Numerical and Experimental Performance Evaluation of a Photovoltaic Thermal Integrated Membrane Desalination System

Sajid Ali (), Fahad Al-Amri and Farooq Saeed
Additional contact information
Sajid Ali: Mechanical and Energy Engineering Department, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia
Fahad Al-Amri: Mechanical and Energy Engineering Department, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia
Farooq Saeed: Mechanical and Energy Engineering Department, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 19, 1-20

Abstract: Membrane desalination (MD) is preferred over other desalination techniques since it requires a lower temperature gradient. Its performance can be further enhanced by preheating the intake of saline water. In this context, a novel solar-assisted air gap membrane desalination (AGMD) system was hypothesized. The motivation was derived from the fact that the use of solar energy to provide power and a pre-heating source for the intake of saline water can offer a sustainable alternative that can further enhance the acceptance of MD systems. Since solar panels suffer from a loss of efficiency as they heat up during operation, a solar-assisted air gap membrane desalination (AGMD) system can help to improve the overall system performance by (1) providing the necessary pumping power to operate the system and (2) improving solar panel performance by exchanging heat using water that is (3) used to pre-heat the saline water necessary for increased performance of the AGMD system. To verify the hypothesis, a solar-assisted AGMD system for freshwater production was theoretically designed, fabricated locally, and then tested experimentally. The effect of the process operating parameters and the ambient conditions on the overall performance of the proposed solar-assisted AGMD desalination unit is presented in detail, both theoretically and experimentally. The results indicated a direct correlation between the permeate flux, saline hot feed temperature, and hot feed flow rate. In addition, an inverse relationship between the cold feed temperature, cold feed flow rate, and the air gap thickness of the module was also observed and reported, thus, validating the hypothesis that a solar-assisted air gap membrane desalination (AGMD) system can help to boost performance.

Keywords: membrane desalination; renewable energy; solar-assisted desalination; permeate flux; air gap membrane desalination (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/19/7417/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/19/7417/ (text/html)

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:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:19:p:7417-:d:937553

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().