A solar multiple effect distiller for Jordan

The potential of desalination as a viable alternate water source for Jordan using a multiple effect distiller (MED), evolved to operate using solar energy under Jordanian conditions is discussed. A computer code in C++ was generated in order to simulate the MED process, and to predict the water production at 10 different Jordanian sites, based on available solar radiation data and salinity of the feed water (TDS of 3000, 5000, 7000, and 10,000 mg/L). It was found that Tafila, Queira, H-4, H-5, and Ras Muneef, are the most favorable sites for installing the proposed solar MED system. With a TDS of 7000 mg/L, the annual water production for these sites was 12,342, 10,950, 10,367, 10,262 and 10,063 m3 respectively. Furthermore, in all of these sites about 63% of the daily amount of water produced during a 1-year cycle occurs during the summer months (April to September), when the water consumption is the highest, and water desalination is a necessity.