Desalination Models

Desalination models

From brine water to drinking water with Apros

Desalinated water is an essential and often the only source of fresh water in several countries. Rising living standards and high population growth are increasing the demand for desalination plants all over the world.

Using the comprehensive Apros libraries for process and automation components, the construction of accurate models of desalination plants is very flexible and fast. The model makes it easy to study process responses dynamically:

  • changes in feed water flow
  • changes in brine temperature
  • transients in the recirculation flow of brine
  • changes in the salinity of feed water

Apros can be used to model the whole desalination plant. Apros calculates the thermodynamic properties of salt water, and it includes a module for calculating the special reverse osmosis. With these features, it is possible to calculate different kinds of thermal desalination processes and reverse osmosis units dynamically. Apros can be used to model MSF-, MED- and RO-types of desalination plants.

In the calculation model the state of the liquid and gas mixture is defined as a function of pressure, enthalpy and total concentration of salt. The values of temperature, density, boiling temperature, saturation point, concentration of brine and the mass fractions of brine, vapour and solid salt are available at each calculation node.

See more from the conference paper:

IAEA Technical Meeting on 3-6 March 2009, Republic of Korea.
Developing a Design and Simulation Tool for Coupling Thermal Desalination Plants with Nuclear Reactors by using Apros Simulator
Khairy Agha, Khalid Al Fared, Ali Rashed, and Salem Ghurbal
ESTC, Atomic Energy Establishment, Simulation Group, Tripoli, Libya