Desalination 425 (2018) 77–85

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Desalination
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/desal

Effects of watering parameters in a combined seawater desalination process MARK

a,b,⁎ a,b a,b a,b a,b
Hui Yang , Zhengyang Sun , Zhonglai Zhan , Haoxing Zhang , Yuexin Yao
a
School of Environment and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, 100044 Beijing, China
b
Beijing Municipality Key Lab of Heating, Gas Supply, Ventilating and Air Conditioning Engineering, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, 100044
Beijing, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Seawater desalination experiments using patented experimental platform that could recycle cold energy released
Seawater desalination from LNG (liquefied natural gas) re-gasification process were conducted in laboratory. Combined freezing,
Freezing desalination watering and centrifugal desalination (FWCD) process was employed. The effects of the key watering para-
Watering parameters meters, including proportion, temperature and pure water or seawater, on removal efficiencies of salt and
Combined desalination process
measured ions and on ice yield rate were investigated. Results showed that watering process benefits the brine-
LNG cold energy
ice separation through centrifugation and therefore the ice purity can be enhanced. To ameliorate ice product
purity, increasing the mass proportion of watering raw seawater is a more feasible method than watering pure
water. The desalination effect of adding raw seawater would be better in summer than in winter when other
parameters constant. Comparing with combined freezing, gravity-induced and centrifugal desalination (FGCD)
method, FWCD is a continuous process that can accelerate the desalination duration, and more ice with the same
purity can be yielded within the salt removal efficiency range of FWCD method. Whereas more energy has to be
consumed using FWCD process because higher centrifugation rotation rate is also necessary to achieve the same
salt removal efficiency. Whereas the total energy consumption for unit ice product is acceptable.

1. Introduction Therefore, ice handing mechanical systems or special compressor types

With the rapid growth of global economy, the fresh water crisis is
becoming a very serious problem. Seawater desalination seems to be
one of the methods to alleviate the situation, especially in the countries
with per capita water resources much less than the world average
amount like China.
Seawater desalination technologies can be divided into two types
which are separation methods and thermal methods. Separation
methods, such as reverse osmosis (RO) and electro dialysis (ED)
method, remove salt from water using electrical or mechanical forces.
Thermal methods separate salt through phase-change process such as
distillation and freezing method [1–2].
Some previous research described the advantages of freezing
method, e.g. high energy efficiency, corrosive resistance, easy operation
and lowering cost etc. [3]. Some authors presented their research work
on improving the energy efficiency of freezing desalination equipment
or system. Ahmed A.A. Attia [4] proposed a heat pump system with
high energy efficiency that can be used in seawater desalination. In the
suggested system, ice formation, washing and melting processes can
take place in sequence at the same heat exchanger through changing
the refrigerant flow direction in the vapor compression cycle.
which usually involved in traditional freezing desalination system
needn't be considered.
M.V. Rane [5] presented a freeze desalination system equipped with
a heat pump and vented-double-wall tube–tube heat exchanger, which
avoids the need of ice scraper/separation mechanisms and enables heat
exchange between the refrigerant and the seawater/potable water
without intermediate medium. It was also demonstrated that compared
with conventional freeze desalination systems, the system has both
initial and operating cost advantages.
Whereas, other than the desalination methods that have been
widely used around the world such as RO method, multiple effect dis-
tillation (MED) method and multi-stage flash (MSF) method, freezing
method have not yet been employed in large industrial production [6].
Theoretically, seawater freezing process can separate water from mo-
ther liquid because of higher crystallization temperature of pure water
than that of brine. However, the following two cases would decrease
the purity of ice greatly during freezing process. The first is that some
brine pockets form within the big ice block when the freezing rate is
higher than the mass transfer rate of salt ions and the second is that
more brine is adhered to small crystal surfaces because of their large
specific surface areas.

⁎
Corresponding author at: School of Environment and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, 100044 Beijing, China.
E-mail address: yanghui@bucea.edu.cn (H. Yang).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2017.10.014
Received 28 July 2017; Received in revised form 26 September 2017; Accepted 8 October 2017
Available online 16 October 2017
0011-9164/ © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
H. Yang et al.
Nomenclature
C0 salinity of raw seawater (ppt, parts per thousand or ‰)
C0ion initial concentration of the measured ions or TDS in raw
seawater (mg/L)
Tlni liquid nitrogen temperature of cryogenic heat exchanger
inlet (°C)
Titi intermedium temperature of ice-making machine inlet (°C)
Tito intermedium temperature of ice-making machine outlet (°C)
Cpw salinity of pure water used in watering process (ppt, parts
per thousand or ‰)
Tswi temperature of seawater that sprayed to ice-making
machine (°C)
Therefore, some research work were conducted on the factors af-
fecting the salt removal efficiency in freezing desalination process, such
as cooling medium temperature, freezing time etc. Ryosuke Fujioka
et al. [7] presented their laboratory equipment for progressive freeze-
desalination, which could control the ice front in one-dimension. Their
study showed that the desalination efficiency can be increased with
either lower advance speed of the ice front (U) and initial concentration
(C0) or higher circumferential velocity of the stirrer (Ur). Although it
has been demonstrated widely that the ice purity can be ameliorated by
decreasing the freezing rate [8], low freezing rate also means the de-
crease of production efficiency in real seawater desalination plant.
To increase ice purity, some previous research stressed on methods
such as washing, partial melting with gravity-induced brine drainage,
centrifugation, soaking, watering etc. after freezing process. Nicholas
Beier et al. [9] proved experimentally that the desalination effect in the
ice melting process is more obvious than freezing process. Mokhtar
Mahdavi et al. [1] carried out three rounds of frozen-melting (FM)
experiments to yield pure water. T. Mtombeni et al. [10] used Venturi
effect to suck and drain out the brine attaching to the ice crystals and
then melted the dried ice crystals to produce the portable water.
Youssef Mandri et al. [11–12] improved the purities of seawater ice and
NaCl solution ice using partial melting method to drain out the trapped
brine pockets. Cong-shuang Luo et al. [13] employed unidirectional-
freezing method to make layered ice and then improved the quality of
ice through crushing and centrifugation method. Gravity-induced de-
salination method can use free natural heat resources to deal with ice,
such as Gu Wei et al. [14] studied the effect of gravity-induced desa-
lination in winter on natural sea ice taken from Bohai Bay and got pure
water with the salinity range from 0.8‰ to 1.4‰. However, if the free
air heat resources were used in real industrial desalination production
based on artificial freezing process, some instability problems should be
concerned. For example, desalination process will be much longer in
winter than in summer if the natural air environment changes in a re-
lative large range in the whole year. Centrifugal desalination could
enhance salt removal efficiency and shorten process time by consuming
certain of energy. X. C. Gao et al. [15] added a certain proportion of
seawater into crushed natural seawater ice taken from Bohai Bay before
it was centrifuged. Their experiments showed that is an easy and eco-
nomical way that can reduce the salinity of the remaining ice.
Some research was also carried out on seawater desalination using
LNG cold energy. W.S. Cao et al. [16] introduced the freeze desalination
(FD) system equipped with flake ice maker utilizing LNG cold energy
and simulated the thermal process using HYSYS software. M.B. Huang
et al. [17–19] designed both direct-contact and indirect-contact
freezing seawater desalination schemes that can use LNG cold energy
and discussed the choice of refrigerant as well as the determination of
the main process parameters. They carried out some experiments using
the indirect-contact freezing method to deal with seawater and the
results showed that salt removal efficiency was not high. It was
78
Desalination 425 (2018) 77–85
Mi mass of sample ice (g)
Mpw mass of added pure water (g)
Msw mass of added raw seawater (g)
Rpw mass proportion of added pure water (%)
Rsw mass proportion of added raw seawater (%)
R salt removal efficiency (%)
Ci salinity of the ice product (ppt or parts per thousand ‰)
Rion removal efficiencies of measured ions or TDS (%)
Cion concentration of the measured ions or TDS in ice product
(mg/L)
Riy ice yield rate (%)
Mip mass of ice product (g)
concluded that the freezing desalination can be the middle treatment
process for seawater desalination. P. Wang and T. S. Chung [20] de-
veloped a hybrid desalination system comprising freezing desalination
(FD) and membrane distillation (MD) processes, which is energy-saving
through utilization of LNG cold energy. It was proved experimentally
that the total water recovery rate achieves at 71.5% and the quality of
the water product meets the standard for drinkable water using this
hybrid FD-MD system. This hybrid FD-MD process is suitable for the
practical situation that has waste heat energy and LNG cold energy to
be used for MD process and FD process respectively. Above works paid
more attentions on improving energy efficiency of the seawater freezing
process than ameliorating the salt removal efficiency of the ice.
Although it was demonstrated that higher freezing rate results in
lower salt removal efficiency because more brine can't be expelled in
time and therefore is trapped to form brine pockets in ice, lower
freezing rate also means lower production efficiency. What is more, it
was proved that pure ice can't be produced through artificial freezing
process even with very low freezing rate [8,13]. In laboratory, the
authors of this paper utilized the experimental platform, which can use
LNG cold energy, to freeze Bohai Bay seawater, and then combined
freezing, gravity-driven and centrifugal desalination (FGCD) technolo-
gies to increase ice purity. The effect of gravity-induced brine drainage
proportion in FGCD process was investigated. The research showed that
the FGCD method is feasible in improving salt removal efficiency and
acceptable in energy consumption [21]. Whereas, if gravity-induced
desalination process took place in ambience in order to use free air heat
resources, the duration time of FGCD process would be long and de-
pendant on the natural climate environment that can't be controlled
artificially. For shortening the desalination process, other method
worthies to be studied as substitute of gravity-induced process. Washing
and watering methods have been proved effective to enhance ice purity
since water can decrease the viscosity of brine adhering to the ice and
accelerate the melting process of some ice [15]. In this paper, freezing,
watering and centrifugal desalination (FWCD) processes were com-
bined to desalinate seawater and the effects of the key watering para-
meters including mass proportion, temperature and pure water or
seawater on salt removal efficiency were investigated.
2. Materials and methods
The patented experimental platform (shown in Fig. 1) same as that
used in [21] (with the authorized number ZL 2016208330324 in China)
was employed to freeze seawater taken from Bohai Bay near an under-
construction LNG receiving terminal. The flow diagram of FWCD pro-
cess that can use LNG cold energy is shown in Fig. 2.
In the sea water freezing process, indirect cooling-crystallization
method was employed to avoid necessity of intermedium separation
faced by direct cooling-crystallization method. Ice flake machine was
used to accelerate seawater freezing process, which benefit a
H. Yang et al. Desalination 425 (2018) 77–85

Fig. 1. The photo of the experimental platform.

continuous sea water desalination process being realized. The LNG cold
Fig. 3. Seawater ice flakes.
energy was transferred to sea water by intermedium through two in-
direct heat exchangers, which are cryogenic heat exchanger and ice
making machine, and then the seawater was produced into flakes with Table 1
1–3 mm thickness. The salinity, TDS and the ion concentrations of the raw seawater.

Our previous research proved that the salinity of the ice produced C0 (‰) C0TDS (mg/L) C0Ca2 + (mg/L) C0Mg2 + (mg/L) C0Cl− (mg/L)
through this method is relatively high and further separation process is
necessary to improve ice purity [21]. In this paper, the combined FWCD 29.8 32,403 423.44 1113.35 16,980.83
method was tried to improve salt removal efficiency along with shorten
duration time of desalination process. In our experiments, LNG was
Table 2
replaced by liquid nitrogen with evaporation temperature near to LNG
The experimental process parameters.
in order to avoid flame and explosion risk. The cold energy released in
liquid nitrogen vaporization process was transferred to seawater Tlni (°C) Titi (°C) Tito (°C) Cpw (‰) Tswi (°C)
through circulation of the intermediate fluid between the cryogenic
heat exchanger and ice making machine. The seawater was frozen into −152.4–153 −45.1 ~−47.1 − 26.8 ~− 27 0.1 0.09–0.1

ice flakes consisted of pure ice and brine pockets (shown in Fig. 3). Pure
water or raw seawater with different mass and temperature were added
In our experiments, the salinity of the water samples were measured
into the ice samples and then the mixtures were centrifuged im-
using the digital meter of model inoLab@ Cond7110 (WTW, Xylem
mediately. Filtering centrifuge of type TD5F whose rotation rate ranges
Analytics) with the measuring range from 0 to 70 ppt and the accuracy
from 0 to 4000 r/min was utilized. Theoretically, both watering and
of ± 0.15 ppt. The TDS of the water samples were measured with the
centrifugation processes benefit the brine to overcome viscosity force
digital portable instrument of model Ultrameter II 4P(Conductivity/
on the ice surface and therefore, accelerates the separation of brine
TDS/Resistivity/Temp., Myron L Company, United States of America)
from pure ice.
with the measuring range from 0 to 200,000 mg/L, the accuracy

Fig. 2. Flow diagram of the combined FWCD process.

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H. Yang et al. Desalination 425 (2018) 77–85

Table 3 combined FWCD method was studied to desalinate seawater taken from
The experimental conditions to compare the effects of pure water and raw seawater. Bohai Bay. The salinity, TDS and the measured ion contents in the raw
seawater sample are shown in Table 1. Considering the application
Cases Mi (g) Mpw (g) Rpw (%) Msw (g) Rsw (%)
possibility in practice, the effects of the watering parameters including
Case 0 500.1 0 0 0 0 temperature, mass proportion as well as seawater or pure water on
Case A-1 500.89 25.44 5.08 0 0 FWCD desalination process were investigated under the experimental
Case A-2 500.42 50.86 10.16 0 0
process parameters listed in Table 2. The meanings of the symbols as
Case A-3 500.58 75.29 15.04 0 0
Case A-4 500.59 100.42 20.06 0 0 well as their subscripts used in this paper were defined in the Nomen-
Case A-5 500.64 124.96 24.96 0 0 clature, where the mentioned equipments such as cryogenic heat ex-
Case B-1 500.39 0 0 25.86 5.17 changer, ice-making machine were pointed in Fig. 2. The LNG tem-
Case B-2 499.5 0 0 50.7 10.15 perature of cryogenic heat exchanger inlet was substituted by the liquid
Case B-3 499.18 0 0 75.74 15.17
nitrogen temperature because LNG was replaced by liquid nitrogen in
Case B-4 500.3 0 0 100.44 20.08
Case B-5 500.55 0 0 125.65 25.10 the experiments.
Case B-6 499.56 0 0 149.31 29.89 In order to compare the watering effects of seawater and pure water,
Case B-7 500.34 0 0 174.76 34.93 the experiments were conducted under the conditions listed in Table 3
Case B-8 500.91 0 0 200.82 40.09
where Case A or Case B means that pure water or raw seawater was
Case B-9 501.01 0 0 225.44 45.00
Case B-10 500.27 0 0 250.85 50.14 added respectively. Besides that, under the same process parameters
Case B-11 500.25 0 0 275.42 55.06 shown in Table 2, another seawater ice sample marked as Case 0 in
Case B-12 500.87 0 0 300.11 59.92 Table 3 was centrifugated directly without watering process and it was
Case B-13 499.96 0 0 325.52 65.11 taken as a benchmark to analyze the watering effect in FWCD process.
Case B-14 500.93 0 0 349.77 69.82
The mass proportions of added pure water Rpw and added raw seawater
Rsw were calculated using Eqs. (1) and (2).
Table 4 Mpw
The experimental conditions to compare the effect of raw seawater temperature. Rpw = × 100%
Mi (1)
Cases Mi (g) Msw (g) Rsw (%)
Msw
Rsw = × 100%
Case C-1 500.58 24.77 4.95 Mi (2)
Case C-2 500.51 50.11 10.01
Case C-3 500.87 75.22 15.02 Comparing with raw seawater, pure water is not easy to be obtained
Case C-4 500.05 100.35 20.07 and therefore has higher cost. In addition, the quantity of pure water
Case C-5 500.59 124.71 24.91 used in watering process should be deducted in net pure water yield
Case C-6 499.16 150.64 30.18
calculation. If the pure ice yield increase can't compensate that pure
Case C-7 499.65 175.01 35.03
Case C-8 499.84 200.79 40.17 water consumed in watering process, it's obviously not economic.
Case C-9 499.97 225.42 45.09 Thinking of economic feasibility, the mass proportion of adding pure
Case C-10 500.23 250.24 50.02 water was tried from 5% to 25% in the experiments, whereas the range
Case C-11 500.25 275.81 55.13 was enlarged to 0%–70% for raw seawater. The temperatures of added
Case C-12 499.59 299.33 59.92
water for all cases in Table 3 were 27 °C which could represent the
Case C-13 499.07 324.62 65.04
Case C-14 500.45 350.07 69.95 summer average seawater temperatures.
Case D-1 499.99 25.31 5.06 In consideration of the natural environment temperature variation
Case D-2 499.77 50.77 10.16 with the season, the influences of added raw seawater with different
Case D-3 500.47 75.88 15.16
temperatures on FWCD desalination process were studied. In above
Case D-4 500.77 100.7 20.11
Case D-5 500.61 124.81 24.93
experiments, the watering seawater temperature of 27 °C could re-
Case D-6 500.84 150.65 30.08 present the summer average seawater temperatures. In order to in-
Case D-7 500.54 175.21 35.00 vestigate the effects of other seasons, more experiments were carried
Case D-8 500.47 200.36 40.03 out with the watering raw seawater temperatures of 11 °C and 5 °C,
Case D-9 500.38 224.36 44.84
which could represent the spring/autumn and winter average seawater
Case D-10 499.57 250.39 50.12
Case D-11 500.45 274.14 54.78 temperatures. The experimental conditions are listed in Table 4 in
Case D-12 499.49 299.17 59.90 which Case C or Case D represent that 11 °C and 5 °C raw seawater were
Case D-13 500.76 325.97 65.10 added respectively. As seawater rather than pure water was added
Case D-14 499.58 350.75 70.21
during watering process, Mpw and Rpw are all 0 and were not listed in
Table 4. For all experimental cases listed in Table 3 and Table 4, the
masses of ice samples were about 500 g, the centrifugation rotation rate
of ± 1% of reading and the auto temperature compensation. The con-
of 3000 r/min and the centrifugation time of 2 min. During about 2 h
centrations of some typical ions, i.e. Cl−, Ca2 +, Mg2 +, in seawater and
for finishing all experimental cases either in Table 3 or in Table 4, the
water products were measured using the same chemical titration as
ice flake samples not involved in experiments were stored temporarily
what used in [21]. The content of Cl− was titrated using standard silver
in a refrigerator with the temperature constant about − 10.2 to − 10 °C
nitrate solution with potassium chromate as indicator. The total content
to avoid being melted.
of Ca2 + and Mg2 + was titrated using ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid
disodium salt (EDTA) with eriochrome black T as indicator, and the
content of Ca2 + was titrated using EDTA with calconcarboxylic acid as 4. Results and discussion
indicator. Then the Mg2 + concentration was calculated by the total
concentration of Ca2 + and Mg2 + minus the Ca2 + concentration. 4.1. Experimental data analysis

In the experiments under the conditions of Table 3 and Table 4, the

3. Experimental conditions salinities, TDS, typical ion concentrations, the masses of ice products for
all the samples were measured. Then the removal efficiencies of salt,
In order to shorten the duration of combined FGCD process [21], the TDS and measured ions along with the ice yield rate were calculated

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H. Yang et al. Desalination 425 (2018) 77–85

Table 5
Experimental results.

Cases RCa2 + (%) RMg2 + (%) RCl− (%) RTDS (%) R (%) Riy (%) Riy − Rpw (%)

Case 0 85.25 84.30 83.15 80.68 82.21 56.87 56.87

Case A-1 89.75 89.33 88.82 86.46 87.58 62.68 57.6
Case A-2 89.84 89.82 88.91 86.98 88.26 60.10 49.94
Case A-3 90.35 89.91 89.02 87.31 88.59 57.46 42.42
Case A-4 90.49 91.26 90.45 88.90 89.93 57.36 37.3
Case A-5 90.68 91.30 90.78 89.23 90.27 56.25 31.29
Case B-1 88.50 88.95 88.41 85.73 87.25 58.97 58.97
Case B-2 89.29 88.96 88.52 86.35 87.58 58.15 58.15
Case B-3 89.98 89.07 88.52 86.58 87.92 56.07 56.07
Case B-4 90.21 89.12 88.59 86.82 87.92 59.45 59.45
Case B-5 90.45 89.47 89.24 86.83 88.26 58.21 58.21
Case B-6 90.68 90.05 89.31 87.18 88.59 55.81 55.81
Case B-7 91.09 90.37 89.45 87.69 88.93 55.08 55.08
Case B-8 91.23 90.46 89.75 87.98 89.26 53.70 53.70
Case B-9 91.28 90.56 90.10 87.96 89.26 53.36 53.36
Case B-10 91.60 90.94 90.56 88.45 89.60 53.63 53.63
Case B-11 91.74 90.99 90.60 88.78 89.93 54.85 54.85
Case B-12 91.79 91.22 90.62 88.90 90.27 51.35 51.35
Case B-13 92.07 91.22 90.68 88.93 90.27 48.14 48.14
Case B-14 92.67 91.18 91.54 89.93 90.94 45.64 45.64
Case C-1 86.92 88.67 87.76 85.84 87.25 69.93 69.93
Case C-2 87.80 88.70 87.86 86.25 87.58 65.13 65.13
Case C-3 88.45 88.73 87.97 86.32 87.58 65.30 65.30
Case C-4 88.82 89.11 88.52 86.69 87.92 64.87 64.87
Case C-5 89.29 89.30 88.71 86.74 88.26 62.80 62.80
Case C-6 89.33 89.43 88.80 86.85 88.26 65.39 65.39
Case C-7 89.38 89.48 88.94 86.92 88.26 61.76 61.76
Case C-8 89.52 89.60 89.03 87.09 88.26 61.10 61.10
Case C-9 89.84 89.73 89.13 87.22 88.59 61.09 61.09
Case C-10 89.93 89.78 89.21 87.42 88.93 61.28 61.28
Case C-11 90.26 89.90 89.44 87.52 88.93 61.54 61.54
Case C-12 90.63 89.86 89.64 87.74 88.93 62.71 62.71
Case C-13 90.72 89.99 89.65 87.84 88.93 59.36 59.36
Case C-14 91.09 90.18 90.40 88.00 89.26 57.25 57.25
Case D-1 86.13 86.42 85.86 83.75 85.57 71.01 71.01
Case D-2 86.18 87.84 87.07 85.05 86.58 68.18 68.18
Case D-3 87.76 87.87 87.08 85.09 86.91 66.65 66.65
Case D-4 88.03 87.93 87.43 85.54 86.91 66.36 66.36
Case D-5 88.36 87.99 87.93 86.14 87.58 66.14 66.14
Case D-6 88.45 88.65 88.04 86.30 87.58 66.00 66.00
Case D-7 88.82 88.70 88.15 86.31 87.58 65.68 65.68
Case D-8 88.91 88.67 88.31 86.63 87.92 65.10 65.10
Case D-9 89.33 88.78 88.40 86.75 87.92 64.14 64.14
Case D-10 89.38 88.78 88.51 86.80 88.26 63.92 63.92
Case D-11 89.52 88.85 88.56 86.80 88.26 63.90 63.90
Case D-12 89.75 88.98 88.56 86.88 88.26 62.51 62.51
Case D-13 89.89 89.10 88.85 87.05 88.26 60.69 60.69
Case D-14 90.49 89.17 89.10 87.15 88.59 59.87 59.87

using Eqs. (3), (4) and (5), which were presented in Table 5. Although
the salinities of all the ice/water products are different from each other
and also are not same as that of the added pure water, the value of ‘Riy-
Rpw’ could still be looked as a reference to evaluate the water recovery
rate. Therefore, the column ‘Riy-Rpw’ was listed in Table 5.
Comparing the data of Cases A, B, C, D with that of Case 0, it can be
concluded that the removal efficiencies of salt, TDS and Cl−, Ca2 +,
Mg2 + are improved obviously in all cases. It could be concluded that
watering either pure water or raw seawater is helpful for improving salt
removal efficiency. It demonstrates that watering process benefits the
brine-ice separation through decreasing the viscosity of brine adhering
to the ice, which results in the ice purity improvement after cen-
trifugation process. Additionally, as seawater was frozen into ice flakes
with 1–3 mm thickness in our experiments, watering process can ac-
celerate some ice flakes melting and this benefits the inside brine
pockets being separated from the ice, which also ameliorates the de-
salination effects.
Fig. 4. Salt removal efficiency and ice yield rate for Cases A and B.

C
R = ⎛1 − i ⎞ × 100%
⎜ ⎟

⎝ C0 ⎠ (3)

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H. Yang et al. Desalination 425 (2018) 77–85

Fig. 5. Ion and TDS removal efficiencies for Cases A and B.

whereas the ice yield rate decreases with it. Although the ice product
purity could be improved by watering the same mass proportion of
pure water than raw seawater, the economy of the FWCD process
would also decreased consequently. E.g. watering 24.96% pure water
or 59.92% raw seawater can produce the ice with the same salt re-
moval efficiency of 90.27% and their ice yield rates are 56.25% and
51.35% respectively, whereas the ice yield rate increase of 4.9% can't
compensate the pure water consumption of 24.96%. Furthermore,
watering pure water doesn't always mean that the ice yield increases
together with the salt removal efficiency comparing with watering
raw seawater. The results of Cases A-4, A-5 and Cases B-4, B-5 can
prove this conclusion. Fig. 5 shows the ion and TDS removal effi-
ciencies after FWCD process for Cases A and B. Like salt removal ef-
ficiency, for both pure water and raw seawater adding process, ion
and TDS removal efficiencies increase with the added water propor-
tion. Comparing with watering raw seawater, adding pure water with
Fig. 6. Salt removal efficiency for Cases B, C and D.
the same mass proportion can improve the removal efficiencies of all
ions and TDS. Whereas, the differences of ion and TDS removal effi-
ciencies for ice product could also be decreased by increasing the
mass proportion of added raw seawater. Therefore, increasing wa-
tering mass proportion of raw seawater should be an economic and
feasible method for ameliorate ice product purity.
According to the data in Table 5, the relation curves between the
salt removal efficiency or ice yield rate and the watering mass pro-
portion of raw seawater with different temperature were plotted as
shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7. Comparing the curves, it could be noticed
that the higher watering temperature, the higher salt removal effi-
ciency and much lower ice yield rate are when the watering mass
proportion is constant. It means that in summer, combined FWCD
process could have better desalination effect and lower ice yield than
in winter if the other parameters were not changed. If the salt re-
moval efficiency has to be kept constant as the salt content of raw
seawater is stable, the watering mass proportion should be enhanced
in winter.
Comparing the desalination effect of FWCD with that of FGCD [21]
Fig. 7. Ice yield rate for Cases B, C and D. that was published previously as shown in Table 6, it can be found that
under our experimental conditions, the maximum 90.94% salt removal
C efficiency using FWCD is lower than the maximum value 99.9% using
Rion = ⎛1 − ion ⎞ × 100%
⎜ ⎟
FGCD despite the centrifugation rotation rate was enhanced from
⎝ C0ion ⎠ (4)
2000 r/min to 3000 r/min. Whereas, the ice yield rate can be greatly
increased as well as the great decrease of process duration. E.g. to arrive
Mip
Riy = × 100% the same salt removal efficiency of about 90.9%, the ice yield rate could
Mi (5) be increased from 28.61% after FGCD process to 45.64% after FWCD
Fig. 4 shows the salt removal efficiency and ice yield rate for Cases process.
A and B together with the value of the ice yield rate minus the mass Fig. 8, Fig. 9, Fig. 10 and Fig. 11 show the TDS, Cl−, Ca2 +, and
proportion of added pure water for Cases A. For both Case A and Case B, Mg2 + removal efficiencies after FWCD process for Cases B, C and D.
the purity of the ice product increases with the added water proportion, Same as salt removal efficiency, the TDS and ion removal efficiencies

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Table 6
Experiments data after FGCD process [21].

No. Mip (g) Ci (%) R (%) RTDS (%) Riy (%) RCl− (%) RCa2 + (%) RMg2 + (%)

0 309.50 1.00 69.70 62.35 61.90 75.00 66.77 73.44

1 209.55 0.40 87.88 83.08 41.91 85.19 68.86 90.57
2 212.38 0.42 87.27 84.31 42.48 86.83 72.66 90.82
3 195.51 0.41 87.58 85.35 39.10 89.20 79.87 90.23
4 189.10 0.40 87.88 85.06 37.82 90.11 83.67 90.06
5 163.47 0.35 89.39 87.39 32.69 91.74 85.19 91.93
6 157.59 0.35 89.39 87.96 31.52 92.23 92.41 92.18
7 143.07 0.30 90.91 94.41 28.61 94.27 92.41 93.97
8 107.90 0.20 93.94 96.47 21.58 96.18 92.41 96.60
9 67.95 0.15 95.45 97.89 13.59 97.95 94.30 97.88
10 61.65 0.15 95.45 98.75 12.33 98.23 94.30 97.88
11 24.86 0.10 96.97 99.28 4.97 99.69 96.20 98.30
12 14.34 0.08 97.58 99.90 2.87 99.80 96.20 98.30

Fig. 8. TDS removal efficiency for Cases B, C and D. Fig. 10. Ca2 + removal efficiency for Cases B, C and D.

Fig. 11. Mg2 + removal efficiency for Cases B, C and D.

Fig. 9. Cl− removal efficiency for Cases B, C and D.

4.2. Brief analysis on energy consumption

increase with both the proportion and temperature of added seawater.
Comparing the TDS and ion removal efficiencies of FWCD with that of
FGCD shown in Table 6, it can be found that the maximum TDS and ion
removal efficiencies using FWCD is also lower than the maximum va-
lues using FGCD. FWCD is a continuous process in all seasons as the
gravity-induced melting process of FGCD process is replaced by wa-
tering process, which makes FWCD a possible choice when the duration
of the desalination process need to be accelerated, such as in some si-
tuations without strict water quality requirement or as the pretreatment
process for some other seawater desalination process.
It was indicated in [21], ‘comparing with the existing large-scale RO
sea water desalination plants, the pure water yield by the combined
FGCD method is at least 1 or 2 orders of magnitude lower’. In ‘4.1
Experimental data analysis’ it was proved that comparing with FGCD,
the ice yield rate of FWCD can be greatly increased, e.g. to arrive the
same salt removal efficiency of about 90.9%, the ice yield rate could be
increased from 28.61% after FGCD process to 45.64% after FWCD
process. Whereas for a medium-scale LNG receiving terminal in China
with annual receiving capacity of 3 million tons, the maximum annual
seawater ice yield still is not comparative to the scale of RO sea water

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Table 7 Table 8
Energy consumption of FWCD process. Energy consumption of FGCD process [21].

No. Riy (%) R (%) Centrifugation Ice-making Total energy No. Riy (%) R (%) Centrifugation Ice-making Total energy
energy energy consumption energy energy consumption
consumption consumption (10− 3 kWh/kg consumption consumption (10− 3 kWh/kg
(10− 3 kWh/kg [16] ice product) (10− 3 kWh/kg ice [10] ice product)
ice product) (10− 3 kWh/kg product) (10− 3 kWh/kg
ice product) ice product)

Case 0 56.87 82.21 1.88 0.06 1.94 0 61.90 69.70 1.35 0.05 1.40
CaseA-1 62.68 87.58 1.75 0.05 1.80 1 41.91 87.88 1.77 0.08 1.85
CaseA-2 60.10 88.26 1.84 0.06 1.90 2 42.48 87.27 1.66 0.08 1.74
CaseA-3 57.46 88.59 1.92 0.06 1.98 3 39.10 87.58 1.76 0.09 1.85
CaseA-4 57.36 89.93 1.94 0.06 2.00 4 37.82 87.88 1.77 0.09 1.86
CaseA-5 56.25 90.27 1.99 0.06 2.05 5 32.69 89.39 1.80 0.10 1.90
CaseB-1 58.97 87.25 1.86 0.06 1.92 6 31.52 89.39 1.82 0.11 1.93
CaseB-2 58.15 87.58 1.90 0.06 1.96 7 28.61 90.91 1.83 0.12 1.95
CaseB-3 56.07 87.92 1.97 0.06 2.03 8 21.58 93.94 1.91 0.16 2.07
CaseB-4 59.45 87.92 1.87 0.06 1.93 9 13.59 95.45 2.39 0.25 2.64
CaseB-5 58.21 88.26 1.93 0.06 1.99 10 12.33 95.45 2.06 0.27 2.33
CaseB-6 55.81 88.59 2.05 0.06 2.11 11 4.97 96.97 3.28 0.67 3.95
CaseB-7 55.08 88.93 2.11 0.06 2.17 12 2.87 97.58 2.94 1.17 4.11
CaseB-8 53.70 89.26 2.18 0.06 2.24
CaseB-9 53.36 89.26 2.22 0.06 2.28
CaseB-10 53.63 89.60 2.26 0.06 2.32 consumption based on the value presented in [16]. The centrifugal, ice-
CaseB-11 54.85 89.93 2.23 0.06 2.29
making and total energy consumption were listed in Table 7. Com-
CaseB-12 51.35 90.27 2.39 0.07 2.46
CaseB-13 48.14 90.27 2.56 0.07 2.63 paring with the energy consumption of FGCD process in our previous
CaseB-14 45.64 90.94 2.74 0.07 2.81 experiments as shown in Table 8 [21], it's obvious that the ice-making
CaseC-1 69.93 87.25 1.57 0.05 1.62 energy consumption of FWCD process is lower than that of FGCD pro-
CaseC-2 65.13 87.58 1.70 0.05 1.75
cess. That is because the pure ice yield rate of FWCD is higher when its
CaseC-3 65.30 87.58 1.69 0.05 1.74
CaseC-4 64.87 87.92 1.71 0.05 1.76 salt removal efficiency is the same as FGCD. Whereas in this research,
CaseC-5 62.80 88.26 1.79 0.05 1.84 the rotation rate was increased to 3000 r/min from 2000 r/min used in
CaseC-6 65.39 88.26 1.75 0.05 1.80 [21], the total energy consumption for unit ice product increases. For
CaseC-7 61.76 88.26 1.88 0.05 1.93 example, for the cases with salt removal efficiency of about 90.9%, the
CaseC-8 61.10 88.26 1.91 0.05 1.96
energy consumption for unit ice product increases from
CaseC-9 61.09 88.59 1.94 0.05 1.99
CaseC-10 61.28 88.93 1.84 0.05 1.89 1.95 × 10− 3 kWh/kg for FGCD to 2.81 × 10− 3 kWh/kg for FWCD. It
CaseC-11 61.54 88.93 1.99 0.05 2.04 means that more energy has to be consumed if FGCD is substituted by
CaseC-12 62.71 88.93 1.96 0.05 2.01 FWCD to accelerate the operation process. In the salt removal efficiency
CaseC-13 59.36 88.93 2.07 0.06 2.13
range that can be achieved under our experimental conditions pre-
CaseC-14 57.25 89.26 2.19 0.06 2.25
CaseD-1 71.01 85.57 1.55 0.05 1.60
sented in this paper, the total energy consumption for unit ice product is
CaseD-2 68.18 86.58 1.62 0.05 1.67 acceptable.
CaseD-3 66.65 86.91 1.66 0.05 1.71
CaseD-4 66.36 86.91 1.67 0.05 1.72 5. Conclusion
CaseD-5 66.14 87.58 1.70 0.05 1.75
CaseD-6 66.00 87.58 1.73 0.05 1.78
CaseD-7 65.68 87.58 1.77 0.05 1.82 Bohai Bay seawater was frozen by the patented experimental plat-
CaseD-8 65.10 87.92 1.80 0.05 1.85 form, which can recycle cold energy released from LNG re-gasification
CaseD-9 64.14 87.92 1.85 0.05 1.90 process, and then the ice flakes were further purified using watering
CaseD-10 63.92 88.26 1.90 0.05 1.95
and centrifugal method in laboratory. The effects of watering para-
CaseD-11 63.90 88.26 1.91 0.05 1.96
CaseD-12 62.51 88.26 1.96 0.05 2.01
meters, including mass proportion, temperature and pure water or
CaseD-13 60.69 88.26 2.03 0.06 2.09 seawater, on removal efficiencies of salt, TDS, Cl−, Ca2 + Mg2 + and ice
CaseD-14 59.87 88.59 2.09 0.06 2.15 yield rate were investigated. What's more, the desalination effects and
energy consumption of FWCD were compared with that of FGCD that
we have studied previously. Based on above researches, conclusions are
desalination plants. Therefore, the meaningful point of FWCD process summarized as follows:
as well as FGCD process is also the waste cold energy utilization rather
than the freshwater production scale. (1) Comparing the experimental data of FWCD process with that of FCD
Comparing with FGCD process, the total energy consumption of Case 0 (freezing centrifugal desalination) process, it can be con-
FWCD process includes ice-making and centrifugation energy con- cluded that the removal efficiencies of salt, TDS and Cl−, Ca2 +,
sumption too, but the ice-melting energy consumption during gravity- Mg2 + are all improved. It demonstrates that watering process can't
induced process needn't to be considered because this process can be only decrease the viscosity of brine adhering to the ice but also
replaced by watering process. Some previous research had concluded accelerate some ice flakes melting, which benefits the separation of
that the ice-making energy consumption using LNG cold energy is the brine inside the flakes from pure ice through centrifugation
negligible [16,19] and the main energy consumption of FGCD process is process, and ameliorates the desalination effects finally.
centrifugation energy consumption [21]. It was calculated in [16] that (2) Although the ice product purity could be improved by watering the
the power of seawater supply pump, which is the main energy con- same mass proportion of pure water than raw seawater, whereas
sumer in an ice making system using LNG cold energy, was the enhancement of ice yield rate by watering pure water can't
5.594 × 10− 3 kW corresponding to 167 Kg/h ice product. We mea- compensate its pure water consumption. Therefore, increasing
sured the centrifugation energy consumption using micro power watering mass proportion of raw seawater should be an economic
monitor of type HD-10F and calculated the ice-making energy and feasible method for ameliorate ice product purity in FWCD

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process.
(3) In FWCD process, higher watering temperature can result higher
salt removal efficiency and lower ice yield rate when the watering
mass proportion is constant. It means that in summer, combined
FWCD process could have better desalination effect and lower ice
yield than in winter if the other parameters were not changed.
(4) Under our experimental conditions, the maximum values of salt,
TDS and ion removal efficiencies obtained from FWCD process are
lower than the maximum values obtained from FGCD process.
Whereas, the ice yield rate can be greatly increased as well as the
great decrease of process duration. That makes FWCD a possible
choice such as in some situations without strict water quality re-
quirement or as the pretreatment process for some other seawater
desalination process.
(5) More energy has to be consumed if FGCD is substituted by FWCD to
accelerate the operation process because higher centrifugation ro-
tation rate is also necessary to arrive at the same salt removal ef-
ficiency. In the salt removal efficiency range that can be arrived at
under our experimental conditions presented in this paper, the total
energy consumption for unit ice product is acceptable.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to appreciate the financial support by both
Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission under the project
number Z151100001415007 and Sinopec Gas Company with the con-
tract number 314037. We would like to also thank the experts and our
research team colleagues at BUCEA, SEI and Sinopec Gas Company for
useful discussions, in particular Pu Hongbing, Xu Ping, Liu Fang, Wang
Peng, Wei Jie, Wang Baoqing, Li Fengqi and Li Ming.
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