1 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS OF AQUASOL PROJECT: DEVELOPMENT OF AN ADVANCED HYBRID SOLAR-GAS MULTI-EFFECT DISTILLATION SYSTEM

Main objective of R&D AQUASOL Project has been the development of a zero-discharge, improved cost and energy-efficient seawater desalination technology based on the multi-effect distillation (MED) process. During the course of the demonstration phase, an advanced hybrid solar/gas desalination system has been implemented at the Plataforma Solar de Almería installations, in order to evaluate under real atmospheric conditions its reliability and energy efficiency. This paper shows the first results obtained of the MED unit performance working with a 500-m2 CPC solar collector field and the new double-effect absorption (H2O-LiBr) heat pump, which has allowed a very important increase in the overall thermal efficiency of the process