Cost-Effective Desalination by Falling-Film Freeze-Concentration with Minimal Environmental Impact

Water resource management is critical for sustainable social development in Egypt amid growing consumption and limited resource options. Recent national water plans have emphasized the strategic rule of nonconventional water supply through desalination. On the other hand, conventional desalination methods have a severe environmental impact due to increases in the temperature and salinity of the feedwater basin. Currently, Freeze Desalination feasibility is limited by the entrapment of salt between the dendrite ice crystals affecting the salinity of the output water. To improve this process, a laboratory-scale experimental setup will be built to investigate the effect of the operating parameters, including film velocity and thickness, input salinity, cooling surface temperature, heat flux, and cooling time on the ice formation in terms of rate, salinity, and the microscopic crystal structure.

Objective/Contributions:

In this project, a laboratory-scale FFFC experimental setup will be built to investigate the effect of the operating parameters, including film velocity and thickness, input salinity, cooling surface temperature, heat flux, and cooling time on the ice formation in terms of rate, salinity, and the microscopic crystal structure.