The commissioning of an integrated heat pump-assisted geothermal brine purification system

In a previous work, a packaged commercial heat pump was coupled to a geothermal brine purification system. Subsequently, a new compact heat pump-assisted purification system was farbricated which involved the elimination of two heat exchangersi and a reduction in the amount of tubing; this resulted in higher efficiencies due to lower temperature differences in the heat exchangers. The quality of the distilled water obtained from the geothermal brine was similar to commercially available distilled water with respect to chlorides and silica. A coefficient of performance (COP) of 4.5 was achieved with a brine boiling temperature of 63°C. Higher COPs could be achieved with a higher compressor efficiency. The process shows considerable promise for future development.