Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588

Use of parabolic trough solar energy collectors

for sea-water desalination
Soteris Kalogirou *
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Higher Technical Institute, PO Box 423, Nicosia, Cyprus

Abstract

The various desalination methods are analysed with respect to their primary energy con-
sumption, sea-water treatment requirement and equipment cost. From this analysis, the mul-
tiple-eect boiling evaporator is concluded to be the most suitable method for stimulation by
solar energy. The parabolic-trough solar-collector is selected mainly due to its ability to
function at high temperatures with high eciency. The design of the ash vessel and the
desalination system circuit are presented. System modelling is used to predict the rate of fresh
water produced by four sizes of systems, varying from small 10 m2 to large 2160 m2 collector-
area applications. The economic analysis performed, showed that prices of about 0.89 C/m2
can be achieved with the larger applications. Nevertheless, it is not cost eective to operate the
system solely on solar energy due to the relatively high cost of the equipment and the high
percentage of inactive time. # 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nomenclature

CR Concentration ratio
d Market discount-rate (%)
FR Heat-removal factor
I Beam solar radiation (W/m2)
In Test intercept of collector performance graph
N Number of years
n Thermal eciency
no Optical eciency
S Test slope of collector's performance graph

* Tel.: +357-2-306199; Fax: +357-2-494953; e-mail: skalogir@spidernet.com.cy

0306-2619/98/$see front matter # 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S030 6-2619(98)0001 8-X
66 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588

Ta Ambient temperature (K)

Ti Collector's inlet-temperature (K)
Tr Mean receiver temperature (K)
UL Steady-state heat-loss coecient (W/m2K)

T Temperature dierence, (Ti Ta ) (K)

Abbreviations

C Cyprus pound (August 1998: 1 C=1.17 sterling)

CPC Compound parabolic-collector
ED Electrodialysis
ERRO Energy recoveryreverse osmosis
FPC Flat-plate collector
LCS Life-cycle savings
MEB Multiple-eect boiling (evaporator)
MES Multiple-eect stack (evaporator)
MSF Multi-eect ash (evaporator)
ppm Parts per million
PR Performance ratio
PTC Parabolic-trough collector
PW Present worth
PWF Present worth factor
RO Reverse osmosis
TDS Total dissolve solids
VC Vapour compression (evaporator)

1. Introduction

Water is one of the most abundant resources on Earth, covering approximately

three-quarters of the planet's surface. About 97% of the Earth's water is salt water
in the oceans: 3% of all fresh water is in ground water, lakes and rivers, which sup-
ply most of that needed by humans and animals.
Water is essential to life. The importance of supplying potable water can hardly be
overstressed. Man has been dependent on rivers, lakes and underground water-
reservoirs for fresh-water requirements in domestic life, agriculture and industry.
However, rapid industrial-growth and the population explosion world-wide have
resulted in a large escalation of the demand for fresh water. Added to this is the
problem of pollution of rivers and lakes by industrial wastes and the large amounts
of sewage discharged. On a global scale, man-made pollution of natural sources of
water is becoming the single largest cause for fresh-water shortages [1]. Besides the
only inexhaustible sources of water are the oceans. Their main drawback, however,
is the high salinity of such water. It would be attractive to tackle the water-shortage
problem with desalination of this water, which may be mixed with brackish water to
 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588 67

increase the amount of fresh water and reduce the concentration of salts to around
500 ppm [1].
Solar distillation has been practised for many generations. According to Malik et
al. [1], the earliest documented work is that of an Arab alchemist in the 15th century,
as reported by Mouchot in 1869. Mouchot stated that the Arab alchemist had used
polished Damascus mirrors for solar distillation. The great French chemist Lavoisier
(1862) used large glass lenses, mounted on elaborate supporting-structures, to con-
centrate solar energy on the contents of distillation asks [1]. The use of silver- or
aluminum-coated glass reectors to concentrate solar energy for distillation was also
been described by Mouchot.
Solar stills were the rst to be used in large-scale, distilled-water production. The
rst water-distillation plant constructed was a system built at Las Salinas, Chile, in
1874 [1,2]. The still covered 4700 m2 and produced up to 23 000 litres of fresh water
per day (4.9 litre/m2) in clear sky conditions. The still was operated for 40 years and
only abandoned after a fresh-water pipe was installed to supply water to the area
from the mountain region.
The use of solar concentrators in solar distillation was reported by Pasteur (1928) [1],
who used a concentrator to focus solar rays onto a copper boiler containing water. The
steam generated from the boiler was piped to a conventional water-cooled condenser
in which distilled water was accumulated. Renewal of interest in solar distillation
occurred soon after the First World War, during which several new devices had been
developed, such as the roof-type, tilted-wick, inclined-tray and inated stills.
Desalination can be achieved by using several techniques. These may be classied
into the following categories: (i) phase-change or thermal processes and (ii) mem-
brane or single-phase processessee Table 1 . In the phase-change or thermal pro-
cesses, the distillation of sea water is achieved by utilising a heat source. The thermal
energy may be obtained from a conventional fossil-fuel source, nuclear energy or
from a non-conventional solar-energy source. In the membrane processes, electricity
is used either for driving high pressure pumps or for ionisation of salts contained in
the sea water.
Desalination processes require signicant quantities of energy to achieve separa-
tion. This is highly signicant as it is a recurrent cost which few of the water-short

Table 1
Desalination processes

Phase-change processes Membrane processes

1. Multi-eect ash (MSF) 1. Reverse osmosis (RO)

2. Multiple eect boiling (MEB) - RO without energy recovery
3. Vapour compression (VC) - RO with energy recovery (ERRO)
4. Freezing 2. Electrodialysis (ED)
5. Solar stills
- conventional stills
- special stills
- wick-type stills
- multiple-wick-type stills
68 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588

areas of the world can aord. Many countries in the Middle East, because of oil
income, have enough money to invest and run desalination equipment. People in
many other areas of the world have neither the cash nor the oil resources to allow
them to develop in a similar manner. According to Marinos et al. [3] and Morris and
Hanbury [4], the installed capacity of desalinated water systems in 1990 reached 13
million m3/day, which, by the year 2000, is expected to double. The dramatic
increase in desalinated water supply will create a series of problems, the most sig-
nicant of which are those related to energy consumption. It has been estimated that
a production of 13 million m3 of portable water per day requires 130 million tons of
oil per year. Even if oil were much more widely available, could we aord to burn it
on the scale needed to provide everyone with fresh water? Given the current under-
standing of the greenhouse eect and the importance of CO2 levels, this use of oil is
debatable. Thus, apart from satisfying the additional energy-demand, environmental
pollution would be a major concern. If desalination is accomplished by conventional
technology, then it will require the burning of substantial quantities of fossil fuels.
Given that conventional sources of energy are polluting, sources of energy that are
not polluting will have to be used. Fortunately, there are many parts of the world
that are short of water but have exploitable renewable-energy sources that could be
used to drive desalination processes.
Solar desalination is used in nature to produce rain, which is the main source of
fresh-water supply. Solar radiation falling on the surface of the sea is absorbed as
heat and causes evaporation of the water. The vapour rises above the surface and is
moved by winds. When this vapour cools down to its dew point, condensation
occurs and fresh water precipitates as rain. All available man-made distillation sys-
tems are small scale duplications of this natural process.
Solar energy can be used for sea-water desalination either by producing the ther-
mal energy required to drive the phase-change processes or by generating the elec-
tricity required to drive the membrane processes. Solar-desalination systems are thus
classied into two categories, i.e. direct and indirect collection-systems. As their
name implies, direct-collection systems use solar-energy to produce distillate directly
in the solar collector, whereas in indirect collection systems, two sub-systems are
employed (one for solar-energy collection and one for desalination). Conventional
desalination systems are similar to solar systems because the same type of equipment
is applied. The prime dierence is that in the former, either a conventional boiler is
used to provide the required heat or mains electricity is used to provide the required
electric power, whereas in the latter, solar energy is applied.

2. Desalination-process selection

During the design eect, there is a need to select a process suitable for a particular
application. The factors to be considered during such a selection are:

1. Suitability of the process for solar-energy application.

2. The eectiveness of the process with respect to energy consumption.
 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588 69

3. The amount of fresh water required in a particular application in combination

with the range of applicability of the various desalination-processes.
4. The sea-water treatment requirements.
5. The capital cost of the equipment.
6. The land area required, or could be made available, for the installation of the
equipment.

Solar energy can generally be converted into useful energy either as heat, with
solar collectors and solar ponds, or as electricity, via photovoltaic cells. Both meth-
ods have been used to power desalination systems. The direct collection systems can
only utilise solar energy whenever it is available, and their collection is inecient.
Alternatively, in the indirect collection systems, solar energy can be collected, by
more-ecient solar collectors, and be in the form of hot water or steam. It should be
noted, however, that solar energy is only available for almost half of the day. This
implies that the process operates for only half the time available unless some storage
device is used. The latter, which is usually expensive, can be replaced by a back-up
boiler or electricity from the grid in order to operate the system during low-insola-
tion periods or during the night. When such a system operates without thermal
buering, the desalination sub-system must be able to follow a variable energy sup-
ply, without upset.
The energy required for various desalination-processes, as obtained from a survey
of manufacturers' data, is shown in Table 2. It can be seen, from Table 2, that the
process with the smallest energy requirement is RO with energy recovery. But this is
only viable for very large systems due to the high cost of the energy-recovery tur-
bine. The next lowest is the RO without energy recovery and the MEB system. A
comparison of the desalination equipment cost and the sea-water treatment
requirement as obtained from a survey of manufacturers' data, is shown in Table 3.
The cheapest of all the systems considered is the solar still. This is a direct-collection
system, which is very simple to construct and operate. The disadvantage of this
process is the very low yield, which implies that large areas of at ground are required.
It is questionable whether such a process can be viable unless cheap desert-like land is

Table 2
Energy consumptions of desalination systems

Process Heat input Mechanical power-input Prime-energy consumption

(kJ/kg of product) (kWh/m3 of product) (kJ/kg of product)

MSF 294 3.7 338.4

MEB 123 2.2 149.4
VC 16 192
RO 12 144
ERRO 7.9 94.8
ED 12 144
Solar still 2330 0.3 2333.6

Note: Assumed conversion eciency for electricity generation=30%.

70 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588

Table 3
Comparison of desalination plants

Item MSF MEB VC RO Solar still

Scale of Mediumlarge Smallmedium Small Smalllarge Small

application
Sea-water Scale inhibitor Scale Scale inhibitor Sterilizer Coagulant
treatment anti foam inhibitor Acid Deoxidiser
chemical
Equipment price 12002000 12501900 18002900 20002550 9001000
(C/m3) (1993 prices) Membrane
replacement every
34 years

available near the sea. The MEB system is the cheapest of all the indirect collec-
tion systems and also requires the simplest sea-water treatment. RO, although
requiring a smaller amount of energy, is expensive and requires a complex sea-
water treatment.
One alternative, which is usually considered for solar-powered desalination, is to
use an RO system powered with photovoltaic cells. This is more suitable for inter-
mittent operation than the conventional distillation processes and has higher yields
per unit of energy collected. According to Zarza et al. [5], who compared the RO
powered by photovoltaic-generated electricity with MEB plant coupled to parabolic
trough collectors:

1. The total cost of fresh water produced by an MEB plant coupled to parabolic
trough collectors is less than that of the RO plant with photovoltaic cells, due
to the high cost of the photovoltaic-generated electricity.
2. The highly reliable MEB plant operation makes its installation possible in
those countries with high insolation levels, but lacking in experienced person-
nel. A serious mistake during the operation of a RO plant can ruin its mem-
branes: these plants must be operated by skilled manpower.

Also, as renewable energy is expensive to collect and store, an energy-recovery

turbine is normally tted to recover the energy from the rejected brine stream: this
increases the RO plant cost considerably. Additionally, in polluted areas, distillation
processes are preferred for desalination because the water is boiled, which ensures
that the resulting distilled water is unlikely to contain any harmful micro-organisms.
It is believed that solar energy is more eectively and cheaply harnessed with heat-
collection systems. Therefore, the two processes that should be considered are the
MSF and the MEB. Both systems have been used in various applications coupled
with solar-energy collectors. According to Tables 2 and 3, the MEB requires less
specic energy, is cheaper and requires only a very simple sea-water treatment when
compared with the MSF. In addition, MEB exhibits various advantages when
compared with other distillation processes. According to Porteous [6], these are as
follows:
 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588 71

1. Energy economy as the brine is not heated to above its boiling-point as in the
MSF process. This leads to inherently less irreversibilities in the MEB process
as the vapour is used at the temperature at which it is generated.
2. The feed is at its lowest concentration at the highest plant temperature, so that
scale formation risks are minimised.
3. The feed ows through the plant in series and, as the maximum concentration
only occurs at the last eect, the worst boiling-point elevation is conned to
this eect.
4. The other processes have high electrical demands, because of the recirculation
pump in the MSF or the vapour compressor in the VC systems.
5. MSF is prone to equilibrium problems, which reect themselves in a reduction
in PR. In MEB plants, the vapour generated in one eect, is used in the next
and PR is not subject to equilibrium problems.
6. Plant simplicity is promoted by the MEB process as less eects are required to
give a certain PR.

Therefore, the MEB process appears to be the most suitable to be used with solar
energy. The temperature required for the heating medium is between 70 and 100 C
and can be achieved with low-pressure steam.

3. Solar collector design

From the many types of solar collectors developed, three types merit further con-
sideration for steam generation: the parabolic-trough collector (PTC), the com-
pound parabolic collector (CPC) and the at-plate collector (FPC). The rst one is a
tracking collector, whereas the last two are stationary. PTCs are generally of med-
ium concentration ratio (1540) whereas CPCs are generally of low concentration
ratios (1.55). The low concentration-ratios of the latter allow them to work without
a need for tracking of the Sun.

3.1. Collector type selection

In general, concentrating collectors exhibit certain advantages as compared with

the conventional at-plate type. The main ones are:

1. The working uid can achieve higher temperatures in a concentrator system

when compared with a at-plate system of the same solar-energy collect-
ing surface. This means that a higher thermodynamic eciency can be
achieved.
2. It is possible with a concentrator system, to achieve a thermodynamic match
between temperature level and task. The task may be to operate thermionic,
thermodynamic, or other higher-temperature devices.
3. The thermal eciency is greater because of the small heat-loss area relative to
the receiver area.
72 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588

4. Reecting surfaces require less material and are structurally simpler than at-
plate collectors. For a concentrating collector, the cost per unit area of the
solar collecting surface is therefore less than that of a at-plate collector.
5. Owing to the relatively small area of receiver per unit of collected solar energy,
selective surface treatment and vacuum insulation to reduce heat losses and
improve the collector eciency are often economically viable.

Their disadvantages are:

1. Concentrator systems collect little diuse radiation, the rate depending on the
concentration ratio.
2. Some form of tracking system is required, so as to enable the collector to fol-
low the Sun.
3. Solar-reecting surfaces may lose their reectance with time and may require
periodic cleaning and refurbishing.
Perhaps their most important advantage is the enhanced thermal-eciency and
therefore this is further analysed. The thermal eciency of a concentrating collector
is dened as the ratio of the useful energy delivered to the energy incident at the
concentrator aperture. This may be calculated from an energy balance on the recei-
ver [7,8] which is given by:
 
UL Tr Ta
n no 1
ICR

or in terms of the heat-removal factor:

 
UL Ti Ta
n FR no 2
ICR

From both equations, it can be concluded that the eciency of a concentrating col-
lector depends on the optical eciency (no ) which is determined by the optical
properties of the various materials used in the construction of the collector and the
magnitude of the heat losses, as indicated by the second term in Eq. (1). The
advantage of concentrating collectors is that the heat losses are inversely propor-
tional to the concentration ratio (CR). The standard collector-performance can be
indicated by the corresponding straight line, whose slope and intercept are then
indications of performancesee Eq. (3):
 

T
n In S 3
I

where In Intercept FR no and S Slope FR UL =CR.

The same relations apply to a at plate-collector, in which case CR 1. The small
heat-loss term in Eqs. (1) and (2) for the parabolic trough collector leads to a small slope
of the typical collectorperformance curve, Fig. 1: this does not apply for at-plate
 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588 73

Fig. 1. Typical collectorperformance curves.

collectors. This means that the eciency in the PTCs remains high at high inlet-
water temperatures. Therefore, at a temperature of 100 C, which occurs at a
T=I
value of about 0.1, PTCs work at an eciency of about 62%, CPCs at about 32%
and the FPC at about 10%. This clearly suggests that the PTC is the best type of
collector for this application.

3.2. Parabolic-trough collector design

Parabolic trough collectors are employed in a variety of applications,including

industrial steam production [9] and hot-water production [10]. These are preferred
for solar steam-generation because, as was seen above, high temperatures can be
obtained without any serious degradation of the collector eciency. In this paper,
PTCs are used for puried-water production by producing the steam used to power
a MEB evaporator. The design of the parabolic trough collector system is detailed in
Kalogirou et al. [11] and Kalogirou [12]. Four sizes of applications are analysed
here, with aperture area, varying from 10 to 2160 m2. The specications of the
collector are shown in Table 4. The same collector characteristics are applicable to
all the collector sizes employed.

4. Design of the steam-generation method

Three methods have been employed to generate steam using parabolic-trough

collectors: [9]

1. The direct or in-situ concept in which two-phase ow is allowed in the collector

receiver, so that steam is generated directly.
74 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588

Table 4
Parabolic-trough collector specications

Item Value or type

Collector's aperture-area 102160 m2

Collector' aperture 1.46 m
Aperture-to-length ratio 0.64
Rim angle 90
Glass-to-receiver ratio 2.17
Receiver diameter 22 mm
Concentration ratio 21.2
Collector's intercept factor 0.95
Collector's test intercept 0.638
Collector's test slope 0.387 W/m2K
Tracking-mechanism controller type Electronic
Mode of tracking EW horizontal
Mass ow rate 0.012 kg/s m2

2. The steam-ash concept, in which pressurised water is heated in the collector

and then ashed to steam in a separate vessel.
3. The unred-boiler concept, in which a heat-transfer uid (e.g. therminol 55) is
circulated through the collector and steam is generated via heat-exchange in an
unred boiler.

These steam-generation methods are analysed here with respect to the system's
simplicity, capital-cost and stability.

4.1. Selection of the steam-generation method

A diagram of a steam-ash system is shown in Fig. 2. Water, pressurised to pre-

vent boiling, is circulated through the collector and then ashed across a throttling
valve into a ash vessel. Treated-feedwater input maintains the level in the ash
vessel and the subcooled liquid is recirculated through the collector. The direct or in-
situ boiling concept, shown in Fig. 3, uses a similar system conguration without a
ash valve. Subcooled water is heated to boiling and steam forms directly in the
receiver tube. Capital costs associated with a direct-steam and a ash-steam system
would be approximately identical [13].
Although the steam-ash system uses water, a superior heat-transport uid, the
in-situ boiling system is more advantageous. The ash system uses a sensible heat
change in the working uid, which makes the temperature dierential across the
collector relatively high. The rapid increase in water-vapour pressure with tempera-
ture requires a corresponding increase in the system's operating pressure to prevent
boiling. Increased operating temperatures reduce the thermal eciency of the solar
collector. Increased pressures within the system require more robust collector com-
ponents, such as receivers and piping. The dierential pressure over the delivered
steam pressure, required to prevent boiling, is supplied by the circulation pump and
 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588 75

Fig. 2. The steam-ash steam-generation concept.

Fig. 3. The direct steam-generation concept.

is irreversibly dissipated across the ash valve. When boiling occurs in the collectors,
as in an in-situ boiler, the system pressure-drop and consequently, the electrical-
power consumption, are greatly reduced. In addition, the latent heat-transfer pro-
cess minimizes the temperature rise across the solar collector. Disadvantages of in-
situ boiling are the possibility of stability problems [14] and the fact that, even with a
very good feedwater treatment system, scaling in the receiver is unavoidable.
In multiple-row collector arrays, the occurrence of ow instabilities could result in
loss of ow in the aected row. This in turn could result in tube dryout with con-
sequent damage of the receiver's selective-coating. No signicant instabilities were
reported by Hurtado and Kast [13] when experimentally testing a single row 120 ft
system.
76 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588

Fig. 4. The unred-boiler steam-generation concept.

In the unred-boiler system, shown in Fig. 4, the heat-transfer uid should be

non-freezing and non-corrosive: system pressures are low and control is straight-
forward. These factors largely overcome the disadvantages of water systems, and are
the main reasons for the predominant use of heat-transfer oil systems in current
industrial steam-generating solar systems.
The major disadvantage of the system results from the characteristics of the heat-
transfer uid. These uids are hard to contain, and most heat-transfer uids are
ammable. Decomposition, when the uids are exposed to air, can greatly reduce
ignition-point temperatures, and leaks into certain types of insulation can cause
combustion at temperatures that are considerably lower than measured self-ignition
temperatures. Heat-transfer uids, are also relatively expensive and present a
potential pollution-problem that makes them unsuitable for food-industry applica-
tions [9]. Heat-transfer uids have much poorer heat-transfer characteristics than
water. They are more viscous at ambient temperatures, are less dense and have lower
specic-heats and thermal-conductivities than water. These characteristics mean that
higher ow-rates, higher collector dierential-temperatures, and greater-pumping
power are required to obtain the equivalent quantity of energy transport when
compared with a system using water. In addition, heat-transfer coecients are
lower, so there is a larger temperature-dierential between the receiver tube and the
collector uid. Higher temperatures are also necessary to achieve cost-eective heat-
exchange. These eects result in reduced collector eciencies.
From the above discussion, it can be said that water-based systems are simpler
and safer for desalination. With proper selection of ow rate and the desalination-
system's steam-supply pressure, the pump power can be kept to a minimum. This
reduces the main disadvantage of the steam-ash system against the in-situ system:
as their costs are similar, the steam-ash system is selected. For a maximum value of
solar radiation of 1000 W/m2, the outlet temperature of the water, for a 100 C inlet
temperature (i.e. the pressure in the separator being equal to atmospheric and the
ow-rate equal to 0.012 kg/s m2) would be 120 C. This is considered a reasonable
value, not causing the collector to work at excessively high temperatures, and only
requires a pressure of 2 bar to avoid boiling.
 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588 77

4.2. Flash-vessel design

In order to separate steam at a lower pressure, a ash vessel is used. This is a

vertical vessel as shown in Fig. 5, with the inlet for the water located about one third
of the way up its side. The standard design of ash vessels requires that the diameter
of the vessel is chosen so that the steam ows towards the top outlet connection at no
more than about 3 m/s. This should ensure that any water droplets can fall through
the steam (i.e. in contra-ow), to the bottom of the vessel. Adequate height above the
inlet is necessary to ensure separation. The separation is also facilitated by having the
inlet projecting downwards into the vessel. The water-outlet connection is sized to
minimise the pressure drop from the vessel to the pump inlet to avoid cavitation. The
ash valve connected to the vessel inlet is spring loaded for adjustment purposes.
In order to maximise the system's steam production, the heat-up energy require-
ments should be kept to a minimum. This is because energy invested in the pre-
heating of the ash vessel is inevitably lost due to the nature of the diurnal cycle.
The losses during the long overnight shut-down return the vessel to near ambient
conditions each morning. This could be readily achieved by optimising the ash-
vessel's water inventory and dimensions in order to lower the system's thermal
capacity and losses. The following constraints on the optimisation should be noted,
however:
1. The mass of the circulating water contained in the pipes cannot be changed.
2. The water inventory in the ash vessel should not be reduced below a certain
level, because the system's performance will deteriorate. This is due to the
addition of make-up water, which is continuously supplied to keep the water

Fig. 5. Flash-vessel design details.

78 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588

level in the ash vessel constant, would then ``dilute'' the system temperature
and possibly result in instabilities.

The height of the ash vessel should also be kept to a minimum, which in combi-
nation with the right steam velocity would avoid the possibility of ``contamination''
of the steam with water droplets (i.e. carry-over). Furthermore, a reduced vessel
height and hence a consequent reduction in the system's thermal capacity, will lead
to a faster response of the system. In an earlier report [15], the problem of system
optimisation through variation of the ash-vessel's design was studied in detail. The
optimal ash vessel design parameters for a system with a collector area of 10 m2 are
shown in Fig. 5.

5. Design of the desalination system

5.1. System circuit arrangement

The circuit must be able to carry the sea-water from the sea to the MEB evap-
orator and return the rejected brine back to the sea. These two streams must be
remote from each other to avoid potential mixing problems. The circuit diagram,
shown in Fig. 6, gives details of only the intake stream. Whenever possible, the
intake from a well next to the coast line is preferred because as the water passes
through the sand it is ltered. The water, after passing through a lter is directed to
the MEB evaporator's last eect, to cool the steam produced in the previous eect.
Part of this water is then returned to the sea as warm brine and part as feedwater
directed to the evaporator's top eect after a scale inhibitor is ejected (see Fig. 7). In
Fig. 6, the solar collectors and the steam-generation system-piping layout is also
shown. A back-up boiler is also shown in Fig. 6. This is necessary for the operation
of the evaporator during days of low insolation and/or during the night. As can be
seen from Fig. 6, no complicated controllers are required as reported by Meaburn
and Hughes [16]. This is because the steam delivery temperature is constant (i.e.
dependent on the evaporator pressure) and the operation of the boiler can be con-
trolled by a simple thermostat located at the pipe before the ash vessel. The same
principle applies for the operation of the boiler during day-time (back-up of the
solar system) and night-time.

5.2. Evaporator design

Of the various types of MEB evaporators, the Multiple Eect Stack (MES) type is
the most appropriate for solar-energy application. This features several advantages,
the most important of which is the stable operation between virtually zero and
100% output, even when sudden changes are made, as well as its ability to follow a
varying steam supply without upset. In Fig. 7, a four-eect MES evaporator is
shown. Sea-water is sprayed into the top of the evaporator and descends as a thin
lm over the horizontally-arranged tube-bundle in each eect. In the top (hottest)
S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588 79

Fig. 6. Desalination system arrangement.

80 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588

eect, steam from the solar-collector system condenses inside the tubes. Because of
the low pressure created in the plant by the vent ejector system, the thin sea-water
lm boils on the outside of the tubes, so creating new vapour at a lower temperature
than the condensing steam.

Fig. 7. Schematic of the MES evaporator.

 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588 81

The sea-water falling to the oor of the rst eect is cooled by ashing through
nozzles into the second eect, which is at a lower pressure. The vapour made in the
rst eect is ducted into the inside of the tubes in the second eect, where it con-
denses to form part of the product. Again, the condensing warm vapour causes the
cooler external sea-water lm to boil at the reduced pressure.
The evaporationcondensation process is repeated from eect-to-eect down the
plant, creating an almost equal amount of product inside the tubes of each eect.
The vapour made in the last eect is condensed on the outside of a tube bundle
cooled by raw sea-water. Most of the warmer sea-water is then returned to the sea,
and a small part is used as feedwater to the plant. After being treated with acid to
destroy scale-forming compounds, the feedwater passes up the stack through a series
of pre-heaters that use a little of the vapour from each eect to gradually raise its
temperature, before it is sprayed into the top of the plant. The water produced from
each eect is ashed in cascade down the plant so that it can be withdrawn in a cool
condition at the bottom of the stack. The concentrated brine is also withdrawn at
the bottom of the stack.
The MES process is completely stable in operation and automatically adjusts to
changing steam conditions, even if they are suddenly applied, so it is suitable for
load-following applications. It is a once-through process that minimises the risk of
scale formation without incurring a large chemical-scale dosing cost. The typical
product purity is less than 5 ppm TDS and does not deteriorate as the plant ages.
Therefore, the MEB process and in particular the MES-type evaporator appears to
be the most suitable to be used with solar energy.

6. System modelling

The modelling program is used to predict the quantity of the steam produced by
the collector and the ash vessel, and subsequently the amount of desalinated water
produced by the various systems. The principle of operation of the program is that it
employs the values of the solar radiation and ambient-air temperature from a
reference year developed previously [17]. The values of the solar radiation are cor-
rected hourly for the collector's inclination.
In the analysis, a representative day for each month is taken as shown in Table 5.
These are chosen because the value of extraterrestrial solar-radiation is closest to the
month's average for that day [7].

Table 5
Average day of each month

Month Day Month Day Month Day Month Day

January 17 April 15 July 17 October 15

February 16 May 15 August 16 November 14
March 16 June 11 September 15 December 10
82 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588

In the program, the actual measured collector performance parameters of test

slope and intercept are required. These were obtained by testing the collector
according to the procedures outlined in ASHRAE Standard 93 [18]. The program
takes into account, in addition to the sensible heat and the thermal capacity of all
the system components, all the heat losses from the system i.e. the ash-vessel body,
pipes and pump body. After all these losses are estimated, the ash-vessel's inlet
water temperature is determined. From the dierence in enthalpy of this hot water
from that of the water contained in the ash vessel, i.e. the steam production is cal-
culated. The accuracy of the simulation depends to a great extent on the validity of
the reference year. This was investigated when modelling the performance for hot
water production from PTCs [19]. Although the variation reported was 7%, this
cannot be generalised as an expected variation. Details about the structure of the
program and the validation of the model are given in Kalogirou et al. [20]. The rate
of fresh water produced by the desalination system is evaluated by using the eva-
porator performance ratio gure. Several systems were considered in this study with
aperture areas varying from small 10 m2 to large 2160 m2. The smallest system is
suitable for supplying water in a block of 34 houses and the largest for a village of
about 400 persons. The modelled performances of the systems are shown in Table 6.
By studying Table 6, it can be seen that the system's performance is in phase with the
weather, i.e. during periods of dry weather (summer) the system's production is at its
greatest. This is considered to be the most important advantage of solar desalination.

7. System economics

Economic viability studies of the various systems investigated were performed, by

using a life-cycle analysis method. All the parameters required for the economic
analysis, together with the values used, where applicable, are shown in Table 7. In
addition to these parameters, the amount of water produced in dierent months of the
Table 6
Modelled performance of PTC desalination systems

Month System production (litres/month)

2
Area=10 m Area=60 m2 Area=540 m2 Area=2160 m2

January 31 153 2488 11 197

February 56 341 4672 20 010
March 176 1237 11 452 59 331
April 250 1788 20 503 82 944
May 327 2335 26 510 107 205
June 481 3514 39 113 157 671
July 517 3795 42 139 169 672
August 456 3370 37 493 151 165
September 355 2635 29 497 119 051
October 194 1429 16 453 66 770
November 83 566 7096 29 238
December 39 233 3376 15 541
 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588 83

year is required for which the performance values given in Section 6 are used. The,
analysis is performed annually and costs for the following are evaluated: Water cost,
mortgage payment, maintenance cost, pumping cost, fuel cost, (if any), tax savings,
system annual cost.
In equation form, the annual cost for either solar or non-solar systems to meet an
energy need can be expressed as:
System annual cost mortgage payment maintenance cost pumping cost fuel cost
water cost fuel savings tax savings
4
Finally, the present worth (PW) of the system annual cost is expressed as:
System Annual Cost
PW 5
1 d N
where d market discount rate, N number of years.
The price of water per cubic metre is a variable in the calculation. In the analysis,
this unit price is varied until the LCS of the system gives a value close to zero. This can
be considered as the price of water at which there is no loss or gain from the system.
It can also be considered as the water price that the owner of the system could
charge in order to sell the water without losing money, i.e. the market cost of water.
The economic scenario used in the analysis is to pay 30% of the cost of the sys-
tems in advance and the remaining 70% in equal instalments over the life of the
system. It is also estimated that the system is sold at the end of its life at 30% of the
initial cost (i.e. its resale value).
The mortgage payment is the annual sum of money required to cover the funds
borrowed at the beginning to install the system. This includes interest and principal
payments. The estimation of the annual mortgage payment can be found by dividing
the amount borrowed by the Present Worth Factor (PWF). The PWF is estimated

Table 7
Parameters, aecting the chosen design

Item Value Units

Collector area Depending on the case m2

Area-dependent cost Taken from Table 8 C/m2
Area-independent cost Taken from Tables 8 and 9 C
Period for economic analysis 20 years
Market discount rate 7.84 %
Maintenance in year one 2 %
Annual increase in maintenance 2 %
Total pumping-power Taken from Table 9 kW
Price of electricity 0.04 C/kWh
Annual increase in electricity price 2.9 %
First-year fuel cost Depending on the case C
First-year fuel savings Depending on the case C
Fuel cost annual-increase 0.6 %
Resale value relative to original value 30 %
84 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588

by using the ination rate equal to zero (i.e. equal payments) and with the market
discount rate equal to the mortgage interest rate taken as (9%).
In Cyprus, the law allows a 20% investment allowance as an incentive to owners
to build up new businesses and an annual 10% wear-and-tear allowance for ten
years. Both allowances are calculated with respect to the total investment cost.

7.1. Cost parameters

The cost parameters of the various systems investigated are divided into two
categories, one for the collector and one for the desalination system. The costs of the
collector systems are tabulated in Table 8, together with the costs of the circulation
pump and the ash vessel, as well as the installation labour cost. The costs of the
desalination equipment associated with each application are tabulated in Table 9
together with the performance ratio (PR) of each evaporator, the costs of other
auxiliary equipment, and labour costs to install the plant and the piping from the sea
to-and-from the evaporator. The desalination plant capacity is determined by the
maximum steam capacity of the solar system.

7.2. Economic analysis

The economic analysis is performed for three types of operation mode. The rst
one is for the system operated solely with conventional fuels, the second is for the
system operated solely with solar energy and the third is a combination of the two,
Table 8
Parabolic-trough collector system costs

Cost (C)
Item (10 m2) (60 m2) (540 m2) (2160 m2)

Parabola 160 960 Nine Four times

Reective material 140 840 times the the costs
Receiver 28 168 costs of of 540 m2
Framework 50 266 60 m2
Labour cost 92 606
Sub-total 470 2840 25 560 102 240
Design supervision, overheads and prot 141 852 6390 20 448
Tracking mechanism 150 350 3150 12 600
Piping, ttings and insulation 20 300 2440 11 100
Electrical installation 10 50 400 1500

Total 791 4392 37 940 147 888

2
Area dependent cost (C/m ) 79.1 73.2 70.26 68.47

Pump 200 250 350 745

Flash vessel 30 150 270 555
Installation labour-cost 100 500 3000 10 000

Grand total 1121 5292 41 560 159 188

 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588 85

i.e. system operation with solar energy during day-time and conventional fuel during
night-time. Diesel fuel in Cyprus is subsidised by the Government. The normal price
of such fuel is double the today's price: therefore, in addition to the normal water
price (calculated when using the subsidised fuel price), the water price for the non-
subsidised fuel cost is calculated in the present analysis. The results of the economic
analysis are shown in Table 10, from which it can be seen that the operation of the
system solely with solar energy is not cost eective mainly due to the high cost of the
required equipment and the high percentage of the inactive time. The fuel only sys-
tem gives somewhat better results for the small-area applications, whereas the same
is correct for the combined system and the large-area applications. It should be
noted though that a signicant dierence occurs in the cases where non-subsidised
fuel cost is considered in the analyses.

Table 9
Desalination system-cost parameters (from manufacturers' data)

Item Collector area (m2)

10 60 540 2160

Desalination equipment data

Maximum daily-water production (m3) 1.3 10 110 430

Performance ratio 8 10 12 12
Electrical power (kW) 0.2 0.9 8.7 36

Desalination system costs (in C)

MEB Evaporator 2280 16 200 152 000 585 000

Piping 50 100 300 400
Pumps 100 250 400 800
Electrical installation 100 150 200 300
Labour cost to install plant and pipes 400 600 1000 1500
Boiler cost with auxiliaries 600 600 2280 5620
Total 3530 17 900 156 180 593 620

Table 10
Water prices for the various applications considered

Operation mode Area=10 m2 Area=60 m2 Area=540 m2 Area=2160 m2

Sub. No sub. Sub. No sub. Sub. No sub. Sub. No sub.

Fuel only 1.97 2.99 1.09 1.68 0.89 1.39 0.88 1.37
Solar only 6.70 6.70 3.32 3.32 2.43 2.43 2.28 2.28
Combined 2.20 3.00 1.13 1.60 0.89 1.29 0.87 1.28

Water price in C/m3.

Sub.=water price for subsidised fuel cost.
No sub.=water price for non-subsidised fuel cost.
86 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588

Table 11
Eects of the desalination and solar cost on water price

Item Percentage dierence

+20 +10 10 20

Area dependent cost Price (C/m3) 0.91 0.90 0.88 0.87

Dierence +2.2% +1.1% 1.1% 2.2%
Area independent cost Price (C/m3) 0.96 0.93 0.86 0.83
Dierence +7.9% +4.5% 3.4% 6.7%

7.3. Sensitivity analysis

An analysis was carried out to investigate the sensitivity of the economic model
and the eects of the variations of the various parameters on the water price. The
base gure is considered to be the full fuel back-up system for the 540 m2 case, which
from Table 10 gives a value of C0.89/m3.
The eects of the area dependent and independent costs, i.e. solar and desalina-
tion systems, are shown in Table 11. The dierence in water price for 20% variation
is about 8%, which is a reasonable gure.
The doubling of the rate of increase of electricity and fuel price gives 3.4 and 2.2%
increases in the unit water price, respectively. The reduction of the initial payment to
zero imposes a reduction of 1.1% on the water price, whereas the elimination of any
resale value leads to an increase of 3.4%. Finally, the modication of using the
original analysis with only a 10-year mortgage recovery gives an increase of 1.9%.
From the above discussion, it is clear that the water prices given in this section
reect the true costs and their variation, due to possible change in the direct costs
and method of payment are relatively insignicant.
Lately, in Cyprus there is a trend to liberate the bank interest rates. The Govern-
ment declares that this is imposed by the European Union countries in view of
Cyprus wishing to join the Union. In such a case, the market discount rate would be
reduced to 6%. Such a change will reduce even further the water costs by 1.1%.
Further tax benets are provided in sectors of the economy that the Government
wants to promote, like the purchase of automation systems. This benet is the return
of 100% wear-and-tear allowance at the end of the rst year as if the equipment has
a life of only 1 year. This is an extra incentive for enterprise owners to upgrade their
businesses. As Cyprus is potentially facing a water-shortage problem, the author
believes that such an incentive should be given to solar desalination as well. This will
result in a reduction of the unit water price by 4.3%.

8. Conclusions

Solar desalination can be viable for the two bigger installations considered. The
unit water cost is insensitive to changes in the method of payment or to variations in
 S. Kalogirou/Applied Energy 60 (1998) 6588 87

direct costs. However, it is not usually worth operating the desalination system
solely on solar energy due to the high cost of the desalination system and the high
percentage of inactive time.
The author believes that even in cases where the fuel only systems result in lower
or equal water prices compared with a solar-plus-fuel system, the solar alternative
should not be abandoned because as it was proven a possible increase in fuel price
turns the system viability in favour of the solar system. The issues of global warming
and climate change resulting from the increase in greenhouse gases due to the
burning of fuels should not be underestimated. According to a world-wide accep-
table scenario of human activities, an increase in global average temperature by
0.3 K per decade will occur [21].
Although water prices above the ones charged by the various water boards in
Cyprus (about 0.50 C/m3) have been obtained from the presented analysis, the
author believes that the present system oers some benets which should not be
underestimated. In particular, security of supply is very important to the hotel
industry with Cyprus endeavouring to upgrade its tourist facilities. Most of the
hotels in Cyprus have stand-by generators installed for security of electricity supply.
Based on the same principle, the author believes that water supply should be treated
the same way.

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