Computational Fluid Dynamics Study on Pressure Drop across a Duct in Single Rotor Pressure Exchanger

The invention of pressure exchanger has made the operating cost of water desalination decreases dramatically by recycling waste pressure back into the system. This will reduce the high pressure pumping capacity of sea water through desalination membrane; hence, reducing the electrical consumption cost, the main contributor of operating cost of a sea water reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant. The practical usage of pressure exchanger in sea water reverse osmosis desalination plant has only been started in the last two decades. As a result, the researches done on pressure exchanger are minimal, especially on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study. Limited knowledge is available on the flow patterns inside the pressure exchanger during operation. Numerical study using CFD simulations in ANSYS Fluent 15.0 can provide a better understanding on the fluid dynamics of a single rotor pressure exchanger. This CFD study of single rotor pressure exchanger will focus mainly on the velocity profile of a single duct and calculate pressure drop in a duct from effective velocity in it. The simulation results can provide a platform for researchers to conduct study on the possibility of usage of single rotor pressure exchanger in other fields and applications and also possibility to further enhance this energy recovery device