Performance of a two-stage multi-effect desalination system based on humidification-dehumidification process

This paper presents a two-stage multi-effect desalination system based on humidification-dehumidification process. The sketch of two-stage multi-effect humidification-dehumidification desalination process is given. The good quality of distilled water obtained by this novel concept favors its use for producing water for drinking and irrigation. A mathematical model based on mass and energy balances in each component of the system is developed. The numerical model is used to investigate the performance of this kind of installation exposed to a variation of the control parameters. The fresh water production can reach 72.6 kg/h and the gained output ratio (GOR) can reach 2.44, because it recycles and reutilizes latent heat of condensation and the residual heat in the brine. 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 describing the behavior of such a type of desalination system.