Fresh water generator is Device on ship for production of fresh water from ocean

water for domestic and auxiliary use

Pure water produced on ship ships generally using two principles or Method ; either

1. Distillation or
2. Reverse Osmosis

Distillation is cheaper and efficient for less quantity, but RO is expensive and used for
production in a large quantity.

Distillation : Distillation is the method of production of pure water from sea water by
evaporating and re condensing .

Distilled water is made as a results of evaporating (This evaporation enables the reduction of
the 3200 parts per million of dissolved solids in sea water down-to the one or two parts
per million in distilled water) ocean water either by a boiling or a flash process.

In a boiling Evaporator, water is maintained continuously at its saturation temperature-in

Flash Evaporator )
 This type of evaporator heats the water in one compartment before it is released
into a second compartment in which the pressure is substantially lower, causing
some of the water to flash into vapour .
 This type of evaporator is known as flash evaporator .
 In flash evaporator, sensible heat is supplied.

(Every liquid has its own boiling point. This is also termed Saturation Boiling Point. The saturation
boiling point is the temperature at which a liquid boils at the atmospheric pressure (1.013 bar). For
instance, water has an Atmospheric Boiling Point of 100 degree Celsius at atmospheric pressure.

However, as pressure decreases, the boiling point of a liquid decrease as well. At atmospheric
pressure, the vapor of a liquid must have a certain amount of energy to be able to break free from the
force exerted by the pressure onto the liquid. But as the external pressure reduces, the energy needed
by the vapor particles to break through the force exerted on the liquid by the atmospheric pressure is
less. Thus, the boiling point drops in proportional to the drop in pressure; meaning less energy is
needed for the liquid to boil.

Now, Flash evaporation occurs in a similar fashion. As the pressure reduces in an enclosed area, the
force exerted onto the liquid by the pressure is small, thus vapor is able to flash from the liquid body.
 And for the vapor to change state from the beginning, it needs energy. This energy (latent heat ) is
taken from the liquid body itself ( hence called sensible heat ) thus reducing the temperature of the
liquid ).

Distillate type is again classified based on the evaporator and condenser structure, i.e

1. Plate type and

 Tube type ,also known as the submerged type, because the steam coils are
submerged.

 Sometimes it is known as Boiling FWG.

The main body of a Low Pressure type fresh water generator on the ship
consists of

1. Heat Exchanger,
2. Distillate pump
3. ejector pump,
4. air brine eductor
5. Salinometer
6. demisters or mesh separator,

1. Heat exchanger

Evaporator :- It is used to boil off the sea water at lower temperature with the
help of vacuum created inside the fresh water generator shell.

Condenser: It use s the sea water to cool down; and condense the steam to achieve
distilled water

2. Fresh Water Pump / Distillate pump

It is used to supply the generated fresh water to ship’s fresh water tank by taking
the suction from fresh water generator.
 Normal rated capacity -3m³/hr

3. Ejector pump

It is used to supply pressurized water to the eductor for creating vacuum. It also
supplies cooling water to condenser(to cool the fresh water vapours)

Rated capacity–20-30m³/hr , Pressure- 3-6 bar

4. Air brine eductor:

It is used to remove accumulated brine and salts deposits from the generator and
create necessary vacuum.

5. Salinometer:

It is connected to the distillate output just before the solenoid operated three way
valve. It is used for measuring the ppm of fresh water produced which is generally
(1-2ppm)

The salinometer works on the simple principle that pure water does not conduct
electricity; and its conductivity increases with increased dissolved impurities and
salts.

6. Demisters:

 This is used to separate sea water droplet from the steam vapour.

 A demisters is a thickened layer of mesh structure; fitted in between the evaporator

 A demisters can be made of nickel, monel metals, copper, stainless steel and synthetic
fibers; such as Polypropylene and PVC.
 Typically; demisters made of monel metal are used for the generation of fresh water.

 when the water evaporates it carry over some fine little molecules of water along with
the rising steam.
  When the source of such water is sea; it can considerably increase the salinity of
output water.

So to maintain salinity as low as 5 to 15 ppm; demisters are use, which restrict the
passage of mist and pass dry steam.

Working Principle

The main components are condenser and evaporator heat exchangers, brine air ejectors,
seawater pumps, distillate pumps, salinometer, demister, water flow meters, etc.

 The basic principle of all low-pressure freshwater generators is that the boiling
point of the water can be reduced by reducing the pressure of the surrounding
atmosphere.

 Water can be boiled at low temperatures by maintaining a low pressure, say 50

 Hence, boiling can take place at about 40 to 60 degrees Celsius by using energy
from a heating coil and by reducing pressure in the evaporator shell.
A typical freshwater generator tube-type line diagram is given below
 Fresh water generator uses heat from main engine jacket cooling system which
often cooling the engine passes through evaporator to evaporate the sea water
feed into it.

 But the jacket cooling water temperatures available is about 70-80 degree celcius,
whereas boiling of water is 100 degree Celsius at 1 atm.

 so in order to evaporate sea water at 70 degree Celsius we need to reduce

 This vaccum is created by air or brine ejector.

 Now, the evaporated sea water passes first through deflector which deflects the
un-boiled water ( Brine ) towards brine educator suction and second through
demisters which scrubs off sea water droplets from water vapour.

 Un-evaporated water/ particles is discharged as brine (by means of a combined air

 This vapour moves toward the condenser ( due to the location of air ejector line )
and passes through it, where vapour gets condensed at a condensing point ( which
is much more than atmospheric pressure condensing point i .e .zero degree C) due
to the vacuum inside the chamber . The condensate get collected at the bottom
which is transferred to fresh water tank ( by the distillate pump ) where it is passed
through salinometer and controlled by three way solenoid valve.

 The feed rate to the evaporator is fixed at the feed inlet to the evaporator by the
orifice plate throughout the entire process.

 If the salt content of the produced water is high, the solenoid valve diverts the
freshwater to the shell side of the freshwater generator and emits an alarm signal.

The solenoid controlled dump valve diverts the flow back to the shell in case of fresh water s
alinity exceeding a predetermined value (maximum usually 10 ppm).
This prevent contamination of the made water. Excess salinity caused by so many factors
including leakage of seawater at condenser or priming of evaporator or malfunctioning of
demister, or many other reasons. In FWG, What cannot be condensed at the condenser Is
called ‘incondensable gasses’ such as air and these gases are continuously ejected out by
air/brine ejector. This way, the fresh water generator shell is kept at high vacuum, which is
a must to boil water at low temperatures.

Tube type FWG also, known as the submerged type, because the heating coils are
submerged. Sometimes it is known as Boiling FWG in which condenser and evaporators are
made of tubes.
Plate Type Fresh water generator (The working and principle of the freshwater type is
the same as the tube type fwg) in which the condenser and evaporator Heat exchangers of
a fresh water generator is composed of plates, is shown below.