The potential of solar-driven humidification-dehumidification desalination for small-scale decentralized water production
World-wide water scarcity, especially in the developing world, indicates a pressing need to develop inexpensive, decentralized small-scale desalination technologies which use renewable resources of energy. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the stateof- the-art in one of the most promi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2010
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/52624 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2901-0638 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4777-1286 |
| Summary: | World-wide water scarcity, especially in the developing world, indicates a pressing need
to develop inexpensive, decentralized small-scale desalination technologies which use
renewable resources of energy. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the stateof-
the-art in one of the most promising of these technologies, solar-driven
humidification-dehumidification (HDH) desalination. Previous studies have investigated
many different variations on the HDH cycle. In this paper, performance parameters which
enable comparison of the various versions of the HDH cycle have been defined and
evaluated. To better compare these cycles, each has been represented in psychometric
coordinates. The principal components of the HDH system are also reviewed and
compared, including the humidifier, solar heaters, and dehumidifiers. Particular attention
is given to solar air heaters, for which design data is limited; and direct air heating is
compared to direct water heating in the cycle assessments. Alternative processes based on
the HDH concept are also reviewed and compared. Further, novel proposals for
improvement of the HDH cycle are outlined. It is concluded that HDH technology has
great promise for decentralized small-scale water production applications, although
additional research and development is needed for improving system efficiency and
reducing capital cost. |
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