Performance Analysis of Solar Desalination System for Improved Productivity by using Waste Heat of Household Chimney

Abstract

This work deals with the analysis of the proposed innovative humidification-dehumidification (HD) desalination unit in which waste hot air of kitchen chimney has been used for heating brackish water. The proposed system is configured with solar air heater also, thus both heated air and heated water has been used to improve the water yield of desalination unit compared to conventional system. Mathematical modeling of propose unit based on energy balance of flat plate air heater, humidifier, dehumidifier and brackish water tank has been used to evaluate the effect of operating condition. Potable water yield found to increase (with highest productivity of 6.5 kg/day) when mass flow rate of process air increases from 0.6 kg/min to 3 kg/min. Strong dependency of water mass flow rate has also been found as productivity increases (with maximum value of 6.7 kg/day and 7.5 kg/day) by increasing the mass flow rate of brackish water in humidifier and cold water in dehumidifier respectively. The higher initial temperature of brackish water also found beneficial as it increases productivity. Finally, the thermal performance of desalination unit has been evaluated in terms of Gain in Output Ratio and comparison has been made with conventional system. The higher GOR of the proposed system ensures the better utilization of thermal energy in potable water production.