Desalination via Immiscible Heating Medium Pool
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current desalination processes are complex, costly, and require extensive pretreatment and equipment prone to scaling and corrosion, with high recycle rates of heating mediums and safety concerns due to thermal degradation and vaporization outside the liquid pool.
Innovation Solution
Desalination occurs within a liquid pool with a heating medium that is immiscible with the feed water stream, allowing vaporization and solids removal without a stripping zone, using a pump-around loop for heat recovery and minimizing equipment design challenges and pretreatment needs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If vaporization occurs in a mixing zone outside the liquid pool, then the feed water stream can be heated, but the equipment becomes prone to scaling and plugging
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the vaporization process from the external mixing zone and relocates it to occur within the liquid pool zone. By taking out the harmful scaling and plugging issues from the system design, the invention allows vaporization to occur where the heating medium is already present, eliminating the problematic external mixing zone while maintaining the heating function.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating medium acts as an intermediary substance that enables heat transfer from the hot oil to the feed water stream. Instead of direct contact between hot oil and water (which causes scaling), the heating medium mediates the heat transfer process within the liquid pool, allowing efficient heating without the harmful effects of direct thermal contact.
2Manufacturing precision
If a stripping zone is used for solids removal, then dissolved or undissolved solids can be separated, but the zone becomes prone to corrosion and safety concerns arise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the solids separation function with the liquid pool zone where the heating medium already resides. Instead of creating a separate stripping zone that requires hot oil-water contact, the invention combines vaporization, heating, and solids separation into a single liquid pool environment, eliminating the need for a dedicated stripping zone and its associated corrosion and safety problems.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention converts the potential harm of hot oil-water contact into a benefit by using the heating medium to perform both heating and solids separation functions. The heating medium, which would otherwise require a separate stripping zone, is instead used directly in the liquid pool to vaporize water and separate solids, turning a potentially harmful process into a beneficial integrated system.
3Reliability
If the heating medium is recirculated at high rates to limit temperature difference, then thermal degradation is avoided, but the system complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the temperature parameter relationship by allowing a larger temperature difference between the hot oil and the feed water stream. Instead of maintaining a small temperature difference through high recycle rates, the invention uses the heating medium to bridge the temperature gap, enabling efficient heat transfer while reducing the required recycle rate and system complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach simplifies the desalination process, reduces costs, and eliminates scaling and fouling, allowing a wider range of feed water quality and eliminating the need for extensive pretreatment and high recycle rates, while ensuring efficient vaporization and solids separation.
Implementation Method 1
desalinate a feed water stream by mixing the feed water stream with a heating medium
Implementation Method 2
Vaporization occurs in this mixing zone (where more than 99% of the volatile components of the feed stream are vaporized)
Implementation Method 3
The resulting stream is then transferred to the separator vessel in which the vapor is separated, with the solid and liquid components falling into the liquid pool zone
Implementation Method 4
To keep the pool hot, the heating medium can be recirculated through a heater in a pump-around loop
Implementation Method 5
To keep the pool hot, the heating medium can be recirculated through a heater in a pump-around loop
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method to desalinate a feed water stream does so in a liquid pool zone of a vessel as the stream comes into contact with a heating medium that is less volatile than the feed water stream. To keep the pool hot, the heating medium can be recirculated through a heater of a pump-around loop or a heater can be placed in the liquid pool. As the feed water stream is vaporized or partially vaporized, any solids and unvaporized water present in the feed water stream come out of the stream and move into the heating medium. These solids and unvaporized water may be further removed from the heating medium in the pool or in the pump-around loop. The heat exchange surface does not contact the feed water.