Parametric analysis of humidification dehumidification desalination driven by photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) system

Abstract

In the present paper, a novel packing dehumidifier based humidification dehumidification (HDH) desalination system, driven by photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) module, is proposed in purpose of clean and efficient production both for freshwater and electricity. Thermodynamic and economic performance of the PV/T driven HDH desalination system is calculated, and relevant influences from the pinch enthalpy difference during humidification, solar radiation intensity are also investigated. The research results verify the feasibility of the PV/T driven HDH desalination system. Under the assigned input conditions, the maximum water production, gained-output-ratio (GOR) and total cost during desalination arrive at 57.38kgh−1, 1.56 and 4449.97$ at the balance condition of the dehumidifier, with the longest PBP as 7.34y, 6.65y and 5.60y for different appointed water prices with 0.78$t−1, 1.55$t−1 and 3.10$t−1. After the parametric analysis, it is found that the influences from the alternation of the pinch enthalpy difference and solar radiation intensity are different. It is concluded that the thermodynamic and economic performance varies very limited, with the pinch enthalpy difference decreasing from 15kJkg−1 to 5kJkg−1, while it is improved a lot, from 29.63kgh−1, 1.12 kW, 1.02 and 16.24y at 600Wm−2 for the solar radiation intensity to 76.86kgh−1, 4.7 kW, 1.74 and 4.36y at 1000Wm−2 for water production, net output power, GOR, and the payback period (PBP) at the case 1.55$t−1 for the water price.