
available fresh water. Mobilization of population towards
cities for job is another issue. Thus the need makes the
people to think of methods to produce fresh water. This
study make an attempt to solve the above two issues,
Desalination using Exhaust Waste heat energy. Even
though all the waste energy cannot be recovered, if some
quantity is utilized for desalination, some quantity of fresh
water available and the same time it will reduce the

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thermal pollution also. The availability of waste heat

depending upon the engine size determines the waste heat
energy recovery system, so many attempts made to recover
and use the exhaust waste heat.
Pandiyarajan et al [1] in their study made a shell and
finned tube heat exchanger integrated with an IC engine
setup to extract heat from the exhaust gas, and they stored
the thermal energy in a storage tank. They conduct their
study in twin cylinder, four stroke, water cooled, Kirloskar
make diesel engine (bore 87.5 mm, stroke 110 mm, rated
power 7.4 kW at 1500 rpm). Hung et al [2] in their study
deals with the utilization of the waste heat streams, jacket
water and exhaust gas from a Diesel engine as the heat
source for desalination of seawater. They conduct the
study on a 10MWe Diesel engine. HiroshiTanakaet al [3]
utilize the waste heat from portable electric generator to
increase the productivity of desalinated water in Solar
stills. They numerically analyzed a vertical multiple-effect
diffusion still utilizing energy from waste gas from a
portable electric generator by means of a heat-pipe to
determine the basic behavior of distillation and the
productivity of the still in steady-state. Brandon A. Moore,
et al.[4] in their paper describes a new water distillation
process that uses sub-atmospheric pressure, and hence
low temperature to boil water. The process is made to run
with sources of low quality heat
energy sources.
CorradoSommariva et al.[5] in his paper describes the
innovative process configurations where MSF/MED plants
performance ratio and production are optimized taking
advantages of waste heat steam made available from
different process steam in power plant. Hafizur Rahman
et al [6] investigated the performance of a submerged
vertical tube evaporator (SVTE) in their study making use
of waste heat. The heat energy can be as part of a
cogeneration, power and water, or on board ships where
waste heat is available. Soteris Kalogirou et al. [7] in

International Journal of Research in Advanced Technology

Vol. 1, Issue 10, DECEMBER 2016

their work design a low-cost evaporator. The new type of

evaporator suggested by him is of the spray-type, i.e.,
spaying the seawater into fine droplets to evaporate the
water. The evaporator is designed based on the theory of
cooling towers. Zhang et al [8], in their paper, the
performance of a finned-tube evaporator used to recover
exhaust waste heat from a diesel engine is presented by
them.
Desai and Bannur [9] conducted experiments in
a twin cylinder diesel engine, to recover heat energy from
engine exhaust using a shell and tube heat exchanger. V.H.
Morcos [10] has studied the performance of shell and
dimpled tube heat exchangers for waste heat recovery. The
exchanger heat duty, overall heat transfer coefcient,
effectiveness and tube side friction factor are investigated
in their study. Lee et al. [11] have done experimental study
on the effects of secondary combustion efciencies and
emission reduction in the engine exhaust heat recovery
system. Medrano et al. [12] experimentally studied the
performance of PCM RT35 on ve different heat
exchangers during charging and discharging. M.Talbi and
Agnew [13] have examined the interfacing of
turbocharged diesel engine with an absorption
refrigeration unit and estimated the performance
enhancement due to the energy recovery from the engine
exhaust gas. L.Z.Anderson et al [14] have done work in
waste heat recovery system for an internal combustion
engine exhaust gas and coolant using two different liquids
operating at different pressure and temperature in two
separate circuit path.

II.

METHODOLOGY

The various types of energy available in the flue gas

are Kinetic energy, Thermal energy and Pressure energy,
While considering the direct energy conversion which
requires more pressure and kinetic energies, the exhaust
gas is considered as a low grade energy as the gas is at low
pressure and high temperature. But the availability of
thermal energy in the flue gas can be converted into useful
work by means for heating or evaporating. This study is
on indirect recovery method that utilize the thermal energy
of the exhaust for desalination
Designing of heat recovery system utilizing the
thermal energy of a engine exhaust is a complicated one
as the obstruction in the exhaust gas affects the
performance of engine.
In this study it is decided to use the thermal energy of
the exhaust flue gas for desalination using a Submerged
Horizontal tube straight pass evaporator (SHTE), to avoid
the energy loss by using two or three heat exchangers.
As shown in the Fig:1 the experimental setup consists
of an evaporator, condenser, storage tanks for storing the
saline and potable water. The exhaust gas from the engine
is passed through the evaporator, the saline water which is
in the evaporator gets the heat from the engine exhaust and
evaporated. The steam then passed through the air cooled
condenser and condensed. The condensed water is of
potable quality.

Fig.1 The schematic diagram of the Experimental setup

III. DESIGN
A. Heat energy Estimation
The available energy in the Exhaust gas varies with the
capacity, speed and the load of the Engine. The engines
which are running at constant speed, the exhaust energy
varies only ith the load on the engine.
Experiments conducted in the diesel engine at various
loads to estimate the energy available in the flue gas, and
mass of the exhaust gas is calculated using a water
Calorimeter.
mg x Cg x (Tgi - Tgo) = mw x Cw x (Twi - Two)
mg
Cg
Tgi
Tgo
mw
Cw
Twi
Two

- Mass of Flue gas

- Specific Heat Capacity of Flue gas.
- Inlet temperature of Flue gas in Calorimeter.
- Outlet temperature of Flue gas in Calorimeter.
- Mass of Water.
- Specific Heat Capacity of Water.
- Inlet water temperature in Calorimeter.
- Outlet water temperature in Calorimeter

Maximum heat extraction rate from the flue gas is

calculated through the calorimeter at various load
conditions. The result gives increase in heat energy with
respect to increasing the load. The maximum energy
recoverable at a maximum load considering the
atmospheric temperature as 30C is 3 KW. This can be
recovered and used for some other purpose.
Evaporator
The evaporator needs additional space for the
evaporation of water, at the same time as the heat energy
available is low so that the heat extraction arrangement is
also made in the same evaporator itself. So a shell and
tube evaporator consists the tubes at the bottom is
designed so that the saturated vapour collected above the
top of the liquid level.
In this study energy in flue gas is estimated
considering the outlet temperature from the evaporator is
120 deg C. The heat extraction rate from the exhaust gas
through the waste heat recovered evaporator calculated at
different loads using by
Qext = mg x Cg x (Tgi - Tgo)

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International Journal of Research in Advanced Technology

Vol. 1, Issue 10, DECEMBER 2016

Where mass flow rate of flue gas, Tgi,Tgo temperature of

exhaust gas at the inlet and outlet of submerged horizontal
tube evaporator.
Based on this the maximum energy recoverable is 1.36
KW. For distillation desalination of water both sensible
and latent heats are required, the experimental results the
fresh water production rate is 1.8 lit/hr.
For evaporating the water from atmospheric temperature
(30 Deg C) the energy required is
Q = mw Cw( T)water + mw Lw

( T)water

-Temperature change of water

Lw

- Latent heat of evaporation of water

Based on the heat energy estimation the heat transfer area

and number of tubes were calculated.
Q = U A (Tf Tb)
Where,
U
A
Tf
Tb

- Overall heat transfer coefficient (W/m2K)

- Heat transfer area (m2)
- Flue gas temperature
- Boiling point of water

The design details Of Evaporator as shown in Table I.

TABLE I
DESIGN DETAILS OF EVAPORATOR
Sl.No
1
2
3
4
5

Name
Dia of the Exhaust tubes
Length of the Exhaust tubes
Dia of the shell
Length of the shell
Dia of the feed water tube

Dimension
0.012 m
0.5 m
0.15 m
0.8 m
0.006m

The saline water from the storage tank is passed

evaporator through the control valve which controls the
flow of feed water in the evaporator. The evaporated
steam is exhausted through the pipe line which is fitted
above the evaporator. Suitable drain arrangements and
measuring arrangements were provided in the evaporator.
To calculate the performance of the evaporator for its
efficiency of producing pure water from the input saline
water, parameter like inlet and outlet temperature of water,
velocity and mass flow rate of distilled output water are to
be measured. Thermo wells were provided in the required
areas with K type thermocouple and display provided. The
evaporator is insulated with mineral wool and aluminium
cladding provided to avoid heat loss.

TABLE II
DESIGN DETAILS OF CONDENSER

Sl.No
1

Name
Dia of the condenser tube

Dimension
0.012 m

Length of the condenser tube

2.5 m

B. Selection of material of Evaporator

Common metals used in Heat Exchangers are copper,
aluminum and steel. The important property of a metal for
application in heat exchange process is thermal
conductivity. Copper and aluminum have relatively high
thermal conductivities (k=390 Wm-1K-1for copper and
k=200 Wm-1K-1 for aluminum) while the thermal
conductivity of steel is relatively low (k=48 Wm-1K-1).
Even though aluminium is cheaper than copper and
having high thermal conductivity, as it is not to be used for
potable drinking water application, in this work copper
tubes are used.

IV. EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS

A. Experimental Setup
The experimental setup consists of a single cylinder,
four stroke, water cooled, Kirloskar make diesel engine
(bore 80 mm, stroke 110 mm, rated power 5 HP at 1500
rpm) coupled to an electrical dynamometer, and integrated
with the heat recovery unit. The Heat recovery Evaporator
is a shell and tube type evaporator, is connected in the
Exhaust gas path of IC Engine. The exhaust gas from the
engine is passed in the tube side which is surrounded by
the saline water. The exhaust gas temperature at the inlet
and outlet of the evaporator is measured using a
thermocouple.
The feed water from the saline water tank is fed to
the evaporator through control valves which controls the
flow of water to the evaporator. The evaporated steam
from the evaporator passed through the air cooled
condenser, and the potable water is collected. The
photographic view shows the entire experimental set up of
the system as shown in Fig.2.

Condenser
The water vapour coming from the evaporator is
condensed in the air cooled condenser by giving its latent
heat to the atmospheric air passing over it. The design
detail of the condenser is shown in Table II.

Fig.2 Experimental setup

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International Journal of Research in Advanced Technology

Vol. 1, Issue 10, DECEMBER 2016

B. Trial & Analysis

The desalinated water quantity is studied at various
load condition. The load of the generator varied and the
output quantity is measured at 25, 50, 75 and 100 % loads.
Measurements such as rpm of the engine, ammeter and
voltmeter readings in the generator, exhaust gas
temperature at the inlet and outlet, water flow rate,
condenser cooling water flow, quantity of fuel, potable
water quantity were done using proper instruments.
Repeatability of the measurements done for getting
accurate results.
Exhaust Temperatures & Evaporation rate with respect
to Engine loads which is tabulated as follows.
TABLE III

Fig.4 Time Vs Exhaust temperature at the inlet & outlet of the

evaporator at 50 % load

EXPERIMENTAL READINGS

V.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

In this work attempts have been made to recover the

maximum available heat from the exhaust gas through
submerged horizontal tube evaporator and its utilizing the
producing distillation.
As the engine load increases the exhaust temperature
also increases according to its higher heat release from the
engine.The Exhaust Temperature at the inlet & outlet of
the evaporator are measure with respect to time and
plotted at 25%, 50%, 75%, 100 % loads.Fig.3, 4, 5&6.

Fig.5 Time Vs Exhaust temperature at the inlet & outlet of the

evaporator at 75 % load

Fig.6 Time Vs Exhaust temperature at the inlet & outlet of the

evaporator at 100 % load

Based on the energy extracted measured in test readings

the graph is plotted as follows.

Fig.3 Time Vs Exhaust temperature at the inlet & outlet of the

evaporator at 25 % load

Fig.7 Energy Extracted from exhaust gas at various load conditions

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International Journal of Research in Advanced Technology

Vol. 1, Issue 10, DECEMBER 2016

Based on the Test readings, the variations in the

Evaporation rate was analyzed and it is graphically
presented as follows

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

Fig.8 Evaporation rate at various loads

Based on the Test readings, the effectiveness of the heat

exchanger at various loads were estimated, at 50% load
the effectiveness is 54%

[14]

AD Desai and P.V Bannur Design, fabrication and testing

of heat recovery system from diesel engine exhaust J
InstEngrs 2001 Vol. 82 pp. 1118.
Morcos VH. Performance of shell-and-dimpled-tube heat
exchangers for wasteheat recovery. Heat Recovery Syst.
CHP 1988;8(4):299308
Lee Dae Hee, Lee Jun Sik, Park Jae Suk. Effects of
secondary combustion onefficiencies and emission
reduction in the diesel engine exhaust heat recovery system.
Appl. Energy 2010;87:171621.
Medrano M, Yilmaz MO, Nogues M, Martorell I, Roca
Joan, Cabeza Luisa F.Experimental evaluation of
commercial heat exchangers for use as PCM thermal
storage systems. Appl Energy 2010;86:204755
Talbi M, Agnew B. Energy recovery from diesel engine
exhaust gases for performance enhancement and air
conditioning. Appl Therm Eng 2002;22:693702.
L.Z. Anderson and H.Robert Nation Waste heat recovery
system for an internal combustion engine United States
patent 1982 Vol.155 pp.4351.

VI. CONCLUSION
Desalination system using Engine exhaust waste heat
designed and output at various load condition checked and
found that maximum of 1.8 l/hr is collected by using the
air cooled condenser. As the air cooled condenser is not
suitable to condense the entire steam from the evaporator,
designing of water cooled condenser is in progress for
getting better results. By utilizing the heat energy, there is
a reduction in thermal pollution as the flue gas
temperature reduced at the outlet.
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