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Awarded US Department of Energy program to test breakthrough
concept in water desalination
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Designing innovative process to compress, stream and cool air,
salt and ice mixture that separates salt from ice
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New solution draws from the GE Store, integrating GE’s
experience with steam turbine, oil & gas compressors, 3D printing and
water processing
It turns out that power generation and water desalination may have a lot
in common. That’s what GE researchers at GE’s Global Research Center in
Upstate New York are aiming to find out as part of a new program with
the US Department of Energy (DOE).
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Doug Hofer, a GE steam turbine specialist, and Vitali Lissianski, a chemical engineer in GE's Energy Systems Lab, holding the 3D printed mini-turbine in front of an actual size power generation steam turbine. As part of a water desalination project with the US DOE, researchers are using the miniaturized steam turbine architecture to cool and treat salty water through the turbine. If successful, such a system could reduce the cost of water desalination by as much as 20 percent. (Photo: Business Wire)
In power plants, steam turbines use pressurized steam to spin their
rotating parts and power generators to produce electricity. GE is a
world leader in the development and application of steam turbine
technology, with more than 530 GW of steam turbine capacity from more
than 6,000 installed units. We’ve been making steam turbines since the
company’s early days with Thomas Edison.
As part of the water desalination technology being developed with the
DOE, researchers are using the same steam turbine turbomachinery 3D
printed in a miniaturized form to compress and stream a mixture of air,
salt and water through a hyper-cooling loop that freezes seawater. By
freezing the mixture, the salt naturally separates in solid form,
leaving just the ice. The ice is then melted, leaving clean water.
“97.5% of the earth’s water supply is virtually inaccessible because
water desalination is still too expensive and difficult to deploy at a
large scale. By putting desalination ‘on ice,’ we hope to change that
dynamic,” said Vitali Lissianski, a chemical engineer and project leader
at GE Global Research’s Energy Systems Lab. “Freezing seawater to treat
it is nothing new, but the way we are doing it is very different. We’re
tapping into our wealth of technical knowledge in turbomachinery to
devise a cost-effective solution.”
“You might say we’re turbo charging our way to an affordable water
desalination system,” Lissianski added.
The technology development brings together GE expertise in water
desalination and turbomachinery. “GE’s expertise with multiphase flows
in steam turbines is a foundation for the development of a turbine
for desalination technology,” said Douglas Hofer, who is leading the
development of the turbine technology.
Hofer explained that in a low-pressure steam turbine, water vapor
(steam) condenses to liquid water. For the new desalination process, GE
team is extending that idea to freeze liquid salt water into solid ice
and salt crystals during its expansion through the turbine. This
extension from condensing liquids to freezing solids requires new and
innovative solutions to address several challenges of this new turbine
application.
Hofer added, “Cooling the salty water, or brine droplets, by expanding
cold gas in the turbine would greatly reduce the energy required for
desalination. The heat transfer between the cooling gas and brine would
be much more efficient compared to conventional thermal desalination
systems.”
Lissianski added, “Support from US DOE is critical to the success of the
technology development. Through our program with the DOE, we will
test the feasibility of a low cost water desalination system that is
driven by our steam turbine parts and technical know-how. If it works,
the process we are developing could reduce the cost of desalination by
20% versus more conventional thermal evaporation approaches.”
“The GE Store” for Low Cost Desalination
Steam turbines are not the only technology GE researchers are pulling
off the “GE Store” shelf to test out the new concept in water
desalination. They have pulled in other items as well, including 3D
printing technologies.
For the water desalination concept, using a full size steam turbine
would not make sense. They are typically the size of several rail cars
and take months to manufacture. What researchers have done is
essentially shrink the components into a usable size for their
experiments. To speed the development process, the miniaturized parts
were 3D printed using technologies developed in GE Global Research’s
Additive Manufacturing Lab and GE Aviation’s additive manufacturing
facility in Cincinnati, Ohio. To perform the actual water treatment
processes, GE researchers have drawn from our technical expertise at the
lab and in the water business.
The program with the DOE is underway and lasts through mid-summer of
next year. The end goal is to demonstrate the feasibility of this new
concept in water desalination.
About GE Global Research
GE Global Research is the hub of technology development for all of GE’s
businesses. Our scientists and engineers redefine what’s possible, drive
growth for our businesses, and find answers to some of the world’s
toughest problems. We innovate 24 hours a day, with sites in Niskayuna,
New York; San Ramon, California; Detroit, Michigan; Bangalore, India;
Shanghai, China; Munich, Germany; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Visit GE
Global Research on the web at www.geglobalresearch.com.
Connect with our technologists at www.geglobalresearch.com/blog
and www.twitter.com/geresearch.
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