Performance evaluation of a humidification–dehumidification desalination system coupled with a composite channel humidifier

Xin Huang, Guanlei Zhang, Zhen Zhang, Lin Liu, Haozhe Jin and Xiang Ling

Energy, 2025, vol. 324, issue C

Abstract: Humidification–dehumidification desalination technology is well-suited for renewable energy-driven and small-scale applications. Its relatively low energy efficiency is a critical issue that needs addressing. This paper presents a novel humidifier based on composite channels to improve system energy efficiency. The composite channel consists of a dry channel and a wet channel, respectively for the indirect heat exchange and the direct heat and mass exchange between air and water. It enables modification of thermodynamic process path of the system, thus enhancing energy efficiency. Performance evaluations of the novel system demonstrate its significant improvements in energy efficiency. The maximum energy efficiency improvement reaches 34.6 % compared to traditional systems. Although the influence of perforation holes on energy efficiency varies with working conditions, its influence decreases gradually with the number of perforation holes. Similar to the traditional humidification–dehumidification cycle, there exists optimal system top temperatures and liquid mass flow rates at which the energy efficiency peaks under various cases. The maximum energy efficiency of the proposed system with a single row of perforation holes can reach 1.63 when the dry air flow rate ratio is 0.4.

Keywords: Humidification–dehumidification; Desalination; Composite channel humidifier; Heat and mass transfer; Thermodynamic analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544225016147
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:324:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225016147

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.135972

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().