Parametric analysis to improve the performance of a solar desalination unit with humidification and dehumidification Original Research Article

A solar desalination unit with humidification and dehumidification, characterized by reusing some of somewhat concentrated saline water after evaporation, recovering condensation heat, and forced air flow, was expected to produce more fresh water. A mathematical model of the unit is presented. The model was experimentally validated for numerical simulation. Parametric analysis was conducted in order to optimize the unit performance. The effect of some of the operating conditions such as flow rates, temperatures of feed water, air and cooling water, etc., was studied in detail. The daily solar productivity corresponding to unit square meter of collector area is about 6 kg/m2/d with 20 MJ solar energy input a day under given conditions. The unit has proven to be an efficient device to utilize solar energy for obtaining fresh water from saline water.