Ice based Freeze Desalination (FD) offers a potential alternative to recover fresh water from seawater. There has been increased interest over the years in the development of continuous crystallizer configurations to address the combined challenge of ice yield and salinity reduction in FD. In this work, experimental studies have been conducted to establish the potential of a novel continuously operated U-shaped crystallizer for ice based Freeze Desalination (FD). Unlike conventional FD crystallizers researched till date, this crystallizer integrates pre-cooling, chilling and freezing of saline water in a single unit along with in-situ ice removal. Preliminary experiments were carried out using synthetic salt water to investigate the effect of salt water flow rate and coolant temperature on product water yield and salinity. Salinity was found to increase with water yield. The overall phase change heat transfer coefficient has also been estimated. Subsequently test runs were carried out using seawater samples under prescribed operating conditions identified from the synthetic salt water runs. Salinity reduction was observed to increase with an increase in number of washing steps and wash water requirement. The results obtained provide a strong case to promote the use of the U-shaped crystallizer for ice based FD.

冰基冷冻淡化（FD）提供了从海水中回收淡水的潜在替代方法。多年来，人们对开发连续结晶器配置以解决FD中冰产量和盐分降低的综合挑战越来越感兴趣。在这项工作中，进行了实验研究以建立新型连续运行的U型结晶器用于冰基冷冻淡化（FD）的潜力。与迄今为止研究的常规FD结晶器不同，该结晶器将盐水的预冷，冷却和冷冻功能与原位除冰功能集成在一个单元中。使用合成盐水进行了初步实验，以研究盐水流量和冷却液温度对产水量和盐度的影响。发现盐度随水产量增加。还已经估计了总体相变传热系数。随后使用海水样品在从合成盐水运行中确定的规定操作条件下进行测试。观察到盐度降低随着洗涤步骤和洗涤水需求量的增加而增加。获得的结果为促进将U形结晶器用于冰基FD提供了有力的依据。观察到盐度降低随着洗涤步骤和洗涤水需求量的增加而增加。获得的结果为促进将U形结晶器用于冰基FD提供了有力的依据。观察到盐度降低随着洗涤步骤和洗涤水需求量的增加而增加。获得的结果为促进将U形结晶器用于冰基FD提供了有力的依据。