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Energy efficient vortex-enhanced water evaporation technology for concentrated brine management: Theory and process simulation evaluation
Citation:
Vane, L., K. Rock, AND D. Jordan. Energy efficient vortex-enhanced water evaporation technology for concentrated brine management: Theory and process simulation evaluation. DESALINATION. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 522:115427, (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2021.115427
Impact/Purpose:
Water recovery from saline sources, such as seawater, brackish ground water, wastewaters, and industrial process waters, is necessary to meet municipal and industrial fresh water needs in many regions. At the same time, industries are pursuing the means to achieve zero liquid discharge (ZLD) or minimal liquid discharge (MLD) to reduce their environmental footprint from desalination waste discharges. While water recovery gets much of the attention, salt recovery/reuse also presents a resource recovery opportunity. One major challenge in desalination and water reuse operations is the management of brine streams - the concentrated salt solutions remaining after water is removed from saline streams. Management of brine reject solutions from desalination systems and industrial processes is particularly energy intensive and technically challenging. Further, disposal of concentrated brine reject streams from RO desalination has significant environmental impacts, particularly in arid and inland areas. “Tornadic One-Pass™” (TOP™) technology, invented at Micronic Technologies, Inc., is a new twist on MVC technology with the potential to deliver the energy efficiency of MVC systems but in a format that is amenable to even small-scale operations. TOP™ is being demonstrated for brine treatment through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between Micronic Technologies and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). In this paper, the fundamental operating principles, theoretical energy usage, and process simulations of the TOP™ technology will be presented. These will form the basis for assessing experimental results obtained with a TOP™ unit to be reported in a future paper.
Description:
Desalination drinking water systems and industrial processes generating high salinity streams require practical brine management options for disposal and/or treatment. Treatment most often involves large capacity brine concentrating processes, on the order of 2000 m3/day, that rely on water evaporation, vapor compression, and condensation. Tornadic One-Pass™ (TOP™) technology adds an aerosol-generating “Pod” device to the evaporation step with the goal of energy efficient operation even at smaller scales. The principles behind the tornadic flowfield that breaks up and aerosolizes water injected into the Pod are introduced. Design of a 6.8 m3/day TOP™ demonstration system producing a NaCl slurry (55 wt% solids) from a 22 wt% NaCl influent is described. Simulations of the system with three influent brine concentrations and three forms of final NaCl concentrate are presented and predicted energy usage is compared to estimates for conventional systems. By varying simulation process parameters, the heat transfer performance of the evaporator/condenser is identified as having a large impact on overall efficiency. TOP™The TOP™ system is anticipated to be most competitive, on an energy usage basis, with conventional concentrator/crystallizer systems when processing higher salinity brines and producing final concentrates containing precipitated NaCl.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Energy efficient vortex-enhanced water evaporation technology for concentrated brine management: Theory and process simulation evaluation
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