The effect of stage temperature drop on MVC thermal performance

The aim of this research is to study the thermal performance of MVC desalination system. A hybrid MSF-MVC desalination system is proposed in this study, and a parametric study was carried out to study the effects of MVC brine temperature and temperature drop across MVC stage on system performance in terms of specific power consumption, pressure ratio, feed to distillate ratio, specific heat transfer area, distillate product and exergy destruction. The analysis was performed using steady state mathematical model for hybrid MSF-MVC system; the model is based on first and second laws of thermodynamics. Results showed that as temperature drop across the stage increases, the specific power consumption increases, and distillate water production decreases. On the other side as MVC brine temperature increases, the specific heat transfer area decreases. Results showed that the increase in the temperature drop across stage causes an increase in exergy destruction. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.