Muller-Holst, H.; Engelhardt, M.; Herve, M.; Scholkopf, W.
May 1998
Renewable Energy, vol 14-3, p. 311-318
The performance of a pilot solar Multi Effect Humidification (MEH) Desalination system in Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, had been measured and analysed in detail by the ZAE Bayern since 1992. The investigated distillation units showed constant performance over several years without extensive maintenance. However the efforts towards further efficiency improvement by economic means pointed out the need of supplementing the system with a thermal storage tank. The distillation unit being the most expensive part of a desalination system has to be run 24 hours a day in order to be economic. A cost estimation for storage implementation yields the result, that cost reduction for the produced water by more than a half is possible. In April 1997 a desalination system with 24 hour thermal storage was built up in Sfax / Tunisia. The results of a short term measuring campaign at this site are presented here.
For optimizing the ratio of sizes of thermal storage, collector field and distillation module a simulation tool for collector field and storage is developed at the ZAE Bayern. The simulation results of a combined laboratory distillation unit and storage system are presented.
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