DESALINATION

Desalination

ELSEVIER

108 (1996) 51-58

Advanced MED solar desalination plants.

Configurations, costs, future - seven years of experience
at the Plataforma Solar de Almeria (Spain)
Bernhard Milowr* and Eduardo Zarza2
lDeutsche Forschungsanstaltfiir
Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., Platafoma Solar de Almeria, Apartado 649, 04080 Almeria,
Spain. Tel. +34-50-387917; Fax.: +34-50-365300; and 2Centro de Investigaciones EnergCticas Medioambientales
y
Tecnoldgicas (CIEMAT), Platafoma Solar de Almeria, Apartado 22, 04200 Tabernas (Almeria), Spain
Received

8 August 1996; accepted

14 August 1996

Abstract

Among the several options to connect a seawater desalination system with a solar power plant the
combination of a thermal desalination system such as a MED and a solar trough field as the heat source is one of
the most promising. From 1988 until 1994, the Plataforma Solar de Almeria developed a unique experience in
the desalination of sea water with solar energy. The system developed and still running, has a production
capacity of 72 m3/d. The project was carried out in two phases. During phase I of the project a solar desalination
system composed of a 14-effect MED plant hooked up to a field of solar parabolic trough collectors was
implemented and evaluated. This system showed a high reliability. Some potential improvements (i.e. coupling
of a double-effect absorption heat pump and implementation of a steam ejector based vacuum system) were
implemented and evaluated during phase II of the project and a cost analysis was performed. The cost analysis
showed that implementation of an absorption heat pump considerably reduces costs: a total cost of about $2 per
m3 of distillate could be obtained for large plants. The technical feasibility of absorption heat pumps for
seawater desalination processes was proven in this project. Due to cost reduction and further improvements of
the equipment it seems to be likely that costs can be decreased in the near future. The next step towards cost
reduction and market introduction of solar desalination systems will be the installation of a large scale
demonstration plant under real operating conditions.
Keywords:

MED; RO; Solar plant; Plant costs

1. Introduction
Water shortage has become one of the
major problems in many countries worldwide,
Presented at the Second Annual Meetin of the Euro ean
Desalination
Society (EDS) on Desa 9matlon an Bthe
Environment,
Genoa, Italy, October 20-23, 1996.
*Corresponding

author.

OOll-9164/97/$17.00
Copyright
PZZ SO0 1 l-9 164(97)00008-8

with a continues increase due to population

growth and higher living standards. Because
of two reasons it is very interesting to use
solar energy for desalination plants:
- Most countries with serious water shortage
are in sunbelt areas, which means high solar
insolation and mostly the availability of sea
water. So the geographical
conditions
correspond nicely with the technical needs

Q 1997 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

52

B. Mlow

and E. Zarza /Desalination

for solar desalination and this technology

can contribute
significantly
to the
development of those areas.
- There is a certain coincidence between the
seasonal and daily demand of desalted
water and solar radiation availability. The
population in many coastal areas increases
during the summer (i.e. tourism), when
solar availability is higher.

Thermal

108 (1996) 51-58

solar power plants

2. The potential for solar desalination in the

Mediterranean
During the work performed for a market
penetration
study for another project a
potential analysis for solar desalination plants
was carried out. A total capacity of 22,900
MW for plants from 5 MW up to 30 MW
thermal
determined
was
for
the
Mediterranean. This represents a number of
approx. 2,500 plants producing 5,000 m3 of
drinking water per day each.

3. Configurations
plaIlts

Photovoltaic

power

Fig. 1. Configurations

plants

for solar power plants.

for solar desalination

Because solar plants can produce both

electricity
and thermal
energy
(main
configurations are shown in Fig. 1) in general
it is possible to connect electrical and thermal
desalination systems.
Today and in the near future the electricity
from photovoltaic (PV) power plants is very
expensive. The cost for the cells and the
uncertain availability of solar radiation or
high storage cost and losses make it probably
a good option for future photovoltaic
desalination
but today
certainly
not
competitive.
Electricity from solar thermal power plants
is, under good solar insolation conditions,
already competitive (i.e. trough systems run
in California). Connecting a reverse osmosis
plant the cost of the produced drinking water
would be in the same range like the water
from conventional RO plants. This is a very
promising option for solar desalination.

The other option is using the solar energy

for thermal desalination. This means a solar
thermal plant is connected to a thermal
desalination
technology
like multi-effect
desalination (MED).

4. The Solar Thermal Desalination

Project

(STD)

CIEMAT (Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas Medioambientales

y Tecnol6gicas
Spain) and DLR (Deutsche Forschungsanstalt
fur Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., Germany)
decided in 1987 to develop an advanced solar
thermal desalination system, thus initiating the
so-called Solar Thermal Desalination (STD)
Project carried out at the Plataforma Solar de
Almeria (PSA) until 1994. PSA is a Spanish
solar research center located in southern
Spain, about 40 kilometers from Almeria and
jointly financed by CIEMAT and DLR.
Phase I was launched in 1988 and its

B. Milow and E. Zarza /Desalination

108 (1996) 51-58

daily thermal energy requirement

of the
desalination plant is less than 5 MWht for
24-hour daily operation. Nevertheless, it was
evidently more convenient to use the existing
collector field at the PSA than to erect an
entirely new, smaller collector field.
The desalination plant is connected to a
single 115 m3 thermocline vessel (COUPAS,
Greece) thermal storage system. The hot oil,
which enters the tank through an upper
manifold, acts simultaneously
as a heat
transfer fluid and heat storage medium. The
tank is inertized by 4.8 m3 of nitrogen. The
thermal storage capacity is 5 MWh, (approx.)
at charge/discharge
temperatures
of 300/
225C. The thermal
utilization
factor
(efficiency) is 92%. Since solar radiation is a
discontinuous
energy source, an energy
storage system is required in all those systems
where 24-hour operation is desired. The
storage system is charged by the solar
collectors during sunlight hours to provide
thermal energy during the night.
The desalination plant installed at the PSA
uses sprayed horizontal tube bundles for
seawater evaporation, which must be limited to

evaluation finished in 1990. The evaluation

results were published in 1991 [l]. During
Phase I a solar desalination
system was
implemented at the PSA to study its reliability
and feasibility. This desalination system was
composed of:
_ a 14-effect MED plant,
_ a solar parabolic-trough collector field,
- a thermocline thermal energy storage tank.
These subsystems are interconnected
as
shown in Fig. 2. The system operates with a
synthetic oil as heat transfer fluid (Santotherm
55), which is heated as it circulates through
the solar collectors and is then stored in the
thermal oil tank. Hot oil from the storage
system provides the MED plant with the
required thermal energy.
The collector field consists of one-axis
tracking parabolic trough collectors with a
total aperture area of 2,672 m*, model
Acurex-3001. The size of the ACUREX
collector field is much larger than that
required by the Sol-14 desalination plant. The
daily thermal energy delivered
by the
collector field is about 6.5 MWh,, while the

SEAWATER
I

--=I

OILCIRCUIT

Fig. 2. Schematic

diagram

53

of the solar MED system installed at the PSA in 1988.

B. Milow and E. Zurza /Desalination

54
Table 1
Technical
plant

specifications

of the

Sol-14

desalination

3
Nominal distillate production, m3/h
190
Heat source energy consumption, kW
Performance ratio
(kg distillate/2300 KJ heat input)
>9
50
Output salinity, ppm TDS
8
Seawater flow at 10C m3/h
Seawater flow at 25C ,3/h
20
8
Feedwater flow, m3/h
5
Brine reject, m3/h
14
Number of cells
Hydroejectors
Vacuum system
(seawater at 3 bar)

around 70C to limit scale formation.

The MED plant is composed by 14 Cells or
Effects
with
successively
decreasing
temperatures and pressures from Cell (1) to
Cell (14). The seawater is preheated from Cell
to Cell in the 13 preheaters. From Cell (l), the
seawater passes on from one Cell to another
by gravity before being extracted from Cell
(14) by the brine pump. The part of the
seawater used to cool the condenser is rejected
and the rest is used for the feedwater required
to spray the Cell-l tube bundle.
Vapor at 70C is produced in a low
pressure boiler heated by hot oil from the
solar system. This vapor is introduced into the
Cell (1) tube bundle and condenses as it is
sprayed by seawater. The heat released
evaporates part of this water at 67C 0.28 bar.
The steam thus produced goes on to Cell (2),
where it is condensed again in a tube bundle
sprayed with feedwater. The latent heat
released by condensation of the vapor allows
part of the seawater entering the second Cell
to evaporate at the lower temperature/pressure
of 64C/O.24 bar.
The same condensation/evaporation process
is repeated in Cells (3) to (14). The vapor
produced in Cell (14) at 33C/O.O5 bar is
condensed in a final condenser cooled by
seawater. The water condensed in each Cell
goes through a U-shaped tube to the next Cell

108 (1996) 51-58

and finally to the condenser. The product

water is then extracted from the condenser by
means of the distilled water pump.
The desalination plant can also be fed with
16-26 bar steam. High pressure steam is
produced in the PSAs Electricity Generation
System to drive a small power plant. A small
fraction of this steam can be used to feed the
desalination
plant, where it is sent to
thermocompressors,
and mixed with steam
produced in the fourteenth
effect. This
mixture is then ejected into the evaporator of
the first Cell to restart the desalination
process. In this case, the MED plant energy
consumption is lower.
A vacuum system, composed
of two
ejectors driven by seawater at 3 bar, is used to
evacuate the air from the unit at startup and to
compensate for the small amounts of air and
gases released from feedwater and from small
leaks through the gaskets.
After the implementation,
the solar
desalination system was tested and evaluated
under diverse working conditions. The most
outstanding
solar ME system evaluation
results obtained during Phase I were the
following:
- High reliability of the system. No major
problem in the coupling of the MED plant
to the solar field.
_ Low thermal inertia: It usually took 35
minutes to reach nominal production of
distillate.
- Specific electricity consumption
in the
range from 3.3 to 5 kWNm3 of distillate.
The performance ratio (PR) is one of the
most important
parameters
of an MED
system. The PR gives the number of kgs of
distillate produced by 2,300 KJ heat input.
The Sol-14 plant has shown a PR within the
range of 10.4 to 9.4 when operating with low
pressure steam. PR increases up to the range
of 12 to 14 if high pressure steam (16-26
bar) is used to feed the plant.
Another task performed during Phase I,
was the study of possible improvements that
could be incorporated in the initial MED solar

B. Milow and E. Zarza /Desalination

system to increase
its efficiency
and
competitiveness.
The improvements identified in Phase I
were implemented during Phase II. The main
improvement was the coupling of a doubleeffect absorption heat pump to increase the
system efficiency. Conventional MED plants
need to cool the final condenser with seawater
in order to condense the steam produced in
the last effect. The quantity of cooling water
required by the condenser depends on the
temperature
of the sea: the warmer the
seawater, the higher the flow required to keep
the condenser at the nominal temperature of
35C. This cooling water is then partially
rejected back into the sea at 35C, wasting an
important amount of thermal energy.
For a seawater temperature of 25C the
cooling flow required by the MED plant
installed at the PSA was 20 m3/h. This cooling
water leaves the final condenser of the plant at
a temperature of 35C. Only 8 of the total 20
m3/h leaving the final condenser at 35C are
used to feed the distillation process. The re-

Fig. 3. Improved

lilt

solar MED system.

HI-t1

108 (1996) 51-58

55

maining 12 m3/h are rejected to the sea (see

Fig. 2), thus wasting more than 50% of the
input thermal energy. This waste of energy
can be eliminated by coupling a double-effect
absorption heat pump (DEAHP) at the final
condenser. Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram
of the improved desalination system in which
an absorption heat pump has been coupled to
the MED plant.
The heat pump delivers 200 kW of thermal
energy at 65C to the MED plant. The
desalination process in the plant evaporator
body uses only 90 of the 200 kW, while the
remaining 110 kW are recovered by the heat
pump evaporator at 35C and pumped to
usable temperature of 65C. For this, the heat
pump needs 90 kW thermal power at 180C.
The energy consumption of the desalination
system was thus reduced from 200 kW to 90
kW. The MED plant feeds the steam produced
in the last Cell at 35C to the heat pump,
instead of condensing it with cold seawater in
the final condenser, thus avoiding wasting
heat in the rejected cooling water.

L--a--fi,,

56

B. Milow and E. Zurza /Desalination

The main problem faced during the heat

pump testing was the difficulty in achieving
steady-state conditions. Nevertheless, such
operating problems are normal when working
with prototypes and this has been the first
absorption heat pump designed to work
coupled to a MED plant.
Corrosion of the carbon steel elements in
contact with the working fluid of the heat
pump (LiBr solution) was observed, due to
vacuum loss. Since this was a prototype, many
pipe connections were made with flanges
instead of welding them to facilitate checking
of the equipment. It is well known that flanges
are easy to dismount but they are likely to
suffer from air leaks. However, this corrosion
could easily be eliminated in future commercial heat pump units designed and manufactured based on the experience gained with this
prototype.
In contrast to the operating problems, it
should be pointed out that though the
theoretically
assumed efficiency was not
achieved during the test campaign, some
results were rather close. The improvements
implemented in the desalination system (i.e.
absorption heat pump and steam-ejector
based vacuum system) reduced the thermal
energy consumption
of the desalination
system by 44% from 63 to 36 kWh/m3 and
electricity consumption by 12% from 3.3 to
2.9 kWhe/m3. Evaluation results of Phase II
were published in 1995 [2].

5. Cost analysis
Fig. 4 is a cost comparison
of four
different systems (conventional RO, RO with
photovoltaic panels, conventional MED plants
improved with a heat pump and solar MED
systems with a heat pump) for four plant
sizes: 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 m3/d.
According to Fig. 4, conventional RO plants
are the cheapest alternative for any plant size.
Nevertheless, the cost of conventional MED
plants improved with heat pumps is quite
similar.
At any size, there is a small difference

108 (1996) 51-58

800 , ............................................ ....... ..........................................

700
3

600

500

i400
k$

300

200
100
0
100

1000

500

5ooo

Plant Capacity (mYday)

Fig. 4. Water
parison.

production

cost.

Technologies

com-

between solar and conventional MED systems

using fossil energy. The difference between
conventional
and solar MED systems is
smaller for large plants because of the
reduction in the cost of the solar system due
to the scale-up effect. However, this small
difference
can be compensated
by the
environmental
advantages of solar energy
(reduction of CO2 emissions).
RO plants consume only electricity, if the
cost of the equipment required to completely
prevent power plants from contaminating the
environment were taken into account, the cost
of electricity would have to be increased
considerably, thus making solar desalination
systems more competitive. These systems do
not need a skilled operator, while any mistake
during operation of a RO plant can ruin the
membranes, thus considerably increasing the
costs. No penalization for this disadvantage of
RO systems is considered in Fig. 4. The high
reliability of MED plants is a very important
factor to be considered in any feasibility
study concerning third world countries, where
the technological knowledge and availability
of skilled manpower are usually low.
A 0.55 solar fraction has been considered
in Fig. 4 for the solar MED systems, which
means that 55% of the total thermal energy
demand is supplied by the solar system.
Higher solar fractions would increase the
investment cost of these systems, thus making

B. Milow and E. Zarza /Desalination

them less competitive when compared with

conventional systems.
The calculations made for Fig. 4 assume
that the plants would be build and operated in
southern Spain, At other locations the solar
MED plant is already competitive. As Fig. 5
shows, the drinking water from a solar plant is
cheaper than the one from an up-to-date
conventional MED plant if solar insolation
sums to more than 2050 kWh/m2 per year
(instead of 1800 kWh/m2 per year in southern
Spain, Fig. 5a) or if the cost for fossil fuel
would raise about 10% (3.3 Ptas instead of 3
Ptas per kWh, Fig. 5b).
Another important factor which has to be
taken into account is the cost reduction due to
mass production. The most expensive part of
a solar plant (see Table 2) is the solar field. If
the costs could be reduced by approximately
10% from toadys 25,000 Ptas/m2 the solar
desalination would become competitive even
in southern
Spain (leaving
the other
parameters constant, Fig. 5~).

51

IO8 (1996) 51-58

Fig. 5c. Water production cost comparison

versus conventional MED).

Table 2
Cost breakdown for desalted water
solar share, 45% conventional)
costs
MED plant capital cost
Solar collector field capital cost
Thermal storage capital cost
Heat pump capital cost
O&M
Electricity
Fuel

(solar

(solar MED

MED, 55%

% of cost
20
30
4
2
3
16
25

6. Future activities

Fig. Sa&b. Water production

cost comparison
MED versus conventional MED).

(solar

Since a very important experience and

know-how have been acquired during phases
I & II of the STD-Project, and taking into
consideration that the technical feasibility of
solar MED systems has been proven,
CIEMAT and DLR think that it is time to
implement
a demonstration
plant at a
Mediterranean site.
A feasibility study is required before this
implementation, in order to select a good site
and to define
the optimum
system
configuration. This study would be phase III
of the project, while the implementation itself
would be phase IV.
A first approach to carry out these actions
was made in 1994 and, due to a not accepted

58

B. Milow and E. Zarza /Desalination

application for an EU-APAS project, not

successful. But since solar desalination is
already competitive today this technology is
becoming
interesting
also for private
investors.

7. Conclusions
The Solar Thermal Desalination (STD)
project demonstrated the technical feasibility
and high reliability of an MED plant coupled
to a solar parabolic-trough
collector field,
thus proving that seawater solar desalination
with MED plants is a good alternative for
medium to large fresh water production
systems.
Though some design and manufacturing
failures were detected for the heat pump, the
technical feasibility of absorption heat pumps
for seawater desalination processes was proven
in the STD project.
The problems and failures of the heat
pump prototype tested at the PSA must not be
considered
a barrier
for the future
commercialization
of advanced solar MED
systems. These problems are normal with any
prototype and could be eliminated in future
commercial units.
The analysis of competitiveness performed

IO8 (1996) 51-58

oduring
this
project
shows
that
implementation f an absorption heat pump
considerably reduces costs: a total cost (i.e.
capital cost + production cost) of about $2 per
m3 of distillate could be obtained for large
plants, Though the total cost of conventional
MED systems is a little lower, the clean
environmentally
non-aggressive
characteristics of solar energy will help to overcome
this difference in the future.
The higher cost of solar systems is a
consequence of the small size of the solar
market. However, this problem is expected to
be overcome in the near future as soon as
Solar Energy is recognized as a clean and
environment-friendly
one, while conserving
available natural resources.
Meanwhile,
implementation of solar energy systems must
be promoted by tax incentives, subsidies or
otherwise supported by governments
and
public institutions.

References
[II

E. Zarza, Solar Thermal Desalination Project, First

phase
results
and second
phase
description,
CIEMAT, November 1991.
[21 E. Zarza, Solar Thermal Desalination Project, phase
II results and final project report, CIEMAT, August
1994.