Modelling and Simulation of Solar Desalination Based on Multiple Effect Distillation Process in Saudi Arabia

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has witnessed an increase in water and energy demand due to the high growth in its population and its industrial activities. This growing demand for fresh water and the overdependence on fossil fuels to produce desalinated water have led and motivated further development of water desalination and purification utilizing renewable energy technologies. Solar, geothermal and wind energy are gaining interests and becoming attractive options to drive potable water production systems. Integrating solar energy with desalination offers a promising prospect for covering the fundamental needs of power and water; this is beneficial for remote regions especially, where there is no connection to the public electric grid and water scarcity is severe. This work presents a model and simulations on coupled mature technologies of solar energy collection and potable water production. A mathematical model is developed for both multiple effect distillation (MED) and concentrated solar power (CSP) given the capacity required and the resources for a selected location. The model, which is systematically validated, is based on conservation of mass and energy and appropriate specifications of CSP and MED components. Besides, an economic model is also presented and used to estimate the overall desalinated water cost. The study is also performed for three coastal cities across Saudi Arabia which are Dhahran, Abha and Tabuk. The results show that the cost of produced water for a system that has a capacity of 10000 m3/day is 2.101 $/m3, 2.039 $/m3 and 1.927 $/m3 for Dhahran, Abha and Tabuk respectively.