Bilge water treatment and desalination based on HDH technology: an experimental investigation of a demonstration plant

Next to energy, water can be seen as the foundation for a livable world in the future. Therefore, we need water treatment systems for desalination as well as for treatment of brackish and industrial water. Within this work, a demonstration unit based on the humidification dehumidification process is presented. The test series include measurements with pure water and brine in various concentrations. The influence of the location of fluid injection into the humidifier as well as the influence of air injection will be discussed theoretically and based on the experimental data. It can be shown that saturation of air strongly depends on bubble size and that a combination of humidification in the bubble column and humidification above the fluid surface occurs. In the next step, the demonstration unit is investigated for bilge water, a mixture of water, heavy oil, and sediments, which occurs in the shipping industry and is so far burned in the cement industry. The goal of our process is the separation and recovery of the oil phase to use it, for example, as base material for recycling oil.