KR20130103155A - Apparatus for desalinating the seawater - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A desalination apparatus is provided to maximally reduce the maintenance and repairing costs of the desalination apparatus by including a semi-permanently usable hydrophobic membrane which passes through steam into a storage tank. CONSTITUTION: A desalination apparatus comprise: a storage tank (100) with an inner space for receiving and storing salt water; a heating unit (110) installed inside the storage tank for heating the salt water; and a hydrophobic membrane (120) passing through steam generated from heating the salt water. The steam passed through the hydrophobic membrane and moved to the upper inside area of the storage tank, is condensed and desalinated by the temperature difference around the space with the heating unit. [Reference numerals] (AA) Steam; (BB) Salt water

Description

{APPARATUS FOR DESALINATING THE SEAWATER}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a desalination apparatus, and more particularly, to a desalination apparatus capable of reducing energy consumption required for desalination as well as minimizing maintenance and repair costs in operation of a desalination apparatus.

Recently, social interest in water quality pollution and water shortage has been increasing, and various applications and combination systems of water treatment technologies including salt water desalination, which have been used in large ships in the past, and high efficiency technology are being developed.

Such water treatment techniques can be largely divided into physical treatment methods such as evaporation distillation and reverse osmosis membrane separation, biochemical treatment methods such as biodegradation or chemical oxidation and precipitation, electrochemical treatment methods such as electrodialysis or ion exchange. Currently, evaporation method, membrane separation method, and ion exchange method are mainly applied commercially.

Reverse osmosis (RO), which is applied to the membrane separation method, is a phenomenon in which a pure solvent is released from a solution through a semipermeable membrane when a pressure higher than osmotic pressure is applied. By using this reverse osmosis phenomenon, An example of a technique for desalinating a brine by separating pure water is disclosed in Korean Patent Registration No. 10-1068664. However, such a membrane separation method has a disadvantage that not only the amount of conversion of fresh water is relatively small, but also the replacement cost due to frequently exchanged membrane modules is large. In addition, the evaporation method has an advantage of obtaining high purity fresh water, but the energy cost is too high.

In this situation, it is possible to apply the evaporation method which is relatively easy to apply to a large-scale facility, but it is not easy due to the problems as described above It is a reality. Therefore, it is basically required to develop a technique that utilizes the principle of the evaporation method, but not only the maintenance cost is lowered, but also the desalination efficiency is increased.

Korean Registered Patent No. 10-1068664 (registered on September 22, 2011)

It is an object of the present invention to provide a desalination apparatus which can be more easily carried out in a relatively hot area such as the Middle East or Africa and enables low energy consumption and high efficiency of fresh water.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a desalination device capable of reducing the maintenance cost because the filter for desalination can be used semi-permanently while the cost of replacing expensive membrane modules is low as in the conventional reverse osmosis system .

The solution to the problem of the present invention is not limited to those mentioned above, and other solutions not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

The object of the present invention is to provide a storage tank in which an inner space is formed so that saline can be supplied from outside and stored therein; Heating means provided in the storage tank to heat the brine stored in the storage tank; And a hydrophobic membrane provided in the storage tank for permeating only steam generated by the saline heating of the heating means, wherein the steam, which has passed through the hydrophobic membrane and has migrated to the upper interior region of the storage tank, Is condensed by the temperature difference between the surrounding space and the surrounding space and is capable of desalination.

Here, the internal space of the storage tank is divided into a salt water storage area where salt water supplied from the outside is stored and a salt water storage area where the salt water is heated and a fresh water storage area where fresh water is stored, May be partitioned by partition walls connecting the opposing inner walls of the storage tank and the hydrophobic membrane which is connected to one end of the partition wall.

A hydrophilic membrane may be further provided on the lower side of the heating means in the brine storage area to filter foreign substances contained in the brine introduced from the outside and make the brine permeable.

Wherein the hydrophobic membrane and the top surface of the storage tank are arranged and inclined toward the fresh water storage zone, and the vapor permeated through the hydrophobic membrane is condensed and changed into a droplet state, and the droplet is separated from the upper surface of the hydrophobic membrane, To the fresh water storage zone along the inclined inner upper surface of the tank.

The storage tank may further include a heat sink for increasing the condensation efficiency of the vapor permeated through the hydrophobic membrane.

The heating means may be applied as a carbon heater or a magnetron.

When the heating means is applied to the magnetron, the material of the storage tank may be made of plastic, or the inner wall of the storage tank may be coated with a ceramic.

A salt water supply pipe for forming a salt water supply passage to the storage tank is provided and a solar heat collection plate may be provided to preheat the salt water flowing along the salt water supply pipe using solar heat.

The desalination apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention has the following effects.

First, by providing a hydrophobic membrane that can permeate only steam in the storage tank and can be used semi-permanently, maintenance and repair costs for operation of the desalination apparatus can be minimized.

Secondly, preheating the salt water flowing along the brine supply piping by using the solar heat collecting plate can substantially reduce the energy consumption by the heating means in the storage tank.

Third, since the brine stored in the storage tank can be heated to a certain temperature or higher by the heating means and the solar heat, the energy consumption required for desalination can be reduced, and particularly in a relatively hot region such as the Middle East or Africa. .

The effects of the present invention are not limited to those mentioned above, and other effects not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

1 is a view schematically showing a desalination apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a sectional view taken along the line I-I in Fig.
Fig. 3 is a view showing a state in which the heating means is applied as another example in Fig. 1. Fig.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, It is provided to let you know. Wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

1 is a schematic view of a desalination apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along a line I-I in Fig.

A desalination apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is an apparatus for purifying a brine containing a salt of a predetermined concentration or higher by using a distillation method as a potable fresh water. It can be installed in a suitable place.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the desalination apparatus includes a storage tank 100 in which an inner space is formed so that saline can be supplied and stored from outside, a storage tank 100 for heating salt water stored in the storage tank 100, And a hydrophobic membrane 120 provided in the storage tank 100 to permeate only the vapor evaporated by the saline heating of the heating means 110.

First, the storage tank 100 has a predetermined internal space, and not only the brine is stored therein but also the fresh water generated through the desalination process described later can be stored. That is, the internal space of the storage tank 100 is partitioned into the salt water storage zone 101 and the fresh water storage zone 102.

1 and 2, the salt water storage zone 101 and the fresh water storage zone 102 are divided into a partition 103 and a partition 103 connecting the opposing inner walls of the storage tank 100, And a hydrophobic membrane 120 connected at one end to the end of the membrane. In addition, the hydrophobic membrane 120 is connected to the partition wall 103 at one end and the remaining edge is connected to the inner wall of the storage tank 100 to partition the salt water storage zone 101. A salt water supply pipe 104 is connected to one side of the storage tank 100 and a salt water supply pipe 104 is connected to a separate feed pump 104 for feeding the saline water Not shown) can be installed. A separate first drain valve 106 is further provided in the saline storage area 101 of the storage tank 100 to discharge saline and the like other than fresh water generated through a desalination process described later to the outside.

As shown in FIG. 1, the heating means 110 is for heating the brine stored in the storage tank 100 to a temperature of about 80 to 120 degrees, and is applicable, for example, as a carbon heater or a magnetron. Here, it is preferable that the heating means 110 is provided so as to be waterproof when it is located in the water when the brine is stored in the storage tank 100 for a predetermined amount or more. In this case, the material of the storage tank 100 and the partition wall 103, which will be described later, is heated by the operation of the magnetron to generate a microwave, May be made of plastic or tempered glass so as to be sufficiently heated. In addition, a ceramic coating may be formed on the inner wall of the storage tank 100. Meanwhile, as described above, it is preferable that the desalination apparatus according to the present embodiment is installed mainly in the vicinity of the coast, and the operating power of the heating means 110 is preferably electricity generated by environmentally friendly wind power generation and tidal power generation.

As shown in FIG. 1, the heating means 110 is for heating the brine stored in the storage tank 100 to a temperature of about 80 to 120 degrees, and is applicable, for example, as a carbon heater or a magnetron. Here, it is preferable that the heating means 110 is provided so as to be waterproof when it is located in the water when the brine is stored in the storage tank 100 for a predetermined amount or more. In this case, the material of the storage tank 100 and the partition wall 103, which will be described later, is heated by the operation of the magnetron to generate a microwave, May be made of plastic or tempered glass so as to be sufficiently heated. In addition, a ceramic coating may be formed on the inner wall of the storage tank 100. Meanwhile, as described above, it is preferable that the desalination apparatus according to the present embodiment is installed mainly in the vicinity of the coast, and the operating power of the heating means 110 is preferably electricity generated by environmentally friendly wind power generation and tidal power generation.

In addition, the desalination apparatus according to the present embodiment can be more easily applied in ever-hot areas such as the Middle East and Africa. In this case, as a heating source for heating the salt water stored in the storage tank 100, It is possible. For this purpose, it is preferable that the material of the storage tank 100 is applied to transparent plastic materials and glass materials (including tempered glass) which are easily transmitted through solar heat. That is, in this embodiment, as described later, the brine before being introduced into the storage tank 100 is preheated first, and then reheated again using the heating means 110 and solar heat, So that the desalination efficiency can be increased eventually. In other words, it is certain that the heating effect of brine as mentioned above is further increased in hot regions such as the Middle East and Africa, rather than countries with a seasonal change such as the Republic of Korea.

On the other hand, a brine supply pipe 104 is provided at one side of the storage tank 100 for supplying the brine into the storage tank 100. In this embodiment, the brine flowing along the brine supply pipe 104 flows into the reservoir tank 100, It is preferable to be heated to a predetermined temperature before flowing into the heat exchanger 100. In addition, by heating the brine before entering the storage tank 100, the brine heating time by the heating means 110 in the storage tank 100 can be shortened and the desalination can be performed more quickly. In addition, the present embodiment has an economical advantage in that energy can be saved by reducing the amount of substantial heating energy consumed by the heating means 110. [ For example, as shown in FIG. 1, on the upper side of the brine supply piping 104, there is provided a brine heat exchanger It is preferable that the solar heat collecting plate 105 is further provided to preheat the brine. In addition, the material of the brine supply pipe 104 may be made of a transparent material so that the brine can be heated to a certain temperature or higher after the solar radiation passes through the brine supply pipe 104.

1, the hydrophobic membrane 120 is provided on the upper side of the heating means 110 in the storage tank 100, and allows only the steam generated by the saline heating of the heating means 110 to pass therethrough. Hydrophobic refers to a property that does not dissolve in water because it has no affinity for water molecules, or pushes water out of the surface. Examples of hydrophobic substances include hydroxyl group, amino group, and carboxyl group. Therefore, the steam generated as the heating means 110 heats the salt water to a predetermined temperature or higher passes through the micropores of the hydrophobic membrane 120 and moves upward, while the relatively large-sized brine water molecules flow through the hydrophobic membrane 120 ). ≪ / RTI > Here, the steam passing through the hydrophobic membrane 120 is pure water vapor. For example, it is preferable that the solvent vapor or the like having a relatively higher molecular weight than water vapor is prevented from passing through the hydrophobic membrane 120, By controlling the micro pore size.

The steam (i.e., water vapor) that has passed through the hydrophobic membrane 120 and then moves to the upper inner region of the storage tank 100 is condensed by the temperature difference to become drinking water. That is, the upper inner region of the storage tank 100 is an area where the temperature of the upper outer region of the storage tank 100 can be easily transferred, for example, a relatively low temperature of the wind blowing on the coast is transmitted.

1, a hydrophilic membrane 130 for filtering foreign substances contained in the brine introduced from the outside and allowing the brine to permeate is provided on the lower side of the heating means 110 in the brine storage area 101, . Here, it is preferable that the hydrophilic membrane 130 is formed with a pore of an appropriate size so as to filter out all particles relatively larger than the suspended particulate and brine molecular particles contained in the brine.

That is, the present embodiment has a two-stage filtering structure of the hydrophilic membrane 130 and the hydrophobic membrane 120, and the brine passes through the hydrophilic membrane 130, particles having a predetermined size or more are preferentially filtered, Only the pure water vapor can be filtered while passing through the membrane 120. For reference, the transfer pressure of the transfer pump installed in the brine supply pipe 104 enables the brine to pass through the hydrophilic membrane 130.

As described above, since the hydrophobic membrane 120 and the hydrophilic membrane 130, which are semi-permanently usable, are applied to the present embodiment, the periodic replacement of the membranes is hardly required in operation of the desalination apparatus, There is an economic advantage to be saved.

In this embodiment, in order to facilitate the heat exchange between the upper inner region of the storage tank 100 and the upper outer region of the storage tank 100, that is, the steam that has permeated the hydrophobic membrane 120 and moves upward It is preferable that the heat sink 107 is further provided so as to increase the condensation efficiency. The upper portion of the storage tank 100 has a lower temperature than that of the heating means 110 and a metallic material for transmitting the temperature of the offshore wind moving on the upper side of the storage tank 100 to the storage tank 100 The heat sink 107 is provided. The heat sink 107 may have a variety of structures such as a plate shape and a pipe shape, and the heat sink 107 may be used as long as it is generally used in the technical field for heat dissipation and heat absorption.

As shown in FIG. 1, the hydrophobic membrane 120 and the upper surface of the storage tank 100 are preferably arranged and formed obliquely toward the fresh water storage zone 102.

In other words, the vapor passing through the hydrophobic membrane 120 is transferred to the heat sink 107 and the relatively low temperature to be phase-changed into a droplet state. The liquor is more easily transported to the freshwater storage zone 102 along the upper surface of the hydrophobic membrane 120 and the inclined inner upper surface of the storage tank 100. After the hydrophobic membrane 120 is permeated and condensed before reaching the inner upper surface of the storage tank 100, the droplets formed on the inner upper surface of the storage tank 100 drop to form the upper surface of the hydrophobic membrane 120 The droplets which are formed on the inner upper surface of the storage tank 100 but fail to fall to the hydrophobic membrane 120 move to the fresh water storage zone 102 along the inner upper surface of the storage tank 100. Meanwhile, the fresh water storage area 102 of the storage tank 100 is further provided with a separate second drain valve 108 so that fresh water can be discharged to the outside.

Hereinafter, a desalination process using the desalination apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

First, a transfer pump (not shown) sucks salt water (sea water) and supplies it to the storage tank 100 side through the salt water supply pipe 104. At this time, the brine flowing along the brine supply pipe 104 is preheated by the solar heat collecting plate 105 to a temperature of about 40 to 70 degrees.

Thereafter, the brine introduced into the storage tank 100 is separated from the brine by the hydrophilic membrane 130 to a predetermined size or larger, and the brine in which the foreign matter is removed moves to the upper side of the hydrophilic membrane 130. In other words, when brine is continuously supplied into the storage tank 100 by continuous driving of a transfer pump (not shown), the foreign matter is filtered by the hydrophilic membrane 130 to restrict the upward movement, The water level of the brine in the water tank 101 gradually increases.

Then, the brine heated to a temperature of about 80 to 120 degrees by the heating means 110 is evaporated sequentially from the surface of the brine and is vaporized. At this time, the steam passes through the hydrophobic membrane 120 and moves upward.

Thereafter, the vapor condenses and forms a droplet state by the low temperature formed in the inner upper region of the storage tank 100, and this liquid droplets flow along the inclined upper surface of the hydrophobic membrane 120 and the inner inclined upper surface of the storage tank 100 And into the fresh water storage area 102.

In summary, in the present embodiment, only the water vapor desalted by the hydrophobic membrane 120 can be easily separated, and since the water vapor can be condensed to obtain fresh water, the efficiency in the process for desalination is increased, So that it is possible to design a compact structure. In addition, the present embodiment has an economical advantage that the maintenance cost is substantially reduced by the semi-permanently usable hydrophobic membrane 120. In addition, when installed in an area where solar heat is always available, such as in the Middle East or Africa, there is an advantage that the overall energy consumption for desalination can be greatly reduced.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, as shown in Fig. 3, the heating means 210 is applicable in other forms.

Specifically, the heating means 210 is also applicable as a heat pipe. Specifically, a solar concentrator 211 for collecting solar heat is installed at a position away from the storage tank 100. For example, the solar concentrator 211 may have a structure in which a plurality of refracting lenses are provided and a focus is focused on one point. The end of the heat pipe 212 made of copper is provided at a portion where the focal point is formed as described above and the heat pipe 212 extends to a position where the heating means 110 described above in the storage tank 100 is installed. A heat medium such as water is received in the heat pipe 212. The heat medium receives the heat of sunlight concentrated from the solar heat concentrator 211 and heats the salt water in the storage tank 100. Here, the end region of the heat pipe 212 disposed in the storage tank 100 is formed in a substantially coil shape so as to further enhance the salt water heating effect by the heat pipe 212, that is, to increase the heat dissipation area desirable.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the accompanying drawings and the preferred embodiments described above, the present invention is not limited thereto but is limited by the following claims. Accordingly, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the following claims.

100: Storage tank 101: Saline storage area
102: fresh water storage area 103: bulkhead
104: brine supply piping 105: solar collecting plate
107: heat sink 110: heating means
120: hydrophobic membrane 130: hydrophilic membrane

Claims (8)

A storage tank in which an inner space is formed so that saline can be supplied and stored from the outside;
Heating means provided in the storage tank to heat the brine stored in the storage tank; And
A hydrophobic membrane provided in the storage tank and transmitting only steam generated by brine heating of the heating means;
The desalination apparatus of the desalination apparatus, wherein the steam that has passed through the hydrophobic membrane and then moved to an upper inner region of the storage tank is condensed by a temperature difference with a surrounding space provided with the heating means to enable desalination. The method of claim 1,
The internal space of the storage tank is divided into a salt water storage zone where the salt water supplied from the outside is stored and the salt water is heated, and a fresh water storage zone where fresh water is stored.
Wherein the brine storage area and the fresh water storage area are defined by a partition wall connecting the opposing inner wall of the storage tank and the hydrophobic membrane having one end connected to the end of the partition. The method of claim 2,
Wherein a hydrophilic membrane is further provided on the lower side of the heating means in the salt water storage zone to filter foreign substances contained in the brine introduced from the outside and make the salt water permeable. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the hydrophobic membrane and the top surface of the storage tank are disposed and formed inclined toward the fresh water storage zone,
Wherein the vapor passing through the hydrophobic membrane is condensed and phase-changed into a droplet state, and the droplet is able to move to the fresh water storage zone along the upper surface of the hydrophobic membrane and the inclined inner upper surface of the storage tank. The method of claim 1,
Wherein the storage tank is further provided with a heat sink for increasing condensation efficiency of steam permeated through the hydrophobic membrane. The method of claim 1,
Wherein the heating means is applied as a carbon heater or a magnetron. The method according to claim 6,
Wherein when the heating means is applied to the magnetron, the material of the storage tank is made of plastic or the inner wall of the storage tank is coated with ceramic. The method of claim 1,
Wherein a salt water supply pipe for forming a salt water supply channel to the storage tank is provided and a solar heat collection plate is provided to preheat the salt water flowing along the salt water supply pipe using solar heat.

Images