Solar desalination based on multiple effect humidification process: Thermal performance and experimental validation

The present paper deals with a theoretical and experimental study of a new generation of water desalination unit by solar energy using the humidification and dehumidification (HD) principle is constructed at the national engineering school of Sfax (34N, 10E), Tunisia. The good quality of distilled water obtained by this new concept favours its use for producing water for drinking and irrigation. A mathematical model based on heat and mass transfers in each component of the unit is developed. The resulting ordinary differential systems of equations are transformed into a system of algebraic equations using the orthogonal collocation method (OCM) and simulated using C++ software in a steady state regime. The numerical model is used to investigate the thermal performance of this kind of installation exposed to a variation of the control parameters. The thermal performance was evaluated by the gained output ratio (GOR) and the efficiency of the water solar collector. A series of experiments was conducted and compared with the simulation results to validate the developed models. As a result, the proposed models can be used for sizing and testing the behaviour of such a type of desalination unit. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.