Energy Department Award for Solar Desalination
High water recovery for inland desalination demands an alternative to reverse osmosis. Evaporative processes are able to reach zero liquid discharge (ZLD) but a cost-effective renewable ZLD process has been elusive. This project is focused on developing a new platform for the front end - low-cost delivery of firm steam to drive efficient thermal desalination processes. Double effect AHP machines use pressures between 4-11 bara. TVR motive steam pressures range from 6-25 bara. To satisfy these steam conditions and effect efficient thermal distillation processes, we designed a novel solar steam source that supplies 7 barg steam from a thermal battery.