Investigation of Optimal Design of Direct Contact Humidification-Dehumidification Desalination Cycle
Abstract
Ongoing water scarcity around the world caused researchers to investigate renewable based desalination systems for providing fresh water. Direct contact humidification-dehumidification desalination is one of the recently introduced technologies for decentralized small-scale water supply. Major energy source of the cycle is heat that can be provided from any available low-grade heat sources such as waste heat or solar thermal collectors. In this paper, a thermodynamic based analysis implemented to the cycle. And through a theoretically investigation, effect of various operational variables such as bottom and top temperature, flow rates and components effectiveness on the cycle performance parameters has been studied in order to evaluate the cycle performance and address optimal working condition. Understanding optimum working condition of the system can provide outstanding technical information for fabrication and sizing of experimental test rig as well as actual module in advance.