Author(s)

H. Mashmoushy

Abstract

The recent advancement of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has led to a nationwide increase in water consumption. Statistics have shown that roughly 98% of water consumed in the UAE comes from desalination, due to lack of fresh water sources. In desalination plants the most widely used technique is the Multi-Stage Flash (MSF) Distillation. In this study, condenser tubes have been analyzed with emphasis made on the Jebel Ali Desalination Plant (Dubai). Elliptical tubes have been proposed as a superior alternative to conventional circular tubes, due to their increased surface (heat transfer) area to cross-section area ratio. Mathematical and CFD models were developed to verify and validate these results. Elliptical tubes of (22.4, 9.0) mm were established as the optimum dimensions. Consequently, the thermal efficiency of the MSF cycle was improved by 2.3%, resulting in energy savings of 5429440 kJ/hr. Keywords: desalination, condenser tubes, thermal, distillation, multi stage flash, optimization, seawater.

Keywords

Keywords: desalination, condenser tubes, thermal, distillation, multi stage flash, optimization, seawater.