Adaptability evaluation of piston type high pressure pump integrated with energy recovery device through the numerical simulation and one year's island desalination

Small-scale seawater desalination system with energy recovery devices is the mainstream technical solution to cope with fresh water issue and tight power supply in the exploitation of islands. Aiming at the complex working conditions, the adaptability of piston type high pressure pump integrated with energy recovery device (HPP-ERD) is investigated through the numerical simulation and all-year-round island desalination. The numerical results indicate that the consecutive flowrate regulation, broad pressure sustainability and uniform temperature distribution are realized in HPP-ERD within the flowrate of 5.30 m3/h, the pressure of 5.50 MPa, and the temperature of 25 °C. The experimental results prove that HPP-ERD exhibits excellent stability and adaptability at the starting stage and stopping stage, and achieves stable operation in the pressure range between 3.00 MPa and 5.50 MPa. The all-year-round operation demonstrates that HPP-ERD can adapt to the seawater temperature ranging from 0.85 °C to 25.69 °C and the humidity between 63% and 85%. The total internal leakage maintains nearly constant at 0.19 m3/h which contributes to the annual specific energy consumption (SEC) of 3.80 kWh/m3. This investigation provides researchers and engineers with the application references of HPP-ERD in island desalination system.