Effect of different carrier gases on productivity enhancement of a novel multi-effect vertical concentric tubular solar brackish water desalination device

A novel multi-effect vertical concentric tubular solar brackish water desalination device is introduced in present study. The device consists of four closely spaced concentric pipes, in which the feed water gets preheated by hot brine water to guarantee the evaporation efficiency. An experimental investigation and analytical analysis were carried out to signify the effect of carrier gas-water vapor mixture on productivity enhancement of the device. Different carrier gases were used in the performance evaluation: carbon dioxide, helium, nitrogen, oxygen, air and argon. The water yield and the top/bottom temperature values of condensation surface of the device with different carrier gases were tested. In addition, the present investigation is presented an approach to predict the theory yield based on the internal heat and mass transfer mechanism. The experimental results indicate that, when the heating temperature is 80 °C and the carrier gas is helium, the water productivity rate can reach to 1.19 kg/h. It is increased by 30.76% than the carrier gas of air. The numerical results had been calculated and a consistent agreement with the experimental results had been obtained of different operation temperatures. The Dv under different heating temperature were obtained according to the experimental results.