SWCC TRAINING CENTER

AL-JUBAIL
ADVANCED OPERATIONS TRAINING COURSE
MSF DESALINATION PLANTS TECHNOLOGY AND SYSTEMS
LESSON No. 1.
SUBJECT/TOPIC

THE NEED FOR THE DESALINATION

TIME

3 hours

OBJECTIVE

To explain the need for the desalination.

LOCATION

SWCC Training Center, Al-Jubail

TRAINING AIDS

Transparencies & overhead projector

REF. MANUALS

MSF Technology Book

HAND-OUTS

Material covering the following lesson outlines.

LESSON OUTLINE

1.

Introduction

2.

Water Quality

3.

Causes of water shortage problem and its solution

4.

Desalination history

5.

Evolution of the Desalination process

6.

Components common to all Desalination plants

7.

Desalination plants Statistical Information

LESSON

THE NEED FOR THE DESALINATION

LECTURE
SUB-OBJECTIVE
At the end of the Lesson the Trainees will know and understand:1.

Introduction

2.

Water Quality

3.

Causes of water shortage problem and its solution

4.

Desalination history

5.

Evolution of the Desalination process

6.

Components common to all Desalination plants

7.

Desalination plants Statistical Information

1.0

INTRODUCTION
Water is the most important chemical compound for the use of mankind. It has an
essential role in all organic life due to its solvent properties. It is a precondition for
improvement in health standards. Water is closely associated with the progress man
has made. Upon its availability depends the growth of a village, a city or a country.
Since times immemorial, man has realized its importance. Therefore, his settlements
often grew up near water sources (springs, lakes and rivers). To control these
sources, he often went to war. With the passage of time, the importance of water has
not diminished. In modern times, it is a very important ingredient for agricultural and
industrial growth. It is also required for supporting growing urban populations which
require adequate supplies of drinking water.
Most of the available water is present as seawater. 97% of all the earths water is in
the oceans and about 2% in glaciers and ice caps. The rest is available in lakes,
rivers and underground. Nature itself provides most of the required fresh water by the
solar distillation process. Solar energy evaporates water from the oceans. This
condenses into clouds. Water is then returned to earth in the form of snow or rain.
Rivers carry it back to the oceans.
The four most important uses of water are :
1.
2.
3.
4.

Drinking
Domestic
Agricultural
Industrial

Mans food chain from soil to stomach requires large volumes of water. The minimum
requirements have been estimated at 1.1 m3 per day, assuming man can live on
bread alone. The actual amount varies and depends on the standard of living. In the
USA for example, the per capita consumption of water is 6.6 m3 per day. This figure
includes industrial and agricultural use.

2.0

WATER QUALITY
Water is the universal solvent. Chemical materials dissolve in it to such an extent that
it often becomes unsuitable for human consumption. Besides various chemicals,
natural waters also contain pollutants from coastal cities. The concentration of the
dissolved substances determines whether water can be used for drinking. The
salinity (concentration) standards are not the same in all countries. In some dry
areas, water of 3,000 - 4,000 ppm salinity is used for drinking. The WHO standard
specifies the maximum permissible concentration for human consumption at 500
ppm. The maximum limit for chloride ions is 250 ppm.
Table 1 Water Purity Limits
Substance
Carbon dioxide
Carbonates (Na & K)
Chlorides
Chlorine (free)
Copper
Detergents
Fluorides
Iron
Lead
Magnesium
Nitrates
Phenols
Sulfates
Zinc
NaCl (maximum)
Total dissolved salts

3.0

Maximum Concentration
(ppm) WHO standards
20
150
250
1
3
1
1.5
0.3
0.1
125
10
0.001
250
15
250
550

Optimum concentration
(ppm) USPHS
requirements

250
0
0.5
0
0
125
250
0
500

CAUSES OF WATER SHORTAGE PROBLEM AND ITS SOLUTION

The annual precipitation on earth is adequate for the needs of the earths population.
However, its distribution is not uniform. In many parts of the world (especially the
Middle East), which have limited or no water resources, rainfall is almost non existent.
Nature has blessed earth with large bodies of water.
These account for
approximately 75% of the earths total surface area. Unfortunately, this water is not
uniformly distributed. Also, most of it is unfit for human consumption without
treatment. Another factor, which compounds the water shortage problem, is the
important population growth factor.
In the past fifty years, the worlds population has more than doubled. This rapid
growth is more pronounced in the water shortage areas. It is increasingly taxing the
limited water resources available. There are many other factors which have also
contributed to the growing water shortage. They are rising standard of living, urban
growth, industrialization, expansion of irrigation agriculture, pollution of natural water
reserves (by industrial waste and sewage), cultural development and political
awareness.

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LESSON 1 PAGE 2

MSF OPERATIONS
ADVANCED COURSE

In some areas of the world (especially the Middle East), the value of mineral
resources was suddenly realized and their large scale development was undertaken.
Increased income was obtained from the sale of these minerals, especially from oil.
The monetary returns enabled the government of these countries, in particular the oil
rich countries, to increase water supply far above what the local population had been
used to.
Water shortages are not confined to the lands which comprise more than 60% of the
earths total surface. Even in countries where plenty of water is available, many
supply and quality problems exist and some areas experience shortage.
The demand for steady, economical supply of water is constantly increasing all
around the world. Often it does not match the available supply. It does not seem
possible that supply will equal demand in the near future. Therefore, sound water
resources development and management is and will be a constant challenge. In
many countries, water policy will have to be an essential ingredient of economic
policy.
There are many solutions to the water problem. Alternatives include control of water
consumption, conservation, improved distribution and storage, reclamation,
purification and reuse, crops that use less water, tapping of new sources, etc.
Desalination is seriously considered only when all the other possibilities have been
ruled out for various reasons.
Seawater desalination plants have been constructed in many countries of the world,
especially in the Middle East, only because there were no other available alternatives.
The objective of desalination is to provide water with salinity below 500 ppm. The
major problems associated with desalination have been very high capital and
operating costs. Over the past several years, the cost of desalting has gone down
but it is still quite high. It still cannot compete with the cost of natural fresh water,
which has the advantage that it requires minimum treatment to make it potable.

4.0

DESALINATION HISTORY
The first modern desalination systems were used 200 years ago on ships. They
provided drinking water while at sea. Various commercial distillation processes were
developed only in the last 100 years. All these systems were based on the thermal
distillation process. The most popular was the submerged tube design. Land based
plants also came into use gradually. The first one was installed more than 100 years
ago in Aden.
In the early 1930s, several small seawater desalination systems were installed in the
Middle East, where oil had been recently discovered. These plants had low efficiency
and high maintenance. In the late 1940s, development of oil in the Arabian Gulf gave
a push to the desalination industry. The growth rate ever since then has been
spectacular.
Up to the 1950s, the largest desalination unit ever built had an output of less than 0.5
mgd. The worldwide capacity was about 2.2 mgd. In 1960, all the land based
desalination plants in the world had a combined daily output of barely 8.33 mgd. By
1970, the figure had jumped to 220 mgd. In 1977, it was in region of 833 mgd. By
1980, worldwide desalination capacity was 1.6 bgd.
Unit sizes have also been growing. In the early sixties, a 1 mgd unit size was
considered quite large. Nowadays, most of the unit sizes are in the 5 mgd range.
The size of the largest MSF unit is 8 mgd. The massive Al-Jubail 2 complex (in Saudi
Arabia) is the largest MSF Plant ever built. Its capacity is 207.9 mgd (945,000 m3/d)

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ADVANCED COURSE

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LESSON 1 PAGE

According to the 7th Desalting Plants Inventory Report, there were more than 2,200
land based desalting plants (of capacity 25,000 gpd or larger) in operation or under
construction throughout the world as of 30th June, 1980. According to the 8th
Desalting Plants Inventory Report, more than 4,600 desalting units (of capacity 100
m3/d or larger) with a total capacity of 9,920,000 m 3/d (2.62 US bgd or 2.18 Imperial
bgd) had been contracted worldwide by 31st December, 1984. This represents a total
capacity growth of 2,565,990 m3/d since the 1980 survey. This is equivalent to an
average annual increase of 7%. 1,697,865 m3/d, by far the largest portion of the total
capacity growth, was contracted in 1980.

5.0

EVOLUTION OF THE DESALINATION PROCESSES

Though many methods have been proposed for desalting saline waters, only a few
have been developed to a stage where they may be commercially used. The majority
of commercial desalination processes presently in use have been perfected over the
past 25 years. The applicability of any process depends on the amount of salts
contained in the available feedwater and on the process economics. Distillation is the
oldest and most commonly used method of desalination. It accounts for 75% of the
worlds total desalting capacity.
In the multieffect (ME) submerged tube system, steam fed through tubes, submerged
in a pool of brine, causes brine to evaporate. The vapors produced are condensed.
The major problem with this system, which contributed to its decline, is tube scaling.
The search for a solution to the severe scaling problem lead to the development of
other ME processes. The multieffect Vertical Tube Evaporator (VTE) and the
Multistage Flash (MSF) processes evolved from the various forms of ME evaporators
used in the chemical and food industries.
The MSF process, which is the one most widely used, was developed by Professor
Silver in the late 1950s. Both the VTE and the MSF process were demonstrated
within a short time of each other. However, the MSF process proved to be a runaway
success after the first plant (with a capacity of 1 mgd) was commissioned in 1960. In
1980, the MSF process accounted for about 67.3% of the worlds total desalting
capacity. MSF desalting capacity was 5 million m 3/d at that time. By December 1985,
the percentage capacity had increased to 67.6% which is equivalent to 6.7 million
m3/d.
In 1960, the first commercially attractive reverse osmosis (RO) membrane was
developed.
Since then, there has been steady development in membrane
technology. Since 1970, there has been very high growth in RO commercial
development.
The major part of this has been for brackish water desalination. The largest seawater
reverse osmosis plant built so far is the one in Ghar-Lapsi, Malta. It became fully
operational in February, 1983. It has a production capacity of 20,000 m 3/d for a feed
with 38,900 mg/l total dissolved salts. The RO process accounts for 20% of land
based desalting capacity. This is equivalent to 1.98 million m 3/d (112). In 1980, it
accounted for 20.53% of desalination water. This means that RO has not gained any
ground in the competition with MSF.
Table 2 Percent Share of the Desalination Market

Process/Year

1970

1971

1972

1973

1974

1975

Distillation

94.89

93.31

91.69

89.85

85.12

84.48

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MSF OPERATIONS
ADVANCED COURSE

Reverse Osmosis

0.53

1.15

2.44

4.84

8.82

9.58

Process/Year

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

1984

Distillation
Reverse Osmosis

81.89
12.07

78.25
14.50

75.54
16.92

71.11
22.02

74.07
20.53

75.10
20.00

Distillation is one of the oldest known methods of separating fresh water from a salt
solution. It is also the most developed and can be applied for the production of large
quantities of water. The phase change of water, from liquid to vapor, is the basis of all
forms of distillation. The principle involved is quite simple. When a saline solution is
heated upto its boiling point, salt free vapors are formed. These vapors are
condensed on a cold surface to obtain distillate. The solution which is left behind
becomes more salty (concentrated).
In distillation, the salinity of raw feedwater is not an important factor. Feedwater
salinity has the following effect on the distillation processes :
*

Boiling point elevation is increased

The allowable concentration ratio (to avoid scaling) is reduced when it is

subjected to progressively lower pressures. When seawater is introduced into
an MSF evaporator, which is under sufficiently low pressure, it boils or
flashes. The vapors produced are condensed to obtain pure distillate.

An MSF evaporator is divided into several chambers called stages. These stages
improve the efficiency of the heat transfer process. The process operates from a low
vacuum in the first stage to a high vacuum in the last stage. Stage to stage pressure
differential is the key to repeated flashing. Release of pressure in small steps
ensures a high degree of internal heat recovery.
RO operates on the opposite principle of osmosis. Osmosis is a natural process,
whereby pure water flows through a membrane from a less concentrated to a more
concentrated solution (thereby diluting the latter). If a saline solution in contact with a
semi-permeable membrane is placed under pressure, which is in excess of its
osmotic pressure, water from the solution will flow through the membrane. Water flow
will continue till the pressure created by the osmotic head equals the osmotic
pressure of the salt solution.
The energy required to operate the process varies with the osmotic pressure of the
solution (which increases with salinity). This imposes constraints on membrane life
and performance.

6.0

COMPONENTS COMMON TO ALL DESALINATION PLANTS

There are many processes for desalting saline waters. Only a few have been
developed to the point of actual use. These desalting processes have many common
plant components. These are represented schematically in Fig. 1-1.
In the first step, feedwater is channeled or pumped from the source upto the
mechanical treatment section where screening take place to remove undesirable
solids. In the next step, it is sent into the pretreatment equipment for chemical
treatment. The type and extent of treatment depends on the feedwater composition.
Seawater needs to be treated quite differently from brackish or well water. Treatment

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ADVANCED COURSE

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LESSON 1 PAGE

also depends on the downstream equipment and the type of process. Treated water
is then sent to the desalination plant where product water is obtained.
Along with product water, a few more streams may be produced. The number of
these streams is determined by the process. The stream which is common to all
processes is concentrated reject brine. Other important streams typically present are
condensate and air/gases.
Desalinated product water is usually not suitable for consumption without some form
of treatment. In the post-treatment process, chemicals are added to make it potable
and non corrosive for distribution pipes. Aeration is also done sometimes. In the last
step, treated water is pumped to storage tanks or sent directly into the distribution
system.

Fig. 1-1 Scheme for Desalting

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ADVANCED COURSE

7.0

DESALINATION PLANTS STATISTICAL INFORMATION

The 8th Desalting Plants Inventory Report has quite interesting and useful
information. Some highlights are :*

The desalting plants surveyed were set up by 139 manufacturers in 101

countries.

The maximum number of plants were established in Saudi Arabia, accounting

for 30.0% of the total capacity as against 11.4% in the USA.

Taking the Arabian peninsula as a whole, 60% of all desalting capacity is

located in this region. Libya (5.4%), Iran (3.1%) and the USSR (2.5%) play a
subordinate role.

Sasakura have established 19% of the total capacity either as sole

entrepreneur or in partnership with others. Sidem follow with 9.5%.

Fluid Systems hold a 3.6% portion with RO plants.

67% of the capacity is used in municipal drinking water production. 20.1% in

industrial process water production. 5% in power station boiler feedwater
production.

The number of units sold have declined continually in recent years. 394 units
were sold in 1978 while only 226 were sold in 1984.

41.3% of all units operate on the RO principle. Only 21.2% are MSF units.
From this it can be derived that small capacity units primarily employ the RO.

Nearly 60% of all units are processing brackish water and 37% seawater.

Measured by the number of units, Ionics take a clear lead in the world market.
Sidem supplied 222 units using thermal processes. Krupp sold 215 units (also
operating on thermal processes).

The field of manufacturers supplying only RO units is led by Metito with 181
units.

The largest capacity of RO units is installed in the USA. Apart from this, only
Saudi Arabia plays a role with 24.2%. In Kuwait or in the United Arab
Emirates, RO units are rare although these countries account for a large
desalting capacity.

Among the 30 most important companies, 16 are domiciled in the USA, 3 in

Japan, 4 in Great Britain, 2 in Germany, 2 in the Netherlands, 2 in France and
1 in Italy.

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LESSON 1 PAGE