article · Thermal Science and Engineering Progress
Adsorption desalination provides an environmentally friendly method to produce fresh water, but existing systems often suffer from low relative performance. This research evaluates solar-powered adsorption desalination systems integrated with a humidification-dehumidification process, driven either by solar power or waste heat. The configuration tests sodium polyacrylate in raw form and as a composite with calcium chloride as adsorbent materials. System performance and economic costs were modelled across varying seasonal conditions in hot climates using computational tools. Results show that the composite adsorbent introduces the highest specific cooling power. When deployed in a hybrid system with heat recovery, the composite material achieved peak daily water production during summer months. Additionally, powering the composite system with waste heat produced the lowest water cost among all configurations analysed, reaching 0.49 dollars per cubic metre.
Clean water scarcity is an urgent challenge in hot arid regions, yet conventional desalination is often energy-intensive and polluting. Integrating adsorption desalination with humidification-dehumidification powered by solar energy or waste heat shows a viable path to generate both fresh water and cooling affordably. By utilising eco-friendly adsorbents, these systems can expand clean water supplies without driving up greenhouse gas emissions.
This concept could enable low-cost, decentralised water desalination and cooling for industrial operators with excess waste heat or remote communities in sunny, arid climates. As the findings are based on computational modelling in MATLAB and TRNSYS using regional weather data, the technology remains at an early stage of research. Practical commercialisation will require physical prototype construction and field testing to confirm the simulated water yields, durability, and operational costs.
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Eco-friendly materials used in adsorption desalination system represent a good alternative to avoid the problems of pollution and global warming. Adsorption desalination technology has low relative performance and still needs more development. This work investigates novel configurations of solar-powered adsorption desalination system using composite sodium polyacrylate (SP) as adsorbent material integrated with humidification-dehumidification desalination system driven by solar energy or waste heat. Cost analysis of those novel configurations and weather effects were studied beside the performance. MATLAB and TRNSYS used hot regions' weather data to carry out the model. Sodium polyacrylate in the forms of raw sodium polyacrylate and SP/CaCl2 is used as adsorbent material. Findings reveal that for conventional solar adsorption desalination system using raw sodium polyacrylate or SP/CaCl2, the highest specific cooling power is introduced by the composite adsorbent. When utilizing raw sodium polyacrylate in the hybrid system with heat recovery, it gives relatively high values of specific daily water production, reaching 55.8 m3/ton in June, and it decreased to 41.7 m3/ton in December. Gained output ratio has been studied, and it changes from 1.73 in January to 1.58 in June and 1.75 in December. When utilizing SP/CaCl2, The hybrid system with heat recovery reached a SDWP value of 77.3 m3/ton in June, and it decreased to 51.8 m3/ton in December. Results also reveal that the SP/CaCl2 system powered by waste heat provides the cheapest desalinated water among all systems at 0.49 $/m3.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.tsep.2024.102598
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