Passive Vacuum Solar Flash Desalination

Thursday, November 20, 2008: 10:10 AM
Room 204-B (Pennsylvania Convention Center)

Mohammad Abutayeh, Chemical Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
D. Yogi Goswami, Clean Energy Research Center, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL

A model for a sustainable desalination process has been developed. The simulated process consists of pumping seawater through a solar heater before flashing it under passively created vacuum in an elevated chamber. The vacuum enhances evaporation and is maintained by the balance between the hydrostatic pressure inside the elevated flash chamber and the atmospheric pressure. The developed model employs theoretical thermodynamic relations to describe the process setting it apart from previous empirical correlations.
Extended Abstract: File Uploaded
See more of this Session: Water Desalination and Purification
See more of this Group/Topical: Environmental Division