Optimization of seawater evaporation plants Original Research Article

For the majority of power plants located at the sea, the boiler make-up water is produced by thermally driven desalination plants. The cost of distillate produced by evaporation is influenced both by capital investment and by the running costs of the plant. There is a trade-off between capital investment and operational cost whereby the higher the specific power consumption. SWS has developed an accurate optimization program which finds the most convenient balance between plant efficiency directly proportional to capital investment and running costs. The program operates for any required return on an investment from 1 to 7 years. The optimal point is, of course, influenced by market factors such as the price of energy (electrical, steam, fuel) and by applicable interest for the amortization of the investments. Therefore, the optimization is to be suited for the specific conditions for each project. The findings, however, are the significant savings can be achieved at any site or conditions through the proper identification and specification of the most convenient plant.