The technological process of three water-intaking modes

i.e.parallel intaking mode

backward intaking mode

and mixed intaking mode

for low-temperature multi-effect desalination (MED) of sea water has been presented

the influence of many factors

such as water-intaking temperature

concentration ratio of sea water

and temperature difference between effects etc.

upon the gained output ratio (GOR) being analysed.Study shows that the parallel intaking mode is suitably selected for MED of sea water with only several effects due to its high GOR and without necessity of using intermediate intaking pump;while the backward intaking mode and mixed intaking mode can be considered to use for MED of sea water with many effects (e.g.more than 10).The enhancement of sea water concentration ratio results in corresponding increase of GOR

but the risk of scaling in system increases at the same time.In case of backward intaking

the smaller temperature difference between effects

the higher GOR may be

but in case of parallel intaking and mixed intaking

greater temperature difference between effects can be adopted.