Abstract
The aim of this work is to experimentally study, the effect of the heat recovery on water production in a solar desalination process that is working with multiple stage humidification technique. The water production, the temperature and the humidity were tested for such a pilot plant, which operates without and with a heat recovery system. The humidifier efficiency increases with the number of the operating heat exchangers and cannot normally exceed 45% when the system operates without heat exchangers. The air temperature in the heat exchangers decreases by 41.1, 39.2 and 36°C respectively when the system operates with three heat exchangers, tow heat exchangers in the and only one heat exchanger. The number of the heat exchanger use for heat recovery system in such desalination pilot plant has a significant influence on the water productivity. In short, results show that such a pilot plant working without the use of a heat recovery system (heat exchangers) is unable to deliver the desirable minimal amount distilled water at the exit of the condenser. Furthermore, the optimum number of heat exchangers that should be used to upgrade the overall efficiency of the desalination plant is two.
Highlights
Major desalination processes require large amount of energy derived commonly from fossil fuels in form of heat and electricity, while emitting harmful CO2
The airflow continues to enter successively into a super heated stage of air collectors before it flows through the heat recovery system, which is constituted by three heat exchangers and enters to the condenser, which is connected to the inlet of the air fan to close the loop
The experimental results obtained in this study were used to put stress on the importance of the heat recovery on the performance of the entire solar humidification-dehumidification desalination pilot plant
Summary
Major desalination processes require large amount of energy derived commonly from fossil fuels in form of heat and electricity, while emitting harmful CO2. The humidificationdehumidification desalination process is an attractive desalination process because of its simple layout and that it can be combined with solar energy. The combination of the humidification-dehumidification principle with solar desalination should result in an increase in the overall efficiency of desalination more promising method (Al-Hallaj et al, 2006). The large surface of the solar collectors (source of energy) and heat losses are the most significant deficiencies of such desalination process. Goosen et al (2000) reviewed various layouts of the humidification-dehumidification desalination systems as well as single and multiple effect solar desalination.
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