Energy 36 (2011) 5225e5232

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Multi stage ash desalination plant with brineefeed mixing and cooling
Majed M. Alhazmy*
Department of Thermal Engineering and Desalination Technology, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80204, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Improving the performance of Multi Stage Flash (MSF) desalination plants is a major objective in the
Received 11 November 2010 seawater desalination industry. Fresh water production rates from MSF plants depend on the evaporation
Received in revised form range dened as the difference between the top brine temperature (TBT) and the bottom stage
1 May 2011
temperature. Lowering the temperature of the plant bottom stage elongates the evaporation range and
Accepted 14 June 2011
increases the yield. A modied multi stage ash plant with brine mixing and cooling (MSF-MC) is pre-
Available online 20 July 2011
sented in this paper. Part of the brine leaving the plant is mixed with fresh seawater feed then cooled to
low temperature before it enters the bottom stage feed heater. This MSF-MC features several advantages
Keywords:
MSF plants
such as expanded evaporation range at the conventional TBT levels, reduced feed pumping power,
Brineefeed mixing and cooling moderate levels of chemical treatment requirements and xed fresh water production rates independent
Evaporation range of seasonal seawater conditions. Operating with low feed mass fraction minimizes the cooling load and
Performance enhancement reduces the cooler size. An improvement in the yield by 1.18%e1.4% for every 1
C reduction in the plant
Dual purpose power plant bottom temperature can be achieved with MSF-MC compared to conventional MSF systems.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Water desalination industry plays an essential role in providing
fresh water in Saudi Arabia and Arabian Gulf countries. Once-
Through Multi stage Flash desalination (MSF-OT) and Brine Recir-
culation (MSF-BR) are the most popular congurations of MSF
systems [1,2]. The MSF-BR technology is used in 88% of the Saudi
desalination plants and it is usually installed as a part of a dual
purpose plant for water and power cogeneration [1,3]. Improving
the economics of MSF process attracted the effort of the scientic
and industrial communities as well as governmental and legislative
authorities. Various plant modication including design variations
[2,4e6], evaporation range expansion [7,8] and hybridization and
integration with other desalination methods [2,9] were attempted.
Nevertheless, studies on optimization of operational and control
parameters are continuously performed [10e13].
Feed temperature is an important operational parameter that is
imposed on the desalination plants by the seasonal climatic
conditions. Changes in seawater temperatures affects the yield of
the MSF desalination plants [4,10,14], fouling formation inside the
tubes of the brine heater [12], and therefore the plant overall
performance. Feed temperature near Saudi coasts varies from 18
C
in winter to 35
C in summer causing more than 10% differences in
* Tel.: 966 2 695 2883; fax: 966 2 695 2182.
E-mail address: mhazmy@kau.edu.sa.
the plants yield [7]. Practically, MSF plants (both OT and BR),
operates on two different feed temperatures one during summer
and the other during winter, these are known as summer and
winter operation modes, respectively. Typical operation tempera-
tures for summer and winter modes are 32
C and 25
C, respec-
tively [4, 7 and 14]. Elmoudier et al. [14] reported that for seawater
feed temperatures of 16
C, 24
C, and 27
C the yields are 227 ton/
h, 250 ton/h and 240 ton/h, respectively, from an MSF-BR plant
operating at xed TBT temperature of 90
C. This is equivalent to an
improvement of 1.4% for each 1
C reduction in the feed tempera-
ture. Operation at high TBT increases the yield but it also increases
the potential for scale formation and accelerates the corrosion rates
of metal surfaces [15].
Researchers in the Sea Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC) in
Saudi Arabia presented a hybrid desalination plant formed by
combining MSF process with Nano-ltration (NF) [9]. This modied
allow elevating TBT from 120
C to 160
C hence a 46% increases the
yield is achieved [9]; this is equivalent to 1.15% for every 1
C
increase in the evaporation range.
Alhazmy [8] proposed inserting a feed cooler at the seawater
intake of an MSF-OT system to reduce the feed temperature. This
modication elongates the evaporation range and eliminates the
effect of seasonal temperature variations. An improvement in the
yield by 1.4%e1.84% for every 1
C reduction in the feed tempera-
ture was achievable.
El-Dessouky and Ettouny [4,5] presented a novel modication
for MSF plants by replacing the brine recirculation with brine

0360-5442/$ e see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.energy.2011.06.024
5226 M.M. Alhazmy / Energy 36 (2011) 5225e5232

Nomenclature R Plant reject, [kg s1]

TBi Brine temperature leaving the stage i, [
C]
B Brine mass ow rate, [kg s1] TBT Top brine temperature, [
C]
COP Coefcient of performance TF Feed temperature, [
C]
Cp Specic heat at constant, [kJ kg1 K1] TM FeedeBrine mixture temperature, [
C]
D Plant yield [kg s1] Tmix FeedeBrine mixture temperature at the cooler outlet
Di Accumulated distillate over the group of stages from 1 [
C]
to i, [kg s1] TN Temperature of the Nth stage, [
C]
di Distillate from the stage i, [kg s1] TTBT Temperature leaving the top brine heater, [
C]
Do Fresh water produced from the plant without a cooling TTD Terminal temperature difference, [
C]
scheme, [kg s1] W Power, [kW]
F Feed mass ow rate, [kg s1] Wc Power consumed for cooling the feedebrine mixture,
h Specic enthalpy, [kJ kg1] [kW]
hB Brine specic enthalpy, [kJ kg1] Wst Power resulting from the expansion of the heating
hfg Latent heat of vaporization (pure water), [kJ kg1] steam in the back pressure turbine, [kW]
hg Specic enthalpy of ashed off vapor, [kJ kg1] y Salt concentration [ppm]
hMN Specic enthalpy of mixture leaving the water cooler, Dhcom Change in enthalpy due to change in composition,
[kJ kg1] [kJ kg1]
hsb Specic enthalpy of heating steam entering the back DTs Temperature drop in each ashing stage, [
C]
pressure turbine, [kJ kg1] d Temperature difference accounting for boiling point
hsc Specic enthalpy of heating steam leaving the back elevation, [
C]
pressure turbine, [kJ kg1]
hTBT Specic enthalpy of brine leaving the top brine heater, subscripts
[kJ kg1] B Brine
hw Specic enthalpy of feed seawater entering the feed F Feed
water cooler, [kJ kg1] fg Vaporization
Loss the heat required to overcome the terminal g Vapor phase
temperature difference between the condensing vapor i Index donating the stage number
and the feed stream and to account for boiling point M Mixture
elevation of the saline water, [kJ kg1] mix Mixture leaving the mixing chamber
M FeedeBrine mixture mass ow rate, [kg s1] o Reference plant
Ms Steam mass ow rate, [kg s1] R Reject
N Number of stages s Steam
PR Performance ratio w Water
Qcooling Cooling load to cool the feedebrine mixture, [kW]

mixing and presented the multi stage ashing with brine mixing,
MSF-M. The main objective of the MSF-M process is to reduce the
energy lost in heat rejection section of the conventional MSF-BR, or
in the large brine blow downstream, found in MSF-OT.
This paper presents a modied MSF plant with brine mixing and
cooling. This modication is attained by rst mixing part of the
brine leaving the plant last stage with fresh seawater then cooling
the obtained mixture to a low temperature before it is fed into the
plant bottom stage. Cooling elongates the evaporation range and
mixing keeps the feed pumping power and chemical treatment
requirements within the same levels of conventional MSF-BR
plants and provides a regeneration possibility that minimizes the
desired cooling load. The temperature of the mixture is constrained
by a minimum of 15
C in order to maintain moderate vapor specic
volume and reasonable traveling velocity in the bottom stage
[16,17], otherwise larger stages might be needed or high salinity
product will be expected.
2. MSF-MC process model
A schematic of the multi stage ashing with brine mixing and
cooling (MSF-MC) is shown part (a) of Fig. 1. The plant consists of
a steam generator, a train of ashing stages, a mixing chamber and
a cooling unit. Mixing and cooling section replaces the heat rejec-
tion part in the conventional MSF-BR. Cooling preserves the
advantage of longer evaporation range in the once-through MSF
system with feed cooler presented by Alhazmy [8], while mixing
retains the advantages of minimum chemical treatment and low
feed pumping power of the brine circulation in the conventional
MSF-BR.
A simplied schematic of an intermediate ashing stage (i) is
shown in part (b) of Fig. 1. Part of the brine, Bi-1, ashes into
vapor as it throttled at the bottom of the stage. The ashed off
vapor condenses on the tubes of the feed heaters forming
distilled water, di, and giving up its latent heat to the re-
circulating water, M. The temperature of the circulating water
increases as it advances up in the plant, however additional heat
provided by steam of the Rankine cycle is needed to elevate the
temperature of the re-circulating mixture to the levels needed to
start ashing.
2.1. The MSF plant
The relation of the distillate to brine mass ow rate and
temperature can be obtained by applying the steady state mass and
energy balances across every ashing stage. MSF-MC conguration
shares the same advantages of brine recirculation scheme, MSF-BR,
regarding reduced feed mass ow rate and minimized chemical
treatment in addition to the disadvantage of operating with
elevated salt concentrations compared to once-through systems.
The mass ow rates of feed, rejected brine and circulating mass
determine the salt concentration levels throughout the plant that
should be maintained everywhere at the suitable allowable levels.
An overall mass balance on the plant gives
 M.M. Alhazmy / Energy 36 (2011) 5225e5232
Fig. 1. Schematic of a dual purpose plant.
DR F (1)
where D, R and F are the distillate, rejected brine and feed seawater,
respectively. Similarly the mass balance for the mixing chamber
gives
F B  R M (2)
where B is the brine leaving the bottom ashing stage and M is the
mass ow rate circulating in the plan. The mass balance for salt on
the entire plant gives
yD D yR R yF F (3a)
where yD , yR and yF are the salt concentration (in ppm) in distillate,
rejected brine and feed, respectively. Similarly, the mass balance of
salt entering and leaving the mixing chamber gives
yF F yR B  R yM M (3b)
where yM is the salt concentration of the circulating water as it
leaves the mixing chamber. Substituting for (B  R) by their
equivalent value from Eq. (2) yields
yF F yR M  F yM M (3c)
Conventional salt concentration in the circulating brine entering
the rst stage of MSF-BR plants is 63000 ppm and it should not
exceed 70000 ppm in the rejected brine [5]. Moreover, the salt
concentration in the Red Sea reaches 42000 ppm [7] and the
distillate is pure fresh water (salt concentration is zero). These
values can be used in Eqs (3a)e(3c) to relate the mass ow rate of
5227
the different streams across the MSF-MC plant. Therefore, the mass
ow rate of rejected brine, distillate and circulating mass needed to
keep the salt concentration within the allowable limits may be
given as ratios of the feed mass ow rate as follows
R D M B
0:6; 0:4; 4 and 3:6 (3d)
F F F F
The ratio of feed to the circulated mass, F/M, which is also the
feed mass fraction in the mixture, should be selected according Eq
(3d) to maintain the salt concentration within the conventional
limits.
In the following analysis steady state operation is assumed and
negligible enthalpy changed in feedebrine mixture, Dhcom, due to
salt concentration is employed. Feed, brine and distillate are treated
as pure water with properties dependent on temperature and
product is always salt free. The characteristics of the steam gener-
ation section of the plant are xed and no energy loss to the
environment is assumed.
2.2. Mixing chamber
Applying energy balance on the mixing chamber (Fig. 1 (c))
shows that
Mhmix Fha M  FhBN (4a)
Where h denotes enthalpy and subscripts mix, a and BN refer to the
mixture, seawater feed and rejected brine, respectively. The
enthalpy of the mixture can be obtained by rewriting this relation as
5228 M.M. Alhazmy / Energy 36 (2011) 5225e5232

F TBT  TBN
hmix hBN  h  ha (4b) DTstage (12)
M BN N
Therefore, the temperature of the stream leaving the brineefeed then the brine temperature and hence the enthalpy in each ashing
mixing chamber depends on the feed mass fraction, F/M, and feed stage may be evaluated.
and brine temperatures.
2.4. Brine heater
2.3. Flashing stages
Energy balance on the brine heater gives
Applying the steady state mass conservation equation to the
rst ashing stage yields  
Ms hsb  hsc M hTBT  hM0 Loss (13a)
M B1 d1 (5a)
where Ms is the steam ow rate, hsb and hsc are the enthalpies of the
Similarly, the mass balance on the ith stage gives steam entering and leaving the brine heater, respectively. The last
term, Loss, is used to account for the heat required to overcome the
di Bi1  Bi (5b)
terminal temperature difference (TTD) between the condensing
where d is the distillate, B is the brine and the indices denote the vapor and the feed stream and to include the change in the liquid
stage number. Eqs. (5a) and (5b) can be used to relate the brine ow enthalpy due to the boiling point elevation (d) of the saline water.
rate, B, to the circulating mixture and distillate produced from each The mass of steam needed to heat up mass ow rate M of the
stage as follows circulated mixture from hM0 to hTBT can be written as
 
Bi M  Di (6) Ms hsb  hsc M hTBT  hM0 McP TTD d (13b)
where Di is the distillate accumulated from the stages 1 to i dened or in a form of a ratio of the feed mass ow rate as follow
as
 
Ms hTBT  hM0 cP TTD d
X
i (13c)
Di dj (7) M hsb  hsc
j1 The typical values for TTD and d are 5
C and 1
C, respectively [4,5].
Eq. (6) can now be rewritten as
2.5. BrineeFeed mixture cooler
X
i
Bi M  Di M  dj (8) The heat to be removed from the feedebrine mixture before
j1 entering the bottom feed water heater (last stage) depends on the
The heat balance on the ashing chamber gives desired temperature drop in the feedebrine mixture, and can be
estimated using the rst law of thermodynamics for steady state
Bi1 hBi1 di hgi Bi hBi Dhcom (9a) process as follows

where Dhcom is the change in enthalpy of the mixture due to change  

Qcooling M hmix  hMN McP TTD d (14a)
in salt concentration, and subscripts B and g refer to brine and vapor
at the brine temperature, respectively. Eqs. (5a), (5b) and (8) may be
where hmix and hMN are the enthalpies of the mixture entering and
used along with the assumption of negligible enthalpy change due
leaving the cooler, respectively. A cooling coil maintained by an
to change in salt concentration to reduce Eq. (9a) to
external refrigeration machine, may be installed inside the mixing
   X
i1 chamber or after it, but for sure before the intake of the bottom
hBi1  hBi M hBi1  hBi dj di hfgi (9b) feed heater. Assuming that the refrigeration machine has a xed
j1 coefcient of performance (COP), the power consumed for cooling
of the mixture will be
Therefore the ow rate of distillate ashed off in each stage may
be written as  
Qcooling hmix  hMN cP TTD d
    Pi1 Wcooling M (14b)
hBi1  hBi M  hBi1  hBi COP COP
j 1 dj
di (10)
hfgi This power can be taken from the power generation part of the
plant (the Rankine cycle).
The heat balance on the feed heaters gives

MhMi1 Di hMi MhMi Di1 hBi1 di hgi (11a) 2.6. Plant performance

Now, Eq. (7) can be used to simplify Eq (11a) and enthalpy of the Yield enhancement, DD, and performance ratio improvement,
circulating mixture at the exit of the feed heater will be DPR, are two indicators selected to study the performance of MSF-
MC system. These two indicators are dened as
  Pi1
di hfgi hBi1  hBi j 1 dj D  Do
hMi1 hMi (11b) DD  100 (15a)
M Do
Based on the number of stages, top brine temperature and the
bottom stage temperature the temperature drop in each stage of an PR  PRo
DPR  100 (15b)
MSF plant consisting of N ashing stages can be chosen as PRo

were D and PR (Performance Ratio) are the yield and performance
ratio of the MSF-MC plant, respectively, and similarly Do and PRo are
the yield and performance ratio of the MSF-OT plant, respectively.
The performance ratio of desalination plant is conventionally
dened as
D effect of mixing and cooling will be presented along with an
PR
Ms
Calculations procedure starts by determining the temperature
drop in each stage based on the selected values of the top brine
temperature, bottom stage temperature and the number of stages
from Eq. (12). The brine temperature in each ashing stage can
then be determined. Computerized tables of thermodynamics
properties such as the Engineering Equation Solver, EES [18], can be
used to obtain the enthalpy of the brine (and distillate) in each
stage. Eq. (10) can then be used to evaluate the mass ow rate of
distillate, di, from every ashing stage and Eq. (11b) may then be
used to evaluate the enthalpy of the circulating mass, hMi, (and
hence the temperature, TMi) at the exit of every feed heater. Once
the top stage is reached the mass ow rate of heating steam needed
to raise the temperature of the circulating mixture to the selected
TBT will be estimated using Eq. (13c). Eqs. (14a)e(15c) can then be
used to obtain the required performance parameters namely, DD
and DPR.
3. Model validation
The model developed above is simple and has been developed
to evaluate the potential of employing brineefeed mixing and
cooling to MSF plants. In the absence of mixing the feed mass ow
rate and the rate of circulating mass are the same (F M), hence the
MSF-MC plant becomes identical to the reference MSF-OT. The
yield dependence on the feed temperature of the present model is
examined against the two models presented by El-Dessouky and
Ettouney [5] and El-Sayed and Silver [19], respectively. Fig. 2 shows
the yield for (F/M 1) from a twenty seven stages (N 27) once-
through MSF-OT plant that operate at a TBT of 110
C. The feed
temperature varies from 15
C to 40
C. The results from the current
model are within 7% from that of El-Dessouky and Ettouney [5]
and within 3.8% from the model of El-Sayed and Silver [19].
4. Results and discussion
The circulating mixture, M, produced by mixing the fresh
seawater feed, F, with part of the brine, (B  R), therefore, feed mass
0.16
Present Model
El-Sayed & Silver [6]
0.15
El-dessouky & Ettouny [10]
Yield to Mixture ratio , D/M
0.14
0.13
0.12
0.11
0.1
0.09
15 20 25 30
Mixture Temperature, T
o [ C]
Fig. 2. Comparison of the results of the present analysis with previous models (For
M F).
M.M. Alhazmy / Energy 36 (2011) 5225e5232 5229
fraction, F/M, can be used in presenting the obtained results. The
performance of the MSF-MC plant is examined for seawater
temperature variations from 18 to 35
C, the winter to summer
seawater temperature range near the Saudi coasts [20], different
feed mass fractions and different mixture temperatures. The results
for mixing only (no cooling) mode will be discussed rst then the
(15c)
application on a typical desalination plant consisting of twenty
seven stages (N 27) and operating with a TBT of 110
C. For all
considered cases the reference plant is a conventional MSF-OT, the
heating steam looping in Rankine cycle leaves the back pressure
turbine at 3.5 bar and 130
C and the cooler is a conventional
refrigeration machine with a coefcient of performance, COP, of 4.5.
4.1. Brineefeed mixing
Figs. 3e5 show the effect of feedebrine mixing (in the absence
of cooling) on the operation of an MSF plant for feed mass fraction
of 0.25  F/M  1.0 and feed temperatures of 15
C  Ta  45
C.
Mixing feed at temperature, Ta, of 40
C and feed mass fraction, F/M,
of 0.25 forms a mixture at temperature of 62.5
C. For the same feed
temperature (40
C), however, the mixture temperature becomes
57.5
C, 45.4
C, 41
C and 40
C with F/M of 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 and 1,
respectively. Other feed temperatures show similar behavior, for
example at a feed temperature, Ta, of 20
C the mixture temperature
becomes 44.4
C when feed fraction is 0.25, increasing the fraction
to 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1 give mixtures at temperatures of 33
C, 26
C,
22
C and 20
C, respectively. On the other hand, keeping the feed
fraction constant and increasing the feed temperature increases the
temperature of the mixtures. For a feed fraction of 0.25, for
example, the mixture temperature becomes 44.4
C, 50
C, 53.4
C
and 57.9
C for feed temperatures, Ta, of 20
C, 25
C, 30
C and
35
C, respectively.
High yield, D/M, is associated with high evaporation ranges that
result from low mixture temperature. The latter is obtained, in the
absence of cooling, from high feed fractions and low feed temper-
atures. As shown in Fig. 4 the yield from the plant having brine
mixing only (no cooling) is less than that from MSF-OT congura-
tion. This is expected because mixing increases the plant bottom
temperature and therefore reduces the evaporation range. A feed
fraction of 0.25 reduces the yield from 0.1063 (for MSF-OT) to
0.07126 (32% reduction) for feed temperature, Ta, of 40
C. The same
feed fraction leads to yield reduction by 31%, 28% and 25.5% for Ta of
35
C, 25
C and 15
C, respectively. The drop in the yield becomes
less pronounced as the feed mass fraction increases. Similar trend is
observed for other feed temperatures. For a feed temperature of
65
Ta = 40 C
60 = 35 C
Mixture Temperature, T mix [o C]
55 =30 C
=25 C
50 =20 C
45
40
35
30
25
20
35 40 45 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
o
Feed mass fraction, F/M
Fig. 3. Temperature at the mixture chamber outlet.
5230 M.M. Alhazmy / Energy 36 (2011) 5225e5232

0.14 the same feed temperature, the mixture temperature decreases as

the feed mass fraction increases. Alternatively, for the same feed
0.13 mass fraction the mixture temperature decreases as the feed
Yield to Mixture ratio, D/M

temperature decreases. These effects result from increasing the

0.12
0.11
0.1
0.09
0.08
0.07
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
Feed mass fraction, F/M
Fig. 4. Yield of MSF plant with mixing (no cooling), N 27 Stages and TBT 110
C.
20
C, a feed mass fraction of 0.25 reduces the yield from 0.1358 (for
MSF-OT) to 0.09961 (26.65% reduction) this reduction descends to
zero as the feed mass fraction approaches unity.
The performance ratio, PR, is an important parameter in the
assessment of plants operation and it is indirectly affected by the
plant bottom temperature. Fig. 5 shows the change in PR due to
mixing (no cooling). Mixing feed at temperature, Ta, of 40
C and
feed mass fraction, F/M, of 0.25 reduces PR from 6.5 (for MSF-OT)
to 4.9 (24.8% reduction). Moreover, the reduction in PR becomes
19%, 7.9%, 3.3% and 0.84% for the same feed temperature
(Ta 40
C) and feed fraction ratios of 0.3, 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9,
respectively. Similar results are observed for other feed tempera-
tures. For a feed temperature of 20
C, PR is reduced by 17.4%,
13.3%, 5.5%, 2.3% and 0.58% for feed mass fractions of 0.25, 0.3,
0.5,0.7 and 0.9, respectively. The reduction in the performance
ratio becomes less pronounced as the feed mass fraction increases,
and obviously the performance of MSF-OT is attained with unity
feed mass fraction.
Mixing (in the absence of cooling) elevates the plant bottom
temperature; hence it decreases the evaporation range, reduces the
yield, and reduces the performance ratio. Changing the feed mass
fraction or feed temperature changes the mixture temperature. For
mass of cold stream or reducing its temperature. Moreover, when
the mass fraction becomes unity the mixture temperature will be
the same as the feed temperature and the plant operates identical
to the once-through (MSF-OT) conguration.
Ta =40 C 4.2. Brineefeed mixing and cooling
=35 C
=30 C Inserting a cooler after the mixing chamber reduces the plant
=25 C bottom temperature, expands the evaporation range and increases
=20 C the yield, however, it should not be reduced below 15
C in order to
avoid operational problem such as increasing the specic volume of
0.8 0.9 1 the ashed off vapor, increasing the vapor velocity, increasing the
amount of entrained brine, and increasing the product salinity [4].
Figs. 6,7 show the enhancement in the yield and in the perfor-
mance ratio of the MSF-MC plant, respectively. Cooling the
feedebrine mixture to 15
C increases the yield by 35%, 26%, 18%,
11% and 6% for feed temperatures of 40
C, 35
C, 30
C, 25
C and
20
C, respectively. These are 1.4%e1.2% improvements for every
1
C drop in mixture temperature. Moreover, cooling the mixture to
15
C increases the performance ratio by 19.2% when the feed
temperature is 40
C, this increment becomes 14%, 9.8%, 6% and
2.8% for Ta of 35
C, 30
C, 25
C and 20
C, respectively. The larger
the drop in the temperature of the mixture the larger the
improvement will be in both yield and performance ratio. There-
fore, installing a cooler after the feedebrine mixing chamber
maintains constant low temperature at the bottom stage, xes the
operating conditions in the plant, and keeps constant high fresh
water production rates.
Although there is no apparent effect for the feed mass fraction
on the yield, its consequence is obvious on the cooling load. The
cooling load and hence the power required to drive the cooling
system depends on the desired mixture temperature, TMN, feed
temperature, Ta, and feed mass fraction, F/M. Fig. 8 shows the
cooling load, Wcooling/M, for a cooling temperature drop of
10
C DTc (Tmix  TMN)  30
C and feed mass fraction of
0.25  F/M  1.0. Large feed mass fraction at high seawater
temperatures increase the cooling load. The targeted temperature
drop, feed mass fraction and mixture ow rates determine the size
of the needed cooling system. Energy and space availability, in such

8.0 40
Ta= 40 C
7.5 35 = 35 C
= 30 C
Change in the Yield, D %
Performance Ratio, PR

7.0 30 = 25 C
= 20 C
6.5 25
20
6.0 Ta =40 C
=35 C 15
5.5 =30 C
=25 C 10
5.0 =20 C
5
4.5
0
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
Feed mass fraction, F/M
Mixture temperature, T o [oC]
Fig. 5. Performance ratio of MSF plant with mixing (no cooling), N 27 Stages and
TBT 110
C. Fig. 6. Change in yield of MSF-MC with mixture temperature.
 M.M. Alhazmy / Energy 36 (2011) 5225e5232 5231

20 1

Cooling load in (MSF-MC)/(MSF-OT)

Ta= 40 C
18 = 35 C
Change in Performance Ratio, PR %

0.9
= 30 C
16
= 25 C
0.8
14 = 20 C

12 0.7
10 (TMN-Tmix) =30 C
0.6
=25 C
8
=20 C
6 0.5 =15 C
=10 C
4 0.4
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
2
Feed mass fraction, F/M
0
Fig. 9. Ratio of Cooling load required for MSF-MC to that required MSF-OT with feed
14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
cooler [8].
Mixture temperature, T o [oC]

Fig. 7. Change in plant performance ratio of MSF-MC with mixture temperature. the cooling power needed in MSF-MC is 0.88 required by the MSF-
OT feed cooled system this ratio increases to 0.92, 0.95 and 0.98 for,
F/M, of 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9, respectively. This saving in cooling power
systems, are additional practical constrains that should be taken requirements in MSF-MC compared to MSF-OT with feed cooler
into consideration. For a temperature drop, DTc (Tmix  TMN), of gives the designer and operators more alternatives in selecting and
30
C, increasing the feed mass fraction from 0.25 to 1.0 increases controlling the cooling temperature drop and cooling system.
the cooling load from 13.4 kJ/kgm to 28 kJ/kgm, this is more than Absorption cooling machine driven by the waste of the Rankine
double the load. Moreover, the cooling load increases by 92%, 72%, cycle and thermal storage systems during power off peak periods
47% and 13% for temperature drop of 25
C, 20 15
C and 10
C, might be adopted.
respectively. Therefore, low feed mass fraction is appropriate to
keep cooling system size reasonably small.
The ratio of the cooling power needed in MSF-MC to that of 4.3. Application
MSF-OT with feed cooler presented by Alhazmy [8] is shown Fig. 9.
The MSF-OT conditions are attained when the feed mass fraction Fig. 10 shows the measured feed temperatures and the esti-
becomes unity (F/M 1). The effect of mixing in reducing the mated yield of a conventional desalination plant near the east coast
cooling load is easily observable. For the same cooling temperature of Saudi Arabia. The plant characteristics are the same as the
drop, DTc, the cooling power needed in MSF-MC is less than that reference plant used above. The feed temperature varies from 16
C
required by the MSF-OT for all feed mass fractions. For a tempera- in winter to 35
C in summer. The highest yield, D/M, is
ture drop DTc, of 30
C cooling power needed in MSF-MC is 0.48 of 0.1413 kg/kgm that is obtained at the minimum winter seawater
that required by MSF-OT with feed cooler for a feed mass fraction, F/ temperature of 16.2
C, while the lowest yield is 0.1145 kg/kgm and
M, of 0.25. This ratio increases to 0.65, 0.79 and 0.93 as F/M is obtained when the seawater temperature is 34.5
C. Thus the
increases to 0.5, 0.7 and 0.9, respectively. Similarly, for DTc, of 10
C average summer to winter temperature difference of 20
C causes

0.15 40
30 Yield summer- winter modes Temperature
(TMN-Tmix) =30C
Cooling load per mixture mass, W cooling /M

=25 C
25 =20 C 0.14 35
=15 C
Yield to mixture ratio, D/M

=10 C
Mixture Temperature, To [oC]

20 0.13 30

15
0.12 25

10
0.11 20

5
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 0.1 15
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Feed mass fraction, F/M
Months
Fig. 8. Cooling load required for different feed mass fraction and seawater
temperatures. Fig. 10. Change in the yield of MSF plant with feed temperature.
5232 M.M. Alhazmy / Energy 36 (2011) 5225e5232
18
Relative to Summer - winter operation
16 Relative to daily variation
Change in the yield, % D
14
12
10
8 [1] Anon. IDA desalination yearbook 2010e2011. Oxford: Media Analytics Ltd.;
6 [2] Khawaji AD, Kutubkhanah IK, Wie JM. Advances in seawater desalination
4 [3] Anon. Annual report for operation and maintenance, 2008. P. O. Box 5968
2 http://www.swcc.gov.sa; 2008.
0 present and future outlook. Chemical Engineering Journal 1999;73:
14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30
Mixture temperature, To [oC]
Fig. 11. Percentage change in the yield of MSF-MC for different mixture temperatures.
a 20% reduction in the plant yield. Operating at variable tempera-
ture (whether instantaneously or daily) involves excessive control.
Practically, MSF plants (both OT and BR), operates on summer or
winter modes, respectively. Typical operation temperatures for
summer and winter modes are 32
C and 25
C, respectively [4,14].
The annual yield from the selected plant (Fig. 10) is 46.43 kg/kgm,
45 kg/kgm, 52. kg/kgm, for daily changing temperature, summere-
winter mode and for MSF-MC with TMN of 15
C, respectively.
Therefore, operating with xed low feed temperature of 15
C
increases the yield by 15.6% over the conventional summerewinter
operation. Fig. 11 shows the yield obtained when operating at other
temperatures. Fixing the feedebrine temperature at 24
C improves
the yearly yield by 6% this improvement becomes 10%, 14% and 18%
for mixture temperatures of 21
C, 18
C and 15
C, respectively. This
shows an increase in the yield by 1.184% per 1
C reduction in the
mixture temperature.
5. Conclusions
Multistage ashing with brine mixing and cooling (MSF-MC)
presents a modied MSF plant with enhanced yield and perfor-
mance ratio. This plant preserves the basic advantages of low
chemical treatment and feed pumping power of MSF-BR. MSF-MC
operates independent of the seasonal climatic variations and
maintains a uniform rate of yield the year around. Low feed mass
fraction helps reducing the cooling load, cooler size, and
minimizing feed chemical treatment and pumping power. The
larger the drop in the temperature of the mixture the larger the
improvement will be in both yield and performance ratio. An
improvement in the yield by 1.184% can be achieved for every 1
C
reduction in plant bottom temperature.
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