An experimental investigation on a crushing and washing-free freezing desalination system based on brine extraction during melting

Freezing desalination has regained attention due to its potential to lower energy usage compared to other methods. However, the freezing technology faces major challenges that hinder its commercialization. One is the significant mass loss due to washing the product's ice. Also, most freezing systems require a crushing stage to obtain the desired ice, limiting mass production. This work proposes a freezing desalination system based on brine extraction during melting. The proposed system can use multiple stages of a brine extraction and can be implemented using multiple cycles of the full process. The experiments were carried out at different feed water salinities. The results have shown that the system has the potential to produce low-salinity water with a relatively low number of stages and without the need for washing or crushing. To get product water at 90 ppm from 45000 ppm feed water, the system requires 3, 4, and 7 cycles (of the full process) for three, two, and single stages of brine extraction, respectively. When considering recovery rates between 60 and 90%, specific energy consumption is reduced to a range of 15–89 kWhr/m3 with COP from 4 to 6, respectively.