Journal Article

Cool steam method for desalinating seawater

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. GMNE - Grup de Mètodes Numèrics en Enginyeria, Oñate Ibáñez de Navarra, Eugenio, Illas, Jorge, Centre Internacional de Mètodes Numèrics en Enginyeria, Martínez-Iglesias, José Maria, Soraluce Acebo, Javier, Arnau del Amo, Pedro Antonio, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Enginyeria Civil i Ambiental, Navarro Navarro, Naeria

2019

Overview

Cool steam is an innovative distillation technology based on low-temperature thermal distillation (LTTD), which allows obtaining fresh water from non-safe water sources with substantially low energy consumption. LTTD consists of distilling at low temperatures by lowering the working pressure and making the most of low-grade heat sources (either natural or artificial) to evaporate water and then condensate it at a cooler heat sink. To perform the process, an external heat source is needed that provides the latent heat of evaporation and a temperature gradient to maintain the distillation cycle. Depending on the available temperature gradient, several stages can be implemented, leading to a multi-stage device. The cool steam device can thus be single or multi-stage, being raw water fed to every stage from the top and evaporated in contact with the warmer surface within the said stage. Acting as a heat carrier, the water vapor travels to the cooler surface and condensates in contact with it. The latent heat of condensation is then conducted through the conductive wall to the next stage. Net heat flux is then established from the heat source until the heat sink, allowing distilling water inside every parallel stage.

• Publisher: MDPI AG
• Subject: Aigua salada / Aquifers / Climate change / condensates / Cool Steam (CS) / Desalination / Desenvolupament humà i sostenible / Dessalatge / distillation / Effluents / energy / Energy consumption / Energy efficiency / Enginyeria ambiental / evaporation / freshwater / Freshwater production / Heat / heat transfer / latent heat / Low-temperature thermal distillation (LTTD) / Methods / Multi-effect distillation (MED) / Multi-stage flash (MSF) / Renewable Energy (RE) / Saline water conversion / Sea-water / Seawater / Seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) / steam / Steam-heating / temperature / Thermal properties / Tourism / Tractament de l'aigua / Vacuum distillation / Waste heat / Water shortages / Àrees temàtiques de la UPC