Desalination, 65 (1987) 43-55 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.

, Amsterdam-Printed

43 in The Netherlands

PARAMETRIC STUDY ON FALLING-FILM SEAWATER DESALINATION

G.

ALY , A. AL-HADDAD' and M. ABDEL-JAWAD' 1 Kuwait University, P.O.' Box 5969, 13060 Safat, Kuwait 2 Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, P.O. Box 24885, 13109 Safat, Kuwait

ABSTRACT A computer program "as constructed for the calculation of the heat transfer and fluid hydrodynamic characteristics of falling-film evaporation of natural seawater. The evaporator unit is provided with a recirculation loop. The heat transfer surface is divided into small segments where local heat transfer coefficients are calculated using correlations for different flow regimes. The package has been optimized with respect to convergence, accuracy and CPU time consumption. A parametric study "as conducted to investigate the effect of such process variables as feed conditions, steam temperature, circulation ratio, boiling temperature and fouling thermal resistance. The results of an extensive sensitivity analysis indicate that the evaporation process is more sensitive to changes in the thickness of the scale layer and live steam temperature and less sensitive to changes in feed temperature.

INTRODUCTION Distillation of seawater in multiple falling-film evaporators is an establish ed technique to produce salt-free water. The heat transfer area usually

consists of a bundle of long vertical tubes, on the inside surface of which a thin liquid film flows down under gravity in an annular type of flow. The

thermal energy source is often the exhaust steam extracted from the low-pressure stage of a steam power plant. The vapor generated in one effect condenses on

the outside surface of the tubes in the next effect, causing seawater inside the tubes to boil. 1n such evaporators, the temperature differences necessary to

maintain a certain heat flux from the condensing steam to the boiling seawater can be kept small. This is particularly important to seawater desalination

plants where a large number of effects are incorporated or vapor pressure techniques are applied. Furthermore, the boiling mechanism becomes generally

one of evaporation at the liquid-vapor interface without formation of vapor bubbles on the heating surface. Falling-film evaporators are characterized by high heat transfer coefficients, short residence time of the falling liquid film, small liquid hold-up and relatively small pressure drops. That is why falling-film evaporation is widely

applied not only for seawater desalination but also in all branches of the chemical industry, as well as in the pharmaceutical, food, and pulp and paper

OOll-9X4/87/$03.50

0 1987 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.

44 industries. This paper describes a computer program specially designed to provide some insight into the heat transfer and fluid dynamic characteristics of fallingfilm evaporation of natural seawater. The program can be used for parametric

studies of the process variables that influence this process.

THE MATHEMATICAL MODEL The evaporator unit considered in this study is schematically shown in Fig.1. A fraction of the concentrated brine can be circulated if necessary. does not account for the pressure drop over the heat transfer surface. The model Conden-

sate streams are assumed to be saturated, and only smooth heated surfaces (tubes and plates) are considered. Finally, surface evaporation is assumed to prevail.

Fig. 2 shows the physical model of the evaporator and the coordinate system. The temperature profiles in the bulk of heating steam, condensate film, tube wall, liquid film and the bulk of the generated vapor are also illustrated. The hydrodynamics of falling films can be divided into three flow regimes: laminar flow, wavy-laminar flow and turbulent flow. There are two main mechaSurface evapora-

nisms of falling film evaporation depending on the heat flux.

tion occurs at low heat fluxes while bubble formation, i.e., nucleate boiling, takes place at high heat fluxes. most falling-film evaporators. The surface evaporation regime is dominant in In this regime, the local heat transfer coeffi-

cients are virtually independent of the heat flux.

Heat Transfer Correlations With respect to the boiling temperature at the prevailing pressure inside the evaporator, the seawater fed to the liquid distributors above the upper edge of the heat transfer bundle may be subcooled, saturated or superheated. For a

subcooled feed, two distinct convective heat transfer regions can be defined within the evaporator length: a thermal developing region and a fully developed region. In the thermal developing region, where no evaporation occurs, all heat

transferred across the tube wall is utilized to preheat the-seawater to its boiling temperature. zone. That is why this region is sometimes called the preheating

The local heat transfer coefficient in this zone will generally be higher This is analogous to the case of

than that in the fully developed region.

single phase convective heat transfer in pipes, where the heat transfer coefficient is substantially higher near the entrance than further downstream. There

are a number of heat transfer correlations reported in the literature (refs.l-3) to calculate the liquid-side heat transfer coefficient in the preheating zone. The VDI correlations (ref. 3) were adopted in this work.

In the fully developed region , convective heat transfer leads to evaporation at the liquid-vapor interface as mentioned earlier. Chun and Seban (ref. 4)

45

-I
II

, 1

46

developed the following model for heat transfer to evaporating liquid films on smooth vertical tubes: For laminar flow: Nu = 1.1 Re-lj3 For wavy-laminar flow: Nu = 0.825 Re-2'g For turbulent flow: Nu = 3.e* lo-3 Reom4 Pro.65 (3) (2) (1)

The first equation is the well-known Nusselt equation for film condensation (ref. 5). The second equation, which is based on the work of Zazuli (ref. 6),

assumes that the effective film thickness is reduced by the action of capillary waves and ripples. with eqn. (1). &ban The net effect is an increase in heat transfer in comparison

The third equation is based on the experimental work of Chun and

(ref. 4) in the interval of Pr = 1.77 - 5.7 and Re = 9000 - 22000.

The intersection of eqns. (1) and (2) yields a pseudo-transition Reynolds IlUmber: (Re)lam - w.lam = 2.43 Ka where Ka = Kapitza number = po3/gn4 The intersection of eqns. (2) and (3) gives the second pseudo-transition Reynolds number: (Re)rlam-tub = 5800 Px-~.'~ (6) (5) l/11 (4)

Eqns. (5) and (6) should not be regarded as an actual indication of the transition from one flow regime to another, but only as the point of transition from one correlation to the other in order to facilitate the numerical simulations. There are other heat transfer correlations for the turbulent flow regime (refs. 7-10). However, the Chun-Seban model was adopted in this work.

THE COMPUTER PROGRAM The total length of the heat transfer areas is divided into a number of segments N. Within each segment, the physical properties of the liquid and the It is obvious that the greater the Fig. 3 shows

flow regime are assumed to be constant.

number of segments N, the more accurate the simulation results.

the first three segments,' the first of which is used as an updating segment. The input data fed to the package include the feed conditions, saturation temperature of live steam, pressure of the separator, circulation ratio, geometric data of the heat transfer surface, thickness of deposits and thermal conductivities of the metal and deposits. Following the initiation phase in

which input data are checked and initial values are assigned to some process variables, the program compares the feed temperature with the boiling temperature corresponding to the separator pressure. If the feed is subcooled, it will If the feed The evapo-

be preheated to its boiling temperature in a number of segments.

is superheated, it will be flashed down to the boiling temperature.

ration calculations begin in the subsequent segments unless the feed enters the evaporator already at its saturation temperature. used in the preheating zone. The WI correlations are

The Chun-Seban correlations are used in the They

evaporation zone to calculate the liquid-side heat transfer coefficient.

are also used throughout the whole surface area to calculate the condensateside heat transfer coefficient.

Fig. 3

Segmentation of the heat transfer area.

48

The calculations are iterative within each segment and over the evaporator itself. The different iteration loops contain three parameters that check for

convergence with respect to concentration, Ew, temperature, heat transferred,

ct, and amount of

A series of

'q' parameters equal to 10-5 and the number of segments equal to 50.

An exact solution was created by setting all convergence

runs were then executed to determine the optimum values of these four parameters that yield a reasonable level of accuracy in an acceptable computer time. results of these runs gave the following values:
E

The

= 10-3 ct = 5*10-z

= 10-z N = is

x q

The same procedure was repeated to optimize a number of relaxation variables. The final results of these runs gave the following allowable errors for process variables: flow rate concentration temperature heat flux/transfer coefficient f 0.001 kg/s + 0.001 wt. fraction + 0.01 oc

f 0.5 W/m2.k

The package includes a comprehensive data base for calculating the physical properties of the liquid such as dynamic viscosity, density, thermal conductivity, boiling point elevation, specific heat capacity, and surface tension. These properties are calculated as functions of concentration and temperature for a number of liquids such as natural seawater, black liquor, sugar solutions and skim milk. data base. A special algorithm (ref. 11) is used to accelerate the convergence within the different loops of the package. The thermodynamic properties of steam are also included in the

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The program was tested for both smooth tubes and smooth plates. Both surface

configurations have the same behavior as far as heat transfer and fluid dynamics are concerned. Because of lack of space, only the results for evaporation of

seawater on vertical smooth tubes are presented here. To study the influence of process variables on the overall heat transfer coefficient analyzed. (U value), numerous sensitivity analysis runs were executed and The process variables studied and the numerical intervals investigaThe geometrical data of the evaporator tube The number of tubes was 71 with dia-

ted are illustrated in Table 1.

bundle were fixed during the simulation.

meters between 34 and 29 mm, length of 3.0 m and thermal conductivity of 238 W/I&, which represents an average value for the most common scale materials

49

encountered

in seawater

desalination.

TABLE

1 Analysis Data Numerical Default Min. Interval Max.

Sensitivity

Variable

Unit

step
0.05 5 1.0 2.0 0.1 0.1 0.05 kg/s OC Wt.% OC bar mm

Feed rate Feed temperature Feed concentration Steam temperature Separator pressure Circulation ratio Deposits thickness

0.9 100 4.2 115 1.013 0. 0.

0.4 75 3.5 106 0.5 0. 0.

1.0 110 10.5 120 1.5 0.7 0.8

The influence is discussed

of each variable

on the behavior

of the evaporation

process

below.

Feed Flow Rate The feed flow rate F was changed the flow regime wavy-laminar. from 0.4 to 1.0 kg/s. Within this interval,

on the liquid and condensate When F increases

side of the tubes turned out to be decreases, since the hold-up across the

the evaporation while

time of the liquid

film decreases constant.

the temperature eqn.

difference

tube wall is practically flow regime

CL

Rewriting

(2) for the wavy-laminar

in the form:

= 0 . 825(

X3gp2/w2,1/3 (4r/P)-2'g
clear that the local heat transfer decrease when coefficients load, on both

(7) sides of the It must the values

it becomes tubes

(~1~and CLC) would

the liquid

r, increases. affect

be emphasized according

that changes (7).

in liquid viscosity

would

greatly

to eqn.

This influence are very

is denounced

in the case of seawater changes in the

since changes concentration.

in the viscosity The net result

small due to moderate

on the U value

is shown in Fig. 4.

Feed Temperature The feed temperature and superheating very little cases. was changed from 75 to llOC to cover both heat transfer coefficient subcooling increases

The liquid-side this interval,

(l-2%) within

due to small changes the wavy-laminar

in Reynolds flow regime. The

number.

The liquid

film will

remain within coefficient

condensate-side the U value will shown in Fig. 5.

heat transfer increase

shows the same behavior. the investigated

Consequently, interval as

by less than 2% within

x
Y

Ni .
3
-I

NE

3
a >
I 3

== 4000 2

aJ I3

aJ-

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0
Is
Fig. 5

30101 75

I 85

95

105

Feed
Fig. 4

flow

rate,

kg

Feed
u value as a function

temperature,
of feed temperature.

U value as a function

of feed flow rate.

51

Feed Concentration The feed concentration wide concentration unit. Within X was changed from 3.5 to 10.5 wt.%, which in a multiple-effect covers the

range usually both

encountered liquid

evaporation

this interval,

and condensate liquid

films will remain'withp will remain relatiaL. will

in the wavy-laminar vely constant

flow regime.

The average increases,

load

as feed concentration the average

and therefore and hence

will not affect the viscosity dominate

On the other hand, increase.

liquid

concentration

The influence by 2.6%

of brine

viscosity

on (IL will therefore

and

will decrease wt.%).

(from 5528 W/m2K

at X = 3.5 wt.% to 5387 W/m'k at X = 10.5

Since decreases with an increase in feed concentration, the condensate aL flow rate will decrease as a result of a decreasing heat flux q. Since the condensate X increases flow regime is also wavy-laminar, then uC will increase by 6.5% as

(from 8059 W/m2K is a slight

at X = 3.5 wt.% to 8578 W/m2k in the U value,

at X = 10.5 wt.%).

The net result

increase

as shown in Fig. 6.

Steam Temperature The steam temperature difference was changed At of 6-20C from 106 to 12OOC. This would give a The This the

temperature amount would liquid

relative

to the feed temperature. increase as At increases. load r. Since

of heat transferred enhance evaporation

to the liquid will and hence decreases

the liquid

film flow is in the wavy-laminar (from 5309 W/&K film load will

regime,

then aL will

increase

as At The Conseresults

increases condensate quently.

at At = 6OC to 5665 W/m'K increase when with an increase These

at At = 2O'C). in the heat flux. two contradictory 7.

uc will decrease

t increases.

will keep the U value change in the u value

almost

constant

as can be seen in Fig. the interval

The maximum

is 1.5% within

investigated.

Pressure

of the Separator of the separator P was changed from 0.5 to 1.5 bar. This The

The pressure corresponds temperature

to a saturation difference,

temperature

of pure water of 81.9 to 111.4'C. flux, will decrease will decrease in a decrease

and hence the heat The evaporation result

as the pressure load

in the separator will therefore In fact bar. The average result

increases.

and the liquid in a

increase.

dL decreased

L from 5816 W/m*K at P = 0.5 bar to 5562 W/m2K

This would

as P increases. at P = 1.5

condensate

flow rate will decline

as P increases.

This would at

in an increase

P = 1.5 bar. decreases

in CL from 7044 W/&K C The net result on the U value

at P = 0.5 bar to 9902 W/m2K is shown in Fig. 8, where

it first

and then increases

with the pressure

in the separator.

3220

, , , , ,,

, , , , , , , , ,

3175

3150 ~ i 2 a. 3200$ = 31903 a; 3100 3 32101c

NE

3125

a
'r 3075
-J

3180 ' 11 4 3

11 5

11 6

' 1 '1 7 8
,

1 ' 11 9 IO

30251 106

I 110

I 114

I 118

Feed
Fig. 6

concentration

wt *lo
Fig. 7

Saturation
U value ture.

temp. of live steam,OC

of live steam tempera-

U value as a function

of feed concentration.

as a function

53

54

Circulation Ratio The circulation ratio (R=FR/F) was changed from 0.0 to 0.7. The average

liquid load will increase when R increases, and this will obviously have the same effect as with the feed flow rate. R increases, as shown in Fig. 9. The U value will therefore decrease a!

Fouling Resistance A fouling layer was simulated with a thickness range of 0.0 - 0.8 mm. is to be compared with the tube wall thickness of 2.5 mm. drastically deteriorate as illustrated in Fig. 10. In conclusion the sensitivity analysis runs revealed that the falling-film evaporator simulated was more sensitive to changes in the thickness of a scale layer and in live steam temperature, and less sensitive to changes in feed temperature. This

The U value will

NE2700

3
a~- 23M 3 2 1 ' 19oc

1500

0.2

__

0.4

0.6

0.8

Thickness
Fig. 10

of deposits,

mm

U value as a function of thickness of deposits.

55

REFERENCES mAdams, Heat Transmission, McGraw-Hill Co., 3rd ed., 1954. M.N. Chepurnoy, V.E. Shnayaer and A.D. Berkuta, Heat Transfer in turbulent flow of liquid films over vertical surfaces, Heat Transfer Soviet Research, E(l), 62, 1976. VDI-Heat Atlas, 2nd ea., VDI-Verlag, Dusseldorf, 1974'. K.R. Chun and R.A. &ban, Heat transfer to evaporating liquid films, J. of Heat Transfer, Trans. ASME, 93C. 391-396, 1971. W. Nusselt, Die Oberflachenkonaensation aes Wasserdamp fes., 2. vD1 60, 541546, 1916. R. Zazuli in S.S. Kutadeladze, Fundamentals of Heat Transfer, Arnold, London, 1963. A.E. Dukler, Fluid mechanics and heat transfer in vertical falling-film systems, Chem. Eng. Prog. Symp. Ser. 30, l-20, 1960. H. Struve, Heat transfer in a rising liquid film, VDI-Forschungsheft 534, 1969. V.N. Murthy and P.K. Sarma, The Canadian Journal of them. Eng., 55, 732, 1977. 1U G. Schnabel and E.U. Schlunder, VT Verfahrenstechnik, 14(Z), 79-83, 1980. 11 A. Jernqvist, ADJUST-An adaptive convergence algorithm for general trial and error computations, Report No. 75-F-1, Dept. of Chem. Eng. I, Lund University, Sweden, 1975.
W.H.