OPTIMIZATION OF HUMIDIFICATION-DEHUMIDIFICATION SOLAR DESALINATION SYSTEM

Abstract

Undersupply of water and major energy resources is one of the major problems in today’s world. Among these, water scarcity is severe, and the major challenge facing it is to convert a huge amount of seawater to make it available for human use. Many methods exist but are high energy-consuming and are not cost-effective. Energy management is also a major consideration; hence energy consumption can be reduced by using solar energy. Humidification-Dehumidification (HDH) solar desalination system is a widely accepted method due to its cost-effectiveness, and the main advantage is it can be coupled with solar energy, that makes it very energy efficient. The use of coupling with solar makes it affordable in remote areas where transportation and electricity are not there. Optimization of the HDH solar desalination system is important to reduce the size and make it more energy-efficient. If the size increases, the pumping power for water to a big area will consume more power. The main objective of this study is to optimize the size of the dehumidifier. The mass transfer coefficient used in this study is based on surface renewal time to study the mass transfer taking place in a dehumidifier. In this study, for the optimized height of the dehumidifier, its width is also optimized to avoid energy losses. Variation of superficial gas velocity and mass flow rate of air is also studied at an optimized width of 0.4m, and the variations are plotted and are being studied.