Optimization of Heat Transfer Area for Multiple Effects Desalination (MED) Process

Seawater desalination is considered as the only available solution that can cope with the increasing demand for freshwater around the world. Improving the desalination techniques may help to cut off the cost and increase sustainability. In this paper, a mathematical model describing the MED process is developed within gPROMs software. The model includes all the necessary mass and energy balance equations together with thermodynamic and physical properties equations. The model predictions are validated against the actual plant data before using the model for optimizing the process to achieve minimum heat transfer area. For two different operating conditions (summer and winter) and a fixed production demand, the heat transfer area is minimised while optimising different parameters of the MED process. The results showed that a 10.4% reduction in the heat transfer area can be achieved under summer operating conditions and around 26% decrease in the heat transfer area can be met under winter operating conditions.