Investigation on Low-Pressure Desalination Method

Abstract: Safe and stable water supply is the major issue for sustainable development. There are more difficulties in securing adequate water supply now than in the past. Several investigations have been underway to address the shortfall in freshwater supply in the world. Seawater can be a huge source of fresh water. Seawater is desalinated to provide drinking water at many locations throughout the world. Desalination is used to get salt and mineral-free water from seawater, but for this process, a huge amount of energy is required. A cost-effective and efficient method needs to be introduced to get freshwater by desalination. A solar water heater can warm up the seawater easily during normal daylight conditions. Then, this warm water can be boiled at a lower temperature than normal when surrounding pressure is reduced. In this study, desalination of seawater at low pressure was introduced and tested. This study also documents works towards this methodology to develop an experimental setup to test characteristics of the boiling point of water toward pressure, including the review of literature and data collection from the test rig, which considers various parameters and CFD analysis of this method. CFD simulation indicates the evaporation rate and feasibility of low-pressure desalination method. Keywords: heat transfer, desalination, evaporation, condensation