Simulation Modeling and Analysis of Water/Power Ratios for a Dual Purpose Water and Power Production Plant

In dual purpose power and water (DPPW) production plants two challeneges are often encountered; (a) maintaining operations that meet a desired water production/demand ratio or power production/demand ratio, and (b) meeting the desired water to power ratio. Although these problems are usually implied in the implemented plant design and technology, operational issues play an important role in fine tuning operations towards optimal performance. In addition, operational practices have a bearing on energy consumption and operating efficiencies. In this paper, a simulation based approach is used to provide data for handling the fine tuning of operations towards desired targets. To this end, numerical simulation is used to determine the relationships between total water/power demand and total water/power produced. In order to reduce the specific energy consumption of the plant, investigations on the design and operating features of the DPPW production plants were carried out. An existing DPPW production plant was used as a case study. The investigation proceeded by focusing on identifying the optimal production operation strategies that, if implemented, can reduce energy consumption in the production of water and power. Discrete event simulation was used to experiment with a number of feasible plant configurations and strategies for producing power and water. Water to power ratios were used to compare the effectiveness of the feasible production operation strategies through simulation experiments. For each configuration, average values of the simulated data (i.e. both water and power) were determined and used to calculate water to power ratios. Simulation results show that different plant configurations and different operational strategies and practices affect the water to power ratios. This allows engineers and operators to select plant configurations, operational strategies and practices that give them the desired water to power ratios with repect to demand scenarios. Therefore, simulation is an effective tool in identifying opportunities for tuning operations to meet desired production requirements.